He is an excellent orator and it's a well established fact that Brad Wall is a charismatic leader so now the new mandate will be for him to check out his management skills.
With a huge majority in the Legislative Assembly, it will be difficult for the Sask. Party to retain an air of humbleness. It will be up to Wall and his immediate power brokers to ensure that a sense of arrogance or entitlement doesn't pervade this new environment they have created as of Monday night.
The election results have provided the premier with a very strong team and with 64 per cent of the popular vote, which is a new provincial record, there is no doubt that the population of Saskatchewan is behind him. This kind of political support has never been seen before in the 106 year history of this province.
With all 18 cabinet members returning to the fold, and with 11 more MLAs to draw on, Wall faces a formidable task of retaining cohesiveness within the ranks.
And on the other side of the picture, the NDP have just had a door of opportunity opened to them. Since their party was pretty well decimated on Monday and their leader walked away, they now have a blank canvas on which they can begin to paint a whole new picture if they care to take up the challenge. And they might as well, since the picture that was painted for them on Monday wasn't pretty.
Other items that were noted on Monday night included a Green Party that proved they did, indeed, retain a place in this province's political landscape. It's feeble to be sure, but it's definitely more credible than that of the quickly disappearing Liberal party or the struggling revamped Progressive Conservatives. They have become the forgotten ones in the wake of the Sask. Party juggernaut.
Wall's management skills will now be up for the ultimate test. He finds himself in a new era of politics, one of his own making. He can continue to make it grow as he has in the past four years, and he'll have to do it with an additional cast of characters that features some very ambitious and strong personalties.
This is now a governing party that no longer has a power base in rural Saskatchewan. The two major city constituencies decided to join the Sask. Party wave this time around and they will indeed insist on being heard and will insist on being well represented around the cabinet table and within the power structure of the new caucus.
We can only hope that this province's resource sector continues to grow because the demands that will now be pressed on the incumbent premier will be stronger than ever before.
The old adage that everyone loves a winner is quite true. What isn't always said is another truth and that is that everyone puts more demands on the person as well.
We expect Brad Wall is up to the task and deserves to have us show a little patience as he sorts things out in this new power structure he finds himself in this week.
He's earned the respect and he's earned the right to work this government into taking its place as one of Canada's power players.
If you'll allow us one more sporting metaphor, we'll simply say that Wall has taken Saskatchewan from being a fourth line right winger to being the point man on the power play. Now let's see if the power play can help us score a few goals.
