MOOSOMIN — Asking new Moosomin-Montmartre MLA Kevin Weedmark what the highlight of 2024 has been would be probably the most obvious question ever.
“Winning the election and being given the honour of representing the people of Moosomin-Montmartre in the Saskatchewan Legislature is what stands out the most,” he said excitedly.
It’s hard to believe the provincial election was only a couple months ago as already Weedmark’s constituency office is buzzing with activity.
“We’ve got lots of casework already, a lot of people coming in with issues to share with their interactions with government,” he said. “A lot of people coming in with issues that need a little bit of my time, need to get through to the right person, or need the right government official to hear their story.”
In Regina, Weedmark describes his workload as being “incredibly busy,” which is no surprise considering the high level of community involvement he participated in prior to becoming MLA. As Deputy Government Whip, his day begins earlier than most MLAs through attendance of the House Leaders’ meeting before the daily caucus meeting. At the House Leaders’ meeting the Caucus Chair, the Government House Leader, the Whip, and Deputy Whip sort through the Orders of the Day, what’s going to happen in the house, who will be speaking on the government’s behalf on various issues, and who will be making member statements that day.
“I also serve on the Board of Internal Economy, which looks after the budget and administration and human resources for the Legislative Assembly,” Weedmark explained. “‘For my first committee meeting for that committee, the package filled an entire binder! There was so much to go over.”
There’s also the Cabinet Committee on the Economy that Weedmark is also a part of, an important role that spans all sectors.
“If it’s something that could impact the economy, then the Cabinet Committee on the Economy listens to the minister and their officials on why they’re recommending a course of action, or why they’ve set out multiple courses of action to be decided on,” he explained. “Then we ask questions, discuss possible courses of action, and we take that information and we make a recommendation to Cabinet on how to proceed, so that’s a busy committee.”
Rounding out the money-related committees, Weedmark is also on the Standing Committee on the Economy, which includes both Sask Party and NDP MLAs and deals with legislation and budget items affecting the economy and the Caucus Management Committee which runs the Saskatchewan Party caucus.
“That includes everything from hiring the caucus office staff, to setting the annual budget, planning caucus events, that all comes under that committee,” Weedmark said.
“Right now, we have to look at our budget and figure out what we’re doing going forward, because the numbers in the House have changed, so the caucus funding framework is going to be changed. So that’s going to be our first major job on that committee is figuring out what we’re able to do with the current budget and the caucus funds—things like polling and some of the communications that come out of the caucus funds.”
The enthusiasm Weedmark has for his work as MLA is contagious, as he explained the various roles in depth; and he certainly comes by it naturally.
“I love organizing things and keeping things on track, so I’m loving the Deputy Whip job keeping things on track in the house and I have a lot to keep track of back home,” he said. “Before, I’d be in the newspaper office, I’d be at the Housing Authority Office, I’d be talking to the EDO in her office , I might be at a CBA meeting during the day, I’d be working on Chamber stuff, so I would be in four or five different places in a day! Now I’m wearing out the sidewalk between the newspaper office and my constituency office when I’m in town. ”
“I like to keep busy, and like to keep track of things and keep things moving,” continued Weedmark. “So some of these roles are actually just ideal for me. It’s been fun. I got to give my inaugural speech, I had a 33-minute speech talking about why I support the Throne Speech, and why I decided to get into politics and it’s been a learning experience, but it’s been so much fun so far.”
People have different reasons for entering the political arena, and Weedmark’s ‘why’ was the opportunity to serve.
“In my case, it was one more way to serve the community,” he said. It’s not something I thought about at all as a future possibility for me, but when our local MLA decided to run federally, quite a few people approached me about running, and after thinking about it and talking to a few people I decided it’s something I could do. It’s just one more way to serve the community, just like the Chamber of Commerce or Economic Development Committee or Housing Authority - it’s one more way to do that.”
In the space between the election and the Christmas break, the provincial government has successfully passed two bills unanimously—the Saskatchewan Affordability Act and the Saskatchewan Energy Amendment Act— which Weedmark called “a good start, that shows that we’re making a start in the right direction.”
“The government’s going to be focused on building on the strengths that Saskatchewan already has. The theme of the Throne Speech, was A New Beginning,” he said. “Everything that we’ve done so far is based on taking that strong foundation we have and building for the future on that foundation. A new beginning, starting to build on top of that foundation to make things even better. I’m excited to see what what comes in the next four years. There are an awful lot of good ideas, and a lot of positive momentum.”
Something Weedmark focused on during his inaugural speech was the vast difference in the region since the Sask Party was first elected 17 years ago.
“We’ve grown so much; we have so many more services in Moosomin, for one,” he said. “We’ve certainly got far more health care services than we had at the time, we have more doctors, health care has become more accessible—it’s like night and day. I’m interested to see what’s going to happen the next few years with some of these new measures that will make it easier to grow our province going forward.”
Weedmark pointed to the small business investment tax credit, the one per cent small business tax rate and the increase to the graduate retention program as programs that will help move the province forward.
“There’s so much potential,” he said in looking at the Moosomin-Montmartre constituency. “We’ve got an incredible energy industry here. We’ve got an amazing agriculture industry. We’ve got the largest potash in mine in the world, at Rocanville—the largest potash mine in the world! We have smart and creative people who have started
We talk about economic development in our region—lots of areas would give anything to have some of what we have already.”
Another wonderful perk of the job is the ability to bring in special guests. So far, Weedmark has welcomed former longtime SARM preseident Sinclair Harrison and his family, Victor Santos Cardoza, who was elected to Moosomin town council at the age of 20, and the Grades 7 and 8 classes from Chief Kahkewistahaw School as guests to the Legislature.
“I’m enjoying bringing people in and having them recognized,” he said. “And I’ve made a few speeches about some things that are important to me in the riding, so that part I’m enjoying. The case work, working with people who have issues on health care, social services, or whatever their issues are, it’s some tough issues, but it feels good to be able to help and bring those issues to the attention that people can do some about them, and I’m enjoying the committee work, making a difference on how government works.”
