Brad Wall's senior advisor among 1st to switch roles

Three days before Scott Moe won the Saskatchewan Party leadership, the man who stood by Brad Wall's side during his decade in office switched positions.

Reg Downs, a friend of Wall's since university, longtime advisor and most recently the senior advisor to the premier in the premier's office, will move to cabinet planning as a senior policy advisor. The position still lies within Executive Council. Downs begins his new role on July 1. The decision was made during Wall's final cabinet meeting on Jan. 24.

Downs and Ken Krawetz, who was Wall's chief of staff, are leading the transition from Wall to Moe.

On Tuesday, Downs and Krawetz followed Moe and Deputy Premier Don Morgan into the premier-designate's first caucus meeting. Moe was met with a standing ovation from his caucus colleagues, 23 of whom backed his leadership campaign.

On Monday, Moe did not elaborate on which positions within the premier's office will change. He said he didn't anticipate wholesale changes but said there would be some "renewal." He said he would hang on to the corporate memory which he said is "so important for any successful organization."

While the names of those who surround and advise the premier may not be well-known, they are the un-elected voices and opinions the leader will lean on while governing the province.

Alanna Koch, who came second in the leadership race, took a leave from her position as deputy minister to the premier to run. She did not reveal if she intended to return to her old job. Moe said he has talked to all of the unsuccessful leadership candidates and will again about what their roles may be going forward.

"We'll discuss opportunities for all of us as we move forward to participate in the Saskatchewan Party and the Saskatchewan Party government," Moe said Monday.

During the leadership campaign, Wall's longtime communications chief Kathy Young came into the spotlight.

Three of the candidates, including Moe, sent a letter of complaint to the Saskatchewan Party on Dec. 8, about a week after a leadership debate in Weyburn. Shortly after the complaint was launched, CBC News learned an email chain involving Young, the premier's chief of operations and communications, sparked the complaint about an alleged leak of information to Koch's campaign.

On Nov. 29, Young had sent a question to the minister of health's chief of staff, looking for information about nurse practitioners.

The following night, a question about nurse practitioners was posed to the candidates at the leadership debate in Weyburn.

At the time, Young told CBC News, "I can tell you that at no time were any debate questions shared with any leadership campaign prior to any of the debates."

The Saskatchewan Party's leadership organizing committee (LEOC) investigated the complaint and found it was justified but said there was no evidence Young provided questions to Koch, her campaign manager or anyone else prior to the Weyburn debate.

"There were however specific inquiries by Ms. Young of the various ministerial office staff on topics which were the subject of the Weyburn debate," the LEOC said of Young's involvement.

Moe and his first cabinet are expected to be sworn in this week. He said he hopes to have his staffing decisions complete by next week.