It was a hectic 24 hours for Moose Jaw-North MLA Tim McLeod, who was named a new minister in Premier Scott Moe’s cabinet after the latter made big changes to his team.
McLeod — first elected during the 2020 provincial election — is the new minister of mental health and addictions, seniors and rural and remote health after a swearing-in ceremony occurred at Government House in Regina on Aug. 29. He takes over from Everett Hindley, who becomes the new minister of health.
“I’m incredibly honoured and certainly excited for the opportunity … ,” McLeod told the Express. “I’m actually at the legislative building … (and am) going to spend the next couple of days trying to get my feet under me and pick up where Minister Hindley left off.”
The first-time government minister was the provincial secretary and legislative secretary to the premier and was responsible for provincial honours and awards. That experience gave him a view of the government’s inner workings and allowed him to interact with foreign dignitaries and stakeholders. He thought his time in that role would help in his new post.
“I think our government is doing some great work in health. Of course, we’re aware that there’s some ongoing challenges and we’re going to work toward addressing those,” McLeod continued. “But I’m excited for the opportunity and looking forward to working with Minister Hindley.”
He noted that many people know someone affected by mental illness or addictions, so he was excited to continue pursuing the work the government had started and address the issues important to people.
Considering McLeod faced a “whirlwind” of activity within a day, he couldn’t seek advice from Hindley about the nuances of the portfolio. However, there are meetings scheduled soon between the two ministries — both already work closely together — so the new minister was eager to spend more time with his colleague.
Moreover, he thought those meetings would help him better understand how to balance addressing each area now under his oversight.
There will always be a steep learning curve when any MLA becomes a new minister, McLeod said, but he thought he was up to the challenge. Meanwhile, he pointed out that Moose Jaw has always benefited from the efforts of its MLAs — whether in cabinet or not — since they helped acquire such projects as a new hospital, a new school and a new power plant.
“Advocating for the community is certainly the work of the individual MLAs, and as a cabinet minister, you’re the minister for the entire province,” McLeod added. “So my job, first and foremost, continues to be the MLA for Moose Jaw-North, and I will continue to happily advocate for the community of Moose Jaw.”
When asked how Moose Jaw-Wakamow MLA Greg Lawrence is doing — he was injured in a motorcycle collision on Aug. 3 — McLeod said his colleague is still in hospital receiving treatments since he is “pretty banged up.”
“He’s got a long road of recovery, but he was in very good spirits and (is) recovering nicely as far as I’m aware,” McLeod added.
Cabinet changes
Some big changes Premier Moe made to his cabinet include:
- Dustin Duncan becomes minister of Crown Investments Corporation and minister responsible for all the major Crowns, as well as minister responsible for the Public Service Commission
- Christine Tell becomes minister of Environment;
- Paul Merriman becomes minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety and Minister responsible for the Firearms Secretariat
- Lori Carr becomes minister of Highways
- Everett Hindley becomes minister of Health
- Jeremy Cockrill becomes minister of Education.
Meanwhile, the overall size of cabinet remains unchanged at 18, including the premier.
