Buying in early

I can only assume that Patrick White and Jane Taber's exercise in sycophancy toward Brad Wall - which, among other glaring defects in fact, conveniently edits out the reality that Saskatchewan was fully in the midst of its current boom well before Wall ever formed government - reflects some effort to one-up CanWest's consistently fawning Wall coverage. But there is one fairly telling anecdote:

By Grade 6, Brad's budding political nerdiness was playing out on a board-game battleground. Poleconomy (yes, nothing screams childhood abandon like this wonky fusion of politics and the economy) required players to buy corporations and then take turns as a prime minister whose taxation policies could buoy or sink everyone's investments.

That, presumably, would be this game:

Poleconomy is a successfully marketed boardgame where the dynamic world of politics and business are combined in a novel and exciting game.

Players take on the role of both politician and tycoon, with the sole objective of building a business empire and acheiving (sic) the pinnacle (sic) power as President or Prime Minister.
...
Players need to form alliances and sometimes break them. They need to mount corporate takeover bids and compete in elections to perpetuate or overturn a government.

This is all to aquire (sic) as much wealth and power as possible within the recommended two hours.
...
Over 1.5 million games of Poleconomy have been sold, supported by the participation of 260 major corporate sponsers (sic) who have leased advertising space in seperate (sic) national versions in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the United Kingdom.

And it gets even better at the detailed rules, which while slightly less amateurish than the promotional page feature includes important explanations as to the perceived difference between the game and reality...:

The most important figure in the game is not the Banker but the Prime Minister...

...in economic starting points...

The Banker pays each player $300,000 Starting Capital. plus 4 times his Basic Income...

...in fiscal responsibility...

A player need only pay Tax to the extent he has Cash or Savings Interest Cards available and need not sell Government Bonds, Insurance Policies, Company or Advertising Squares to obtain cash.

...and in separation between government and business:

The Prime Minister is paid by the Bank his Prime Ministerial Salary of $100,000 whenever the "Inflation Marker', on the Inflation Index lands on Government Salary. This is in addition to his Income which he will receive as a player by moving around the board.
...
(The Prime Minister's) dilemma as a player is how to retain that support while keeping the economy buoyant and the Treasury liquid and all the while trying to win the game privately as a tycoon.

And then there's the Grant Devine rule:

If the Government bankrupt's the Treasury, the game ends in a draw.

Needless to say, these underlying assumptions as to how the political system works may explain plenty about how the Sask Party government plans to manage Saskatchewan's public money. And the corporate sponsors who funded the spread of a business-first-and-only ideology would presumably be happy with the return on their investment from Wall.

But fortunately, unlike in the game, it isn't only corporate tycoons who get a vote come election time. And the more Saskatchewan voters realize that Wall's rules don't take their interests into account, the less likely he'll be to get another turn in charge.