Grant Devine

Donald Grant Devine SOM (born July 5, 1944 in Regina , Saskatchewan ) is a Canadian politician . He was Prime Minister of Saskatchewan Province from May 8, 1982 to November 1, 1991. From 1979 to 1992 he was chairman of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan . His reign was marked by extensive privatization of state-owned companies, but also by record-high budget deficits and a political scandal.

Studies and Provincial Politics

Devine grew up on a farm near Moose Jaw . After leaving school, he studied agricultural science at the University of Saskatchewan . He later continued his studies at the University of Alberta and Ohio State University . In 1976 he obtained a doctorate in agricultural economics . He ran a farm and taught agricultural economics at the University of Saskatchewan from 1976 to 1979.

In the 1970s Devine joined the Progressive Conservative Party, which tried to establish itself as an alternative to the social democratic New Democrats and pursued a right-wing populist course. In 1978 he ran in the elections to the legislative assembly of Saskatchewan for the seat in the constituency of Saskatoon- Nutana, but without success. In November 1979 he was elected as the new party chairman, the following year he narrowly failed in a by-election in Estevan .

prime minister

During the election campaign for the April 1982 elections, Devine promised that he would abolish the fuel tax, cut mortgage interest rates significantly and end the state interventionism that has been practiced for decades . The progressive conservatives were able to increase their share of the vote by almost 16% and replaced the New Democrats as the strongest force. Devine himself had been elected in Estevan and was sworn in as the new Prime Minister on May 8, 1982; he was the first Conservative head of government since James Thomas Milton Anderson , who had formed a coalition government in 1929.

One of Devine's first acts was to declare that Saskatchewan was "open to the economy" and that the socialist era was over. The government exempted private companies from license fees on new oil wells and reduced fees on existing ones for three years . She pushed through controversial reforms in education, social welfare and labor law. In the elections in October 1986, the progressive conservatives suffered losses, but were only able to hold an absolute majority.

World market prices for oil and agricultural products fell sharply during Devine's second term, which had a negative impact on Saskatchewan's economic development. In addition, the government had borrowed heavily before the elections in order to secure the favor of the rural population. The deficit in the 1986/87 fiscal year was over $ 1.2 billion instead of the budgeted 389 million. The financial crisis resulted in massive cuts in state staff and services, and the government sold numerous state-owned companies . Yet the national debt in 1992 was over $ 15 billion, more than ever before. In the elections in October 1991, the ruling party only got ten seats and had to leave power to the New Democrats. Devine was voted out of office and turned over to Roy Romanov on November 1, 1991 .

After the resignation

In the years following the election defeat, 12 MPs from Devine's party were charged with corruption and six of them were convicted. They had over $ 837,000 in expense allowances during their second term and fraudulently diverted them to a front company. Devine himself was not involved in the scandal, but his reputation was still tarnished due to numerous omissions.

In October 1992 Devine resigned as party chairman. In 2004 he announced his intention to run for a seat in the House of Commons for the Conservative Party of Canada . But the party declared him an undesirable person and denied him the right to be nominated. When Devine announced he would run as an independent, he was expelled from the party. He achieved the second best result in the constituency of Souris — Moose Mountain.

literature

• Gordon Barnhart : Saskatchewan Premiers of the Twentieth Century. Canadian Plains Research Center, Regina 2004. ISBN 0-88977-164-2 .

Web links

• Grant Devine ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Article Grant Devine in the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan

Individual evidence

1. ^ Saskatchewan Tories in Fraud Scandal ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved August 21, 2016. - Maclean's Magazine, November 18, 1996