"It's time to get back to work."Those were the words of Donna Harpauer, the newly re-elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Humboldt just a few days after the November 7 provincial election. With an unofficial vote count of 5,633 - far surpassing her nearest rival, Gord Bedient of the NDP and his count of 1,788 votes - Harpauer was re-elected for the fourth time to the Legislature and the third time in the Humboldt riding. She was first elected in the Watrous riding, before constituency boundaries were changed.On November 10, Premier Brad Wall announced that the current cabinet will remain intact for the upcoming legislative session, expected to begin in early December, as all 17 had been re-elected. That means Harpauer will retain her duties as Minister of Education. "Right now, continuity is a big advantage, especially with the tight timelines for the start of the legislative session in December and the provincial budget in March," Wall stated in a government news release.Wall said he will likely do a cabinet shuffle after the 2011-12 legislative session ends in May of next year.Harpauer is happy with that time frame. "Our portfolios are huge," she said. "To switch before a quick session this fall would be very difficult."The fall session will be very short, Harpauer said.The Throne Speech will kick it off, and they will have just about 10 days to speak to it, and to introduce bills."It will be quick, but it will happen," she stated.Now that she's employed again, she joked, there is plenty on her agenda as Minister of Education. First, she said, is a meeting with the school boards across the province to discuss the technicalities of making one of their election promises - to delay the start of the school year until after Labour Day - work within the different school division calendars. Right now, calendars are set by each school division and differ across the province. "That will be my first important meeting," she said, and it will take place this week.Work will also continue on the funding formula for school divisions for the coming year, and they will immediately be thrown into the provincial budget process, she noted. "We're usually into it by now," she said, "and meeting already for the March budget."With the Sask. Party winning 49 seats, and the NDP just nine - a far cry from the 38 to 20 ratio after the 2007 election - things will definitely be different in the Legislature, Harpauer believes. She was anticipating the Sask. Party winning a few more seats - maybe four, she thought - but to have won such a huge majority "speaks loud and clear to the fact (that) people were happy with the four years we had."With just nine NDP in the house, "they are going to be very busy," she said, especially since they have lost their party leader, their deputy leader, the house leader and their whip. Besides filling those roles, the nine will also have to sit on committees, and will likely have just one voting member on each, as the number of voting members is based on proportional representation."That's going to be a little different.... (it) changes the dynamics," Harpauer said. In this election, the Sask. Party definitely "gained some confidence among people," she said, likely because of Wall being so insistent on keeping his election promises."People are no longer scared" of a Sask. Party government, she added. That fear could have been a factor in the 2007 election, when the party had never formed government before, and just a few years before, hadn't even existed. "In the big scheme of things, we are such a new party yet," Harpauer said. This election win is actually "history in the making," Harpauer said. Never before has any party held a majority of this size in Saskatchewan, and received a record amount of the popular vote, with 64 per cent. To have a party that is not a national party hold that majority is also "unheard of," Harpauer said. Non-national parties "don't usually last, let alone gain power," she said. What killed the NDP in the election, Harpauer feels, was their platform, which totalled massive amounts of money - the Sask. Party claims it was $5.5 billion."They had some great ideas," Harpauer admitted, "but you can't do it all at once. Affordability comes into play.... (People in Saskatchewan) want the debt looked after. They really do."The Sask. Party election platform will once again form the basis of their next four years in power, Harpauer said. Keeping promises is something Wall insists on."He is a taskmaster in that," Harpauer admitted. "At cabinet meetings... that platform has to be with members each time."Each time something new comes up, they refer back to their platform, but then deal with it as they see fit. They do deal with issues that crop up, it was noted.For example, when they dedicated $76 million to end the waiting list for families that had adult children with disabilities, that was something that wasn't on their radar in the last election, Harpauer indicated. Neither was creating a separate income stream for people with permanent disabilities, taking them off the welfare roll.In the 2011 platform, they promised to increase the income for people in that stream, Harpauer added.
