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Devine — who is expected to be appointed alongside Deloitte partner Shelley Brown and March Consulting Associates president of operations Ritu Malhotra — will be the second former premier on the board. Roy Romanow, whose Saskatchewan NDP party defeated Devine’s PCs in the 1991 election, serves as the university’s chancellor and as one of its governors.

“How, at a time of budgetary challenges created by the Sask. Party, could they even consider appointing to the board of one of our universities the person who led our province to the brink of bankruptcy?” Saskatchewan NDP advanced education critic Ryan Meili wondered in a prepared statement.

Devine’s government employed Premier Brad Wall as a staffer. Advanced Education Minister Bronwyn Eyre said the decision to appoint the former premier was based on his qualifications, which include two degrees from the U of S, one from the University of Alberta, a PhD from Ohio State University and years as an agriculture professor. Devine taught agricultural economics at the U of S in the 1970s.

“This is not a partisan appointment; it’s a qualification appointment, a qualification issue and it’s a commitment to the University of Saskatchewan,” Eyre said.

Reached by email, Devine agreed to an interview, but he could not subsequently be contacted.

Eyre said she preferred to “leave the partisan politics out of this” before reiterating her view that the former premier’s qualifications “speak for themselves.”