Introduction of Guests (1 December 2021)

From Hansard (1 December 2021)

 

Former MLA Nancy Heppner

Mr. Jenson: — Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It’s a great honour and a privilege today to introduce a very special guest seated in your gallery. And it’s a guest that I’m quite sure the opposition is glad to see up there and not down here with us. Like I said, it’s my honour and privilege to introduce the Hon. Nancy Heppner, the former MLA [Member of the Legislative Assembly] from Martensville-Warman.

As most of us know, Nancy started her career in politics on Parliament Hill working within the Harper government. Her late father, Ben, was the MLA for Rosthern originally and then Martensville, and Ben tragically passed away in 2006. And Nancy came home to Saskatchewan. I should also mention Ben was one of the founding members of the Saskatchewan Party.

So Nancy came home in 2006, won the by-election in March of 2007, and held the Martensville seat for the next thirteen and a half years. She held several positions in cabinet including Environment, Highways, and Central Services. And her career in politics was long and distinguished with the people of this province benefiting from all the hard work she did in so many different ways. The constituents of Martensville-Warman meant the world to Nancy and she worked tirelessly to get things done, and she’s often spoke about still in the constituency for that.

It's not easy being an MLA in two of the fastest growing cities in Saskatchewan, but Nancy was there to answer the bell every time for us. Thanks to her we have overpasses, new schools. We have new infrastructure like lagoons, recreation facilities, and there’s just a long list of things that have been built, renovated, and upgraded thanks to her.

Nancy would always assure people that while she took her job seriously — and everyone here, especially the opposition, can attest to that — she didn’t take herself seriously. But some of those opposition members got to know her outside the House and found her to be warm and engaging with a really, really cool sense of humour. I was told once she ordered a T-shirt for one of their former members who admitted that Grant Devine actually got a few things right, and that member was good enough to put it on and pose for a photo with her.

If caucus were a hockey team, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Nancy would be the power forward that nobody would want to go up against. She was adept at studying her opposition. She stuck to the game plan, and she crashed the net every time. And like any all-star, she loved to go into the corners, and she never backed down. And I’m sure there were times the opponents she went up against wished they had stayed in the dressing room.

Whether it was correcting the record or congratulating the NDP’s [New Democratic Party] crack research team on failure after failure, Nancy was the consummate politician — always prepared, always upfront, and most of all always very classy, most of the time.

I’m told Nancy used to come into the House armed with a stack of yellow sheets . . . and I’m pretty sure they were yellow. Yeah? Okay. I didn’t want to be corrected. But she would bring these yellow sheets into the House full of the opposition’s misdeeds. The members opposite would be wondering, when she pulled out those yellow sheets, which one of them would be on the receiving end.

But like most conservatives over the years with a German background in my area, Nancy is a very frugal person. It makes it challenging for me as a new MLA when I sit down with my CA [constituency assistant] and we see things that well, we didn’t spend money on this; we didn’t spend money on that. It’s frustrating. But I know Nancy understands that struggle since her predecessor, her father, once reviewed the public accounts and proudly proclaimed himself the cheapest MLA in the province. It’s a tough act to follow, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

But I will say this, on behalf of the people of MartensvilleWarman and the people of Saskatchewan, Nancy, you carried on your dad’s legacy in this building, and I think we can all agree he would be your biggest fan. It was your hard work and passion and energy that made everyone around you pay attention and do better.

At my nomination meeting before the last election, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Nancy addressed the crowd while we were waiting for the ballots to be counted. She told the story of a federal member from her days in Ottawa who said that when members leave, their name plates are taken off the door and new names are put up. And old members walk away and over time they become forgotten. Wise words, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Our time here is fleeting, and none of us should have an inflated sense of our place in this establishment. But time marches on, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and this is the way it should be.

But this former member, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Nancy, is not forgotten nor will she be soon. I’d like to invite all members of this Legislative Assembly to join me in thanking Nancy Heppner for her service to the people of Saskatchewan and welcome her back into her legislature. Thank you.

---

Back to 2021/2022 Session