Staff Reporter
The 2014 year in politics was dominated by a single news story that happened many miles away.
That story focused on the events of Oct. 22 in Ottawa, a day that will live in infamy in Canada.
The shooting death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial, followed by the shooting rampage in the Parliament building itself, shocked the country and the world.
The day of mayhem broke out while Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Gerry Ritz was attending a regular caucus meeting of Conservative MPs and senators. Parliament ended up in lockdown, which confined Ritz to the caucus room along with the rest of his colleagues for much of the day.
The events impacted what went on during the opening of the fall legislative session in Regina that same day.
Increased security was everywhere, and evident. "It was unusual to see armed police officers patrolling our halls," said Battlefords MLA Herb Cox, who had just taken on responsibilities in the legislature as the new government whip.
But despite the chaotic situation in Ottawa, the decision was made to proceed with the throne speech in Regina, on schedule. As Cox said, it was a tradition no one was going to stop.
On the other side of the political spectrum, union members and supporters at a CUPE meeting on P3s in North Battleford also had Ottawa in their thoughts.
Among the speakers there was Maude Barlow, whose home is Ottawa. She said she had "four grandkids in lockdown at schools today, and I was a basket case most of the day – not worrying about them, because I know they were safe, but worrying about what they were thinking and what they were feeling about what they were being told. I don't want this violence in my country. I don't want this violence in my city.”
In provincial politics, the Saskatchewan Party continued to stay the course with another balanced budget, touting continued good economic and employment numbers.
Finance Minister Ken Krawetz told a Battlefords Chamber of Commerce breakfast audience in the spring that serious thought was given to tax increases, but the decision was made to control spending.
"Our philosophy has always been a tax increase is a last resort," said Krawetz.
It was not easy sailing for the government, which took extensive heat over the Lean consulting contract with John Black and Associates, with opposition leader Cam Broten and the NDP roasting that contract as a waste of money.
Broten and the NDP also continue to hammer the government on issues related to senior care, as well as the issue of house fires caused by exploding SmartMeters installed by SaskPower. That program was halted, and SaskPower CEO Robert Watson resigned in the fall in the wake of that controversy.
At the federal level, Ritz is all set for another re-election bid in Battlefords-Lloydminster, with an election scheduled to happen in 2015.
He remained hard at work on the agricultural file as minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and continued to push for progress on the issue of country-of-origin labeling by the United States.
In the fall, the World Trade Organization ruled against the U.S. COOL labeling as discriminatory against Canadian products, and Ritz threatened tariff retaliation if the United States failed to comply.
The ruling is being appealed, which means the issue will continue to boil in 2015.
