It was a hot summer day with heat stifling the Times-Herald newsroom. Either we didn’t have air conditioning yet or it wasn’t working.
I was busy at the green horseshoe-shaped city editor’s desk editing and laying out inside pages for the next day’s newspaper when this soft spoken voice interrupted with “Hello.’’
I looked at the slender, short fellow with receding hair line, impish grin and tan, but not the windburned kind farmers sport.
He introduced himself as Grant Devine, new leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party. It turned out he farmed in the Lake Valley district northwest of Moose Jaw.
He had a doctorate degree in agricultural economics and taught at the University of Saskatchewan.
As we chatted I sized him up: a farmer I’d never heard of, a mild soft spoken character, and probably an absent-minded professor.
Since none of my four reporters was handy but my deadline was near, I promised the man who called himself the next premier of Saskatchewan that one would call him for an interview.
As he left the building the publisher came in, asking who that was.
“He thinks he’s going to be the next premier of Saskatchewan,” I sneered. “He’s not well known and a university professor for God’s sake. Fat chance.”
I had reason to believe that from recent events. Dick Collver, the PC leader who generated a few MLAs for the party was unimpressive. His greatest feat was getting into hot water for firing a pistol from his balcony.
That day I learned to never judge a book by its cover nor to stereotype someone by their occupation, lumping Devine with all the absent-minded academics I had met.
Devine went on to become premier from 1982 to 1991 — the first Conservative premier in Saskatchewan ever elected twice.
His first few years — all his years — in office were chaotic.
The country was in the midst of murderous interest rates to kill inflation. Farmers were losing land for non-payment. Home owners were faced with walking away from their place when mortgage renewal rates hit 19 and 20 per cent.
A farmer friend borrowed money at 22 per cent to buy a new tractor. Another doubled his retirement savings with five year, 15 per cent savings certificate.
Devine wasn’t a survival of the fittest conservative. His compassionate reaction was an interest rate subsidy on residential mortgages and a $10,000 low interest loan for home improvements.
The rest of the province was no great shakes. Agriculture was entering an eight year drought. Oil and grain prices were in the toilet.
Unlike some conservatives might have been, Devine was unwilling to cut civil service jobs to match spending with tax revenues.
He tried to push the recessionary tides back by running a string of deficits taking Saskatchewan debt to $12 billion from $3.5 billion.
The soft voiced slender farmer will be remembered for the mounting debt. His greatest contribution, in this Scribbler’s mind, was changing the attitude in the business community from a we-gotta-have-a-government handout to we-can.
When he was defeated the Romanow NDP government nailed 15 of the 55 PC MLAs, including some cabinet ministers, for crimes like misuse of constituency funds to buy a saddle for a parade.
The intent was to make the Conservative image unacceptable for another generation.
The plan backfired. Realizing they had no chance of forming a government the Conservatives swallowed their pride and convinced the divided Liberal MLAs to merge into a new party — the Saskatchewan Party
And the rest is history.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
