From the Opposition’s desk: NDP’s Meili reviews 2018

In a year-end interview, 980 CJME reporter Andrew Shepherd sat down with NDP Leader Ryan Meili. He reflected on becoming leader, facing a new Premier of Saskatchewan and his personal life.

Andrew Shepherd: When you became leader in March, you mentioned the “winds of change.” How has the NDP changed with Ryan Meili as leader?

Ryan Meili: That’s right, there was a big wind storm the day of the leadership election, and (I) did talk about the winds of change that had been blowing. What I’ve seen us doing as a team since then and the change that I think is happening within the NDP is moving from simply focusing on what’s wrong with the Sask. Party, as much as that continues to be our job to point out the flaws, but moving a lot more towards putting forth our solutions. Talking about what our ideas are and really setting forth the kind of vision, the kind of policy agenda that can make a real difference in the health and well-being of Saskatchewan people.

AS: Is the role of NDP leader what you expected it to be?

RM: In a lot of ways, just as I expected, able to work with the team to put forth that focus on health as the primary outcome as what we’re trying to achieve for the province and do that work shifting from opposition to proposition.

Probably one of the biggest things that has been a surprise for me and a surprise since being elected as an MLA, not just as a leader, is you kind of have this impression when you’re on the outside that the opposition has access to the information.

What’s really alarming about the way that things work, and I think maybe with this particular government a bit more, is how opaque, how difficult it is to actually get all of the information and have a full understanding of what’s going on within the government. That’s a frustrating challenge and one that I think we can do a lot better on. Greater transparency. Greater accountability.

AS: The days of Brad Wall are over. As opposition leader, what’s it been like going up against a new premier in Scott Moe?

RM: In that first session it was particularly challenging, because you don’t really know how he’s going to be and what his approach is. Also, people are giving him the benefit of the doubt so you don’t want to swing too hard too soon and over-play your hand as opposition leader.

In this session (Fall 2018), having had a previous session with him and a bit more of a sense, we were able to see how he was developing, some of the skills he has as well as some of the flaws. One of the things that we saw right away is when he’s not comfortable with a line of questioning he gets louder and shouts more. That is always a good sign that we have actually touched on something that they’re not really comfortable talking about.

AS: How have you been able to balance the role as party leader with family time with your kids?

RM: It’s the toughest thing about this job. My wife is a pediatrician so she also has a busy, professional life. We have two kids, Abraham is seven and Augustin is just about one and a half, 15 months. Abe and Gus are obviously a huge part of my life and I want to spend as much time as I can with them but I have to be here during session and then travelling all around the province when not in the legislature.

Some of the ways that we manage to balance that is I get home as much as I can, then take the kids with me everywhere I can … events in the community. Abe in particular likes to go on road trips with me, so he’s been up to La Loche and P.A. and down to Swift Current. We listen to audiobooks in the car and have good adventures that way.

AS: Do you miss being a doctor?

RM: All the time. I love seeing patients. It was such a rewarding thing to do. You’re sitting across from me right now. Same situation where the patient comes and sits down in front of you, tells you their story and you’re able to help them out with some advice or prescription or maybe just a listening ear. I always felt at the end of the day like that was something worth doing, yet always was frustrated by it because the people would come in, help them out but then you send them back into the situations that made them sick in the first place.

That’s one of the big reasons why I chose to make that change because I recognize that what makes the biggest difference in our health isn’t those doctors visits. As important as they are, it’s whether people have enough money, whether they’ve got a decent place to stay, whether they’ve got a chance at a good education and it’s in this building, in the legislature, that I can have the most influence, the most positive impact on the health of the patients I was seeing and the rest of the province.