Premier Brad Wall would have had more than a quorum if he had decided to hold a provincial cabinet meeting in Estevan last Thursday.
In fact, more than half the caucus plus a cadre of administrative support staffers were in attendance at the Wylie-Mitchell Air Cadet Hall on Oct. 29, but the only order of business to be conducted within a lengthy agenda was a proper send-off for Estevan MLA Doreen Eagles whose last day of work as a local constituency representative will come in early April 2016.
The constituency association rolled out the invitations to all party faithful and their legislative representatives and the response was tremendous said Lori Carr, who helped organize the event and who will be replacing Eagles as the Sask Party’s candidate in next spring’s provincial general election.
The event was meant to be a light-hearted roasting of the departing Eagles, but often the barbs turned into words of praise for the veteran MLA who served the party, not as a cabinet minister, but often as caucus chairwoman, which the parade of ministers reminded the audience was likened to the task of “herding 49 Siamese cats.”
The premier set the tone for the evening as the leadoff roaster was called forward by emcee Bernie Bjorndalen, the party’s constituency president.
“Doreen is retiring, I guess because she’s old,” Wall said with a straight face, as the guests chuckled.
Wall referenced early days in the legislature when he shared a desk and seating arrangements with Eagles who would often make his left knee buckle as she gently kicked the bend in the knee with her toe, every time he rose to speak.
“Check the video Hansard, and you’ll see me wobbling over, appearing to be unsteady on my feet, thanks to Doreen,” he chided.
Reference was also made to Eagle’s partially missing finger, lost in a lawn mower accident years ago.
“But her angry finger is fully functional,” warned Wall, who also confirmed that on three separate occasions he had asked her to consider a cabinet appointment. “Of course every time I was hoping she would say no,” he joked. “Her response was that the cabinet needed some good back up singers and that’s what she would and could do.”
Wall reminded the party faithful that Eagles was “your voice at the table. She was dedicated and committed. She was our momma bear. We thank her family and her late husband Vic for agreeing to share her with us. There is a good caucus turnout here tonight because we all love Doreen.”
The next speaker, Economy Minister Bill Boyd said they not only loved her, but were also scared of her. “My interactions with Doreen often ended with a stream of her expletives,” he said with a laugh. He too, suffered as a seatmate to Eagles, for nearly seven years and he said he was still trying to find out what he had done wrong to deserve such a fate … “I mean other than smart meters and clean coal.”
Boyd also related a letter he and Wall sent to Allan Brigden who garnered attention from them since he is now dating Eagles. The letter contained several warnings and proper party protocol procedures.
June Draude, cabinet minister and Kelvington-Wadena MLA, noted Eagles was the longest-serving female MLA and the only one who hadn’t changed titles in the 16 or 17 years she has served the province and party. “She has the wit, the charm and, to be frank, she’s scary,” said Draude. “If you ever got that over the glasses look from Doreen, you knew you were in trouble. She even tried to teach me how to smoke.” But in all seriousness, Draude explained, caucus staff members as well as MLAs were in attendance because they loved her too, and knew she was a good “holder of secrets. We have friends here for seasons, friends for reasons and friends for a lifetime.”
Another MLA who will be retiring, Delwood “Yogi” Huyghebaert, recalled visits to flood-ravaged areas of the constituency that were led by Eagles and a time when a letter to the editor in this newspaper “came from the dark side” which immediately prompted a rebuttal that, he said, “cited the truth of the situation.” Huyghebaert also referenced Eagles’ love of shoes, as did Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart and former Health and Highways Minister Don McMorris who noted that “we brought the caucus here, well, because we didn’t want to have nobody at her farewell.
“We got along because we had two things in common. We hated the NDP and loved Financial Services,” McMorris joked.
Huyghebaert related an incident when Eagles hid everyone else’s shoes at a residential gathering. He didn’t find his until the next morning when the homeowner discovered them in the dish washer.
Eagles’ fresh baking also caught the attention of the MLAs. Cabinet minister Jim Reiter, when he arose to talk about Eagles, simply said, “I’m scared of her. She’s not always nice and I thought I was the only one who suffered at those early morning caucus meetings. I have since learned she is compassionate, firm and lends a shoulder to cry on and she is now one of my favourite people.”
Jack Pick, a constituency leader also brought words of praise and a fond farewell, as did Rosalee Story, Eagles’ long-serving local constituency office administrator, who noted she had to go easy on her boss, and her lack of technological skills, since she still had a few months of employment remaining and she wasn’t quite finished “polishing up my resume.”
Stewart said he, like Reiter, was frightened of Eagles’ dark side, when she “could be bossy with an acrid tongue, but I just liked to tease her because she always had an immediate and explosive response.” In fact, he said, he’d often spend a good part of the day or part of a night, thinking up silly things he could taunt her with, just to catch her reaction. “She really does have to work on her responses,” he told the appreciative audience. “She is an always-friend.”
In response, Eagles chose not to rebut the barbs, but rather extended a tearful exit message while introducing her immediate and extended family members who helped her cope through the difficult times and always provided the right attitude.
“I would also like to thank my constituency team for all you’ve done, and as for these guys,” she said, nodding toward the cabinet and caucus roasters, “I can get even with them on Monday. I’m going to be bigger than them. I’m not going to attack tonight. I will say though, if could have handpicked my colleagues, it would be the same ones you see here tonight.”
