Brad Wall: A Chronology of Failure and Incompetence
Recent Saskatchewan Party television ads have questioned NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter’s use of the term “loser” in describing Brad Wall. The Saskatchewan Party wrongly claims that Mr. Lingenfelter was referring to the people of Saskatchewan with this remark. In fact, Mr. Lingenfelter was referring to Brad Wall specifically and his track record of failures in both the private and public sectors. Virtually every project with which Wall has been associated has been an economic flop, laced with scandal, or dangerously mismanaged. Do we owe Brad Wall more respect or does he owe the Saskatchewan people better performance?
A chronology of incompetence:
Since news of Wall’s bungling of the province’s finances was revealed, many comparisons to the Grant Devine Tory government (for which Wall worked for many years) have begun to surface. Reckless spending, off-base revenue projections, and a disregard for the proper oversight necessary to protect taxpayers’ money have all been rightly leveled against Wall just as they had been at Devine. Many, if not most, of these comparisons are accurate but can also be viewed another way. While Grant Devine spent the province into bankruptcy with misguided mega-projects, at least at the end of the day, shovels went into the ground and infrastructure was produced. In contrast, while Wall has done nothing but talk a big game and cheerlead for things, he has done nothing of substance to account for the $1 billion deficit with which he has saddled Saskatchewan taxpayers. Exactly where did all the money go?
A chronology of incompetence:
- From April 1990 to October 1991, Wall worked as a Ministerial Assistant to Tory cabinet Minister John Gerich. At Wall’s request, liquor was provided to his Minister’s office at taxpayers’ expense – a practice the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix would later declare to be, “cause for jailing.” In attempting to defend his actions, Wall later said that he believed it to be “an asset that I was involved in a government that lost its way on these issues. I think it’s an asset…”
- In the dying days of the Devine Tory government, a desperate attempt was made to lure the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame to Swift Current by providing $150,000 of taxpayers’ money to Brad Wall, then a Ministerial Assistant to the Tory Minister of Economic Diversification. Wall expected the museum to draw at least 34,000 people each year but as the Western Producer reported, “Predictions of 40,000 visitors annually fell far short, with less than 3000 people attending.” In just a few short years, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in Swift Current went into receivership and closed its doors on October 20, 1995.
- In the mid-1990’s, Wall partnered with Harold Martens, an integral player in the Devine Tory fraud scandal who was convicted of two counts of fraud, to create a Western tourism business called The Last Stand Adventure Company. The unsuccessful tourist ranch wound down its operations in late 1999.
- As Premier, Wall has promised, boosted, and cheered his heart out for many massive promises. Among them was a promise to continue the work previously done under the NDP in building a Provincial Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon. Despite many announcements, promised funding in two budgets, and endless hype about its necessity, the Wall government has stripped $200 million from the project.
- One of the main goals of the Sask Party seemed to be the construction and operation of a nuclear reactor in Saskatchewan. Whether it was necessary, environmentally damaging, or economically feasible seemed to be no matter to Wall who hyped the idea relentlessly. As the winds of public opinion in the province began to shift against this massively expensive proposal, Wall backed off (claiming he was seeing a “yellow light” to proceed with caution) and yet another of Wall’s grand schemes was shelved.
- Wall has also mugged for the camera when it came to announcing a joint venture with the State of Montana to develop clean coal and sequestration technology. His repeated appearances with the Governor of Montana led many to believe this was a done deal and that Saskatchewan’s climate change responsibilities were being met. The first shock to this project came when, after only a few months, Wall announced that the total cost of the project would be approximately $270 million – a full $100 million higher than he had announced just months earlier. In addition, funding in the form of at least $100 million from each of the Canadian and US federal governments was expected to finance a part of the project but has yet to materialize.
- While Wall railed in Opposition against what he perceived to be long waits for surgical procedures in Saskatchewan, despite his promises to reduce these wait times, recent data from the Saskatchewan Surgical Care Network suggests otherwise. After more than two years of a Sask Party government led by Wall, surgical wait times have actually increased and the number of surgical procedures performed in Saskatchewan is down. Another false promise and populist message with no real plan of action to succeed.
- While Wall’s record of professional failures both outside and within government speak for themselves, none come close to rivaling the disaster he has created with the finances of the province. After inheriting more than $3 billion in budget surpluses and rainy-day funds from the previous NDP government, after two short (relatively prosperous!) years, Wall is now running a $1 billion summary deficit while stripping equity and profit from the Crown sector in attempt to cover his budgetary failures.
Since news of Wall’s bungling of the province’s finances was revealed, many comparisons to the Grant Devine Tory government (for which Wall worked for many years) have begun to surface. Reckless spending, off-base revenue projections, and a disregard for the proper oversight necessary to protect taxpayers’ money have all been rightly leveled against Wall just as they had been at Devine. Many, if not most, of these comparisons are accurate but can also be viewed another way. While Grant Devine spent the province into bankruptcy with misguided mega-projects, at least at the end of the day, shovels went into the ground and infrastructure was produced. In contrast, while Wall has done nothing but talk a big game and cheerlead for things, he has done nothing of substance to account for the $1 billion deficit with which he has saddled Saskatchewan taxpayers. Exactly where did all the money go?
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Under the Wall government we went from having $2.3 billion in the bank to a $1.05 billion deficit in less than 2 years
"Deficits are like potato chips...they're not very good for your long-term health, and bet you can't stop at just one."
- Saskatchewan Party Leader and Premier, Brad Wall
Wall Government refuses to answer questions on spending and budget cuts...
November 25, 2009
Despite Wall’s supposed “compromise” to extend sitting hours to midnight so that the Opposition could ask any budget questions it wanted during discussion of supplementary spending estimates, the government made it known to the Opposition late Monday night it had no interest in scheduling time to discuss the ministries that saw reductions in their spending as a result of the mid-year update because “supplementary estimates are required only for increases in spending.” So, there was no real budget debate at the legislature Tuesday. We did, however, have a visit by a giant gopher.
-Murray Mandryk, The Leader-Post
