Moe was sworn into office at a ceremony Friday morning at Government House in Regina, becoming the 15th premier in the province’s history.
“I am honoured to be sworn in as the premier of Saskatchewan and commit to serve on behalf of all Saskatchewan people,” Moe said.
“As premier, I will always stand with the people of our great province.”
He also unveiled his 17-member cabinet, including Gord Wyant, Tina Beaudry-Mellor and Ken Cheveldayoff, who he beat out for the leadership of the party.
“This team of 17 women and men represent many of the qualities that make our province great,” Moe said.
“As cabinet, we will set targets and continue to strive to reach them. As a team, we will stand with the people of our province. As a team, we will stand with Saskatchewan.”
WATCH BELOW: Scott Moe sworn-in as Saskatchewan’s next premier
Wyant was named the province’s new deputy premier and minister of education. He will be bringing a message heard on the campaign trail to the new job.
Beaudry-Mellor becomes the minister of advanced education, along with minister responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan, and is responsible for the status of women portfolio.
Cheveldayoff was named the minister of central services and the minister responsible for the public service commission and the provincial capital commission.
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Moe said it was important to include his campaign rivals on his first cabinet.
“There are some people, particularly leadership candidates, that have been out across the province interacting and communicating and listening to people in communities and I think it’s important for them to bring what they’ve heard over the last number of months directly into government,” Moe said.
Jeremy Harrison, who dropped out of the leadership race to support Moe, was named minister of export and trade development and minister of immigration and careers training. One of Harrison’s first jobs will be joining with Alberta counterparts to advocate for the approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
Warren Kaeding enters cabinet for the first time as the minister of government relations and minister of First Nations, Metis and northern affairs.
Two current ministers have been shuffled to new portfolios.
Bronwyn Eyre has been moved from education to become minster of energy and resources, along with the minister responsible for SaskEnery and SaskWater.
Christine Tell is the new minister of corrections and policing, and keeps her current duties as the minister responsible for Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation.
Out of cabinet are Herb Cox, Larry Doke, Steven Bonk and Nancy Heppner.
The remainder of the cabinet remains unchanged.
Moe was elected leader of the Saskatchewan Party last Saturday to replace Brad Wall, who retired from politics after leading the province for 10 years.
Interim NDP Leader Nicole Sarauer says the similar cabinet will bring similar results.
“Meet the new bosses, same as the old bosses,” Sarauer said in a scrum following Friday’s cabinet shuffle. “Really this cabinet shuffle showed little change. Largely the same people at the decision making table that oversaw what was an incredibly devastating budget, are the same people that will be at the decision making table for the next budget. Premier Moe’s cabinet allows chronic underperformers like Bronwyn Eyre and Christine Tell to stay in cabinet which is extremely disappointing.”
Sarauer noted that Moe expanded the cabinet by one more member, which would cost nearly half a million dollars more, according the previous estimates by former Premier Brad Wall.
She also criticized Moe’s decision to bring Jeremy Harrison back into cabinet.
“Harrison is someone who during the leadership campaign, said that the GTH needed to have a review, and also said that the reasons he was standing by the GTH earlier was that he was simply following the lines that he was given,” she said. “And now he’s backtracking on the need for a GTH review and he’s being rewarded for his actions. So there’s very little trust there with the Saskatchewan people and we’ll see what happens next.”
When asked about his position going forward on the GTH, Harrison said he will be following the direction set out by Premier Moe.
—With files from David Baxter and Marney Blunt
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