Grant Devine

One of Devine's first actions as premier was to organize an "Open for Business" conference in October 1982 to emphasize that free enterprise and private investment were welcome in Saskatchewan and the fact that the "socialist" era in the province was over (as the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation had governed the province for the previous 31 out of 38 years).[1]

Devine's government introduced a three-year royalty holiday for new oil wells and cut royalties for existing ones. This led to a significant increase in drilling, though the government experienced lower revenues.[1]

Devine's government privatized crown corporations including Saskatchewan Minerals worth $15 million and the Potash Corporation worth over $1 billion.[1]

When the Devine government took office in 1982, the provincial budget was balanced. The Devine government ran consecutive deficit budgets (and the deficit peaked in fiscal year 1986–1987 at $1.2 billion) as a result of their policies of tax cuts, tax rebates, mortgage subsidies, drastic increases in election spending, and multi-million dollar investments in several money-losing megaprojects. During Devine's premiership, Saskatchewan's debt grew from $3.5 billion to $15 billion in fiscal year 1991–1992; by this time, annual interest payments had exceeded $500 million and were the third-largest component in the budget after health and education.[1][7]

The year Devine came to government the provincial GDP only grew 0.6 per cent, down from 20.9 per cent growth the previous year.[8]

Devine opposed government ownership of land, and in 1982, his government abolished the Land Bank (which was established by the NDP government in 1974 and sought to aid the intergenerational transfer of farmland), replacing it with 8 percent loans to allow farmers to buy their own land. The main reason for the Land Bank's end was the fact that it led to a large amount of land being acquired by the government.[1][9]

In 1989, Devine's government began to subsidize crop revenues by introducing the Net Income Stabilization Account and the Gross Revenue Insurance Program; this marked the start of the province directly supporting crop farm incomes.[9]

Although Devine himself was never implicated in any criminal wrongdoing, 13 Conservative MLAs and staffers were subsequently charged with expense account fraud committed during Devine's second term (1986–1991). The scheme accounted for $837,000 of defrauded government funds.[10] Of these a handful were acquitted while some served prison time.[11][12]

With the help of the rural vote, Devine's Progressive Conservatives were re-elected in the 1986 election with a greatly reduced majority. He was the only premier of the Conservative/Progressive Conservative Party to win re-election in Saskatchewan. The NDP won a plurality of the popular vote.[2][13][14]

After two terms in power, Devine's Progressive Conservatives suffered a landslide defeat in the 1991 election by the New Democratic Party led by Roy Romanow.[15][16] The PC party won 25.5% of the popular vote and was reduced to 10 seats in the legislature. The party would never return to power again.[17] A major source of dissatisfaction with the Devine government was the "Fair Share Saskatchewan" program, a scheme to distribute public service jobs more evenly across the province; this plan was especially unpopular with workers scheduled to be relocated from Regina to rural districts.[18][19][20] Privatizations, cuts to social programs, and the drastic increase in provincial debt also contributed to Devine's unpopularity.[21]