Eric Cline

Eric H. Cline (born August 12, 1955) is a former Canadian politician.

He campaigned for the NDP while still a student, finishing third in Regina South in the 1975 provincial election.

Cline received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Saskatchewan in 1976.

He served in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan as the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of the Legislative Assembly for Saskatoon Idylwyld from 1991 to 1995, Saskatoon Mount Royal from 1995 to 2003, and Saskatoon Massey Place 2003 to 2007.

He was a senior cabinet minister in the governments of Roy Romanow and Lorne Calvert.

He was first elected to the Saskatchewan legislature in the 1991 provincial election, winning election in the safe NDP seat of Saskatoon Idylwyld.

The New Democrats won a majority government under the leadership of Roy Romanow, and Cline served as a government backbencher.

Appointed to Cabinet in November 1995, he had responsibility for a number of portfolios including Health, Labour, Finance, Justice, and Industry and Resources.

He was re-elected for the new seat of Saskatoon Mount Royal in the 1995 election.

In March 1995, Cline announced that he would support his local Member of Parliament, Chris Axworthy, for leader of the federal New Democratic Party (Globe and Mail, 23 March 1995).

Axworthy subsequently declined to run.

Cline was called to cabinet on November 22, 1995, and was given the senior portfolio of Minister of Health.

He subsequently received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan, was called to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1980, and was a partner in the Saskatoon firm Woloshyn & Co. prior to his 1991 election (Calgary Herald, 9 January 1996).

He continued with the Romanow government's previous health reforms, and defended the decision to create consolidated regional health boards (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 25 November 1996).

A defender of the public health system, he helped bring forward the Health Facilities Licensing Act in May 1996 to restrict private clinics from being established in the province (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 2 May 1996).

Shortly thereafter, he eased restrictions on private nursing homes in the province (SSP, 14 May 1996).

Cline described this as a fair compromise, though some in the public sector described the latter initiative as an abandonment of medicare (SSP, 24 May 1996).

During the same legislative session, Cline introduced legislation to permit greater tax incentives for those who donate money to the health-care system (SSP, 22 May 1996).

In August 1996, he announced that the provincial and federal governments would cooperate to construct a new Athabasca health facility in northern Saskatchewan (SSP, 14 August 1996).

Later in the year, after accusations of underfunding by the Saskatchewan Nurses Union, Cline and the Romanow government introduced an additional $40 million for the provincial health system (SSP, 22 August 1996).

He also served as Acting Minister of Labour from July 1, 1996 to August 6, 1996.

In 1997, Cline indicated that Saskatchewan would take steps toward the legalization and regulation of midwifery, (Globe and Mail, 27 March 1997) and announced a $25,000 incentive for doctors setting up a practice in rural communities (Winnipeg Free Press, 26 April 1997).

He also spoke out against plans by the federal government of Jean Chrétien to offer pharmaceutical companies twenty-year patent protection for new prescription drugs (SSP, 17 April 1997).

In June 1997, he encouraged the Canadian federal and provincial governments to pool their resources in a class action lawsuit against tobacco companies for health-related expenses (18 June 1997)

Cline was promoted to Minister of Finance in the Romanow government on June 27, 1997, replacing Janice MacKinnon.

He introduced the Romanow government's fourth consecutive balanced budget in March 1998.

Highlighted by an unexpected 2% provincial income tax cut, the budget also provided tax incentives for the film and energy sectors, while increasing spending on health, education and roads (Financial Post, 20 March 1998).

In August, he released figures indicating that the provincial surplus target was $11 million more than expected (Globe and Mail, 28 August 1998).

Cline wrote an editorial piece in the Financial Post newspaper in mid-1998, arguing that the Romanow government had prevented Saskatchewan from falling into bankruptcy through its policy decisions since 1991 (4 August 1998).

The editorial was a response to a previous Post article which questioned the Romanow government's financial record.

Just before the 1999 budget was unveiled, Cline announced that the Saskatchewan government would contribute $140 million to a farm-aid package.

This payment reduced the estimated budget surplus to $8 million from $105 million (Times-Colonist, 2 March 1999).

The final totals indicated a surplus of $28 million (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 29 October 1999).

Cline's 1999 budget reduced the provincial sales tax by 1%, and put $195 million of new spending into health care (Winnipeg Free Press, 27 March 1999).

Two months later, he announced that the province would conduct a review of its tax system (Globe and Mail, 7 May 1999).

This announcement led to the creation of the Personal Income Tax Review Committee, which held several public meetings throughout the summer of 1999, and recommended a new personal income tax system for Saskatchewan, which Cline introduced in the 2000 Saskatchewan budget.

The NDP was unexpectedly reduced to a minority government in the 1999 provincial election, and later formed a coalition government with the Liberal Party.

On December 15, 2006, Cline announced his intention to not run in the 2007 election.

He continued to serve in Cabinet until May 31, 2007.

Cam Broten, subsequently Leader of the Saskatchewan NDP (2012- ) and Leader of the Opposition in the Saskatchewan Lesgislature (2012- ), was elected to replace him as the MLA for Saskatoon Massey Place.