On personal responsibility

Since the Saskatchewan Party's leadership campaign didn't do much to test Scott Moe's track record, it will fall to the rest of us to point out the reasons why his actions need to come under careful scrutiny. And one such reason comes from Moe's actions in threatening the provincial auditor's funding after he was first elected as an MLA - together with his excuse afterward:

Scott Moe, one of the Sask. Party MLAs on the committee, said after the meeting members were acting on their own.

"The questions that I saw in there were more around the scope of the auditor's office and what exactly the office does and questions you might expect from fairly newly elected members in there."

Now, the purpose of Moe's answer was presumably to distance Brad Wall from what quickly turned into a significant public issue. But there are a couple of implications of Moe's message which are of obvious concern now that he's in power.

It's obviously a problem if Moe continues to think it's in any way appropriate to threaten the funding of any organization charged with holding his government to account.

And it's even more worrisome if a new premier thinks it's any excuse for elected officials to barge ahead with actions based on a lack of knowledge after assuming a higher office, rather than taking even basic steps to understand their jobs.

We'll see if those issues surface again now that Moe is both in a new position himself, and responsible for the actions of the people acting at his direction. But his track record gives ample reason to worry.