Grant Devine

Donald Grant Devine (born July 5, 1944) was the Progressive Conservative Premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan from May 8, 1982 to November 1, 1991.

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, a farmer, teacher and agricultural economist, Devine taught at the University of Saskatchewan in the 1970s before entering politics. Although he was defeated during 1978 election in a Saskatoon seat, he was elected leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party in 1979. He lost a by-election in Estevan in a three-way split of the vote in which each party received more than 32 percent of the vote in 1980. The NDP won the by-election, defeating Devine and Ralph Goodale, who eventually switched to federal politics and became federal Minister of Finance in 2003.

Devine won election to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the 1982 general election that brought him and 54 other Progressive Conservatives to power. Only a rump of the long-ruling New Democratic Party (NDP) were left as opposition. Even deputy premier Roy Romanow fell victim to the electoral landslide. Devine thus became the first Progressive Conservative premier of Saskatchewan and the first Conservative politician to hold the office since James T.M. Anderson formed a coalition government in 1929.

Devine's government privatized several Crown corporations, introduced neo-liberal reforms to labour law and welfare programs, and attempted to attract foreign investment. Many agree the greatest success of Devine's government was in bringing back the oil industry that Allan Blakeney had driven from the province.

Devine instituted royalty holidays for the then-new technololgy of horizontal drilling. The oil industry reacted by drilling thousands of new wells in the province. Oil production increased dramatically. At one point in the mid-1980s oil royalties paid into province coffers during the Devine oil boom were a full 25 percent of provincial government revenues.

Despite decrying the royalties as give aways during Devine's government, the NDP under Roy Romanow chose to leave them in place when it gained power in 1991. The resulting revenues have made Saskatchewan a "have province" in Canadian federal government equalization calculations.

Devine governed during some of the worst droughts since the "dirty thirties". The price of oil fell from 19 to 9 dollars a barrel and the price of agricultural commodities collapsed. In the end, the high cost of government mortgage rate reduction policies during 19 per-cent interest rates and his agricultural rescue policies resulted in a large deficit.

However, while supporters of the New Democratic Party contend that before the Tories came to power the province had a balanced budget (i.e., no public debt) under the previous NDP governments, the NDP's opponents have always contended that the governments of Allan Blakeney had hidden large debts in Saskatchewan's Crown corporations, which Devine wrote off into the province's general operating accounts. Analysis of these corporations' financial statements seems to confirm that this accounted for about $8 billion in debts, which would account for most of the deficit which the province appeared to accumulate during Devine's first term.

His government was re-elected in the 1986 election, although his NDP opponents won a plurality of votes.

Devine's government was defeated in the 1991 election after two terms in power. The PC party was reduced to ten seats in the legislature.

Although Devine himself was never caught in criminal wrongdoing, several members of his caucus were sent to prison as the result of a kickback scandal that operated during Devine's second term from 1986-1991. Many former members and supporters now support the Saskatchewan Party. The current leader of the Saskatchewan Party, Brad Wall, was a junior assistant in a ministerial office in the Grant Devine government. Some PCs have carried on the party name, running enough candidates in each election to maintain the party's status as a registered political party.

In 2004, Devine announced his intention to return to politics and run for the federal Conservative Party of Canada, but the party ruled he was an undesirable candidate, and denied him the right to seek a nomination. On May 7, Devine announced that he would run as an independent candidate in the 2004 federal election for the riding of Souris—Moose Mountain. Consequently, Devine was expelled from the Conservative Party on June 8 by the executive council of the Conservative party.

Despite the ruling by the executive council of the Conservative Party of Canada, Devine continued to enjoy the public support of Conservative Deputy leader Peter McKay. The former Premier finished the election second to Conservative Ed Komarnicki. Devine received 8,399 votes (29.42% of the popular vote).