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Of course, those advantages are long gone due to a predictable downturn in a resource economy. And so, too, is the federal government — whose links to Wall were supposed to serve as our backup plan.

So what’s a premier to do when his insider connection in Ottawa is no longer there to grant his province some favours?

It might have seemed implausible for Wall to try to make the same demand for special goodies from Justin Trudeau that he would have pursued from Harper.

Whether his actions have been based more on national aspirations of his own or a sense that nobody else with a national profile is left to speak for his corporate backers, Wall seldom has wasted an opportunity to act as a nuisance to Trudeau since this fall’s federal election. And one could hardly expect Trudeau to respond positively when Wall paused from his constant sniping only to beg him for money to backfill what the Saskatchewan Party has squandered.

Moreover, Wall can’t claim to have granted the same type of consideration to anybody facing similar issues within his own province. Just ask your local school board or health region whether the Saskatchewan Party has been more inclined to provide additional resources to meet unanticipated needs, or to cast blame on the people they’ve put in an impossible position due to insufficient funding and unrealistic expectations.

Yet with neither personal connections nor clean hands on his side, Wall has stuck doggedly to his initial plan — following years of boasting about being an economic engine with a sudden demand that the federal government serve up a special giveaway to oil-producing provinces.