Romanow will take an unpaid leave to work on the commission, but both the university appointments and the work on the health care commission point to Romanow’s expertise in public policy and his desire to continue to share his 30 years of political expertise.

Romanow’s appointment will see him eventually return to the province’s universities dividing his time equally between the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, where he will join the Department of Political Studies as a senior fellow in public policy.

As a senior policy fellow at the U of R, Romanow will work in the area of public policy, help design the University’s new Chinese government executive program, write, participate in seminars, conferences and presentations, and be available for class visits.

"The appointment of Roy Romanow to work with the U of R will bring many opportunities to the University, its faculty and students," President David Barnard said at a news conference to announce Romanow’s appointment.

"The vast experience with government that Mr. Romanow has will be of immense benefit to the University as it develops several of its activities."

Barnard said that the University has a thrust in the area of social justice and many things in which Romanow has been involved "fit nicely into that."

Romanow’s expertise in China will be particularly valuable as the U of R develops a new program to train Chinese government executives in the development of public policy. The program grew from the February visit to China by a delegation from the University (see story p.1).

Romanow, who was also on the trade mission, said he has been to China twice since his first visit in 1979, when he spent four weeks in that country.

As the premier, he had many occasions to be involved with things Chinese including twinnings and other bilateral business and cultural intiatives. With China entering the World Trade Organization, policy issues such as how to honour the rule of law or a charter of rights can be put together and more specifically focused, Romanow said.

Romanow said he has had a few opportunities to leave Saskatchewan to work at other universities, but he wanted to remain in the province where he grew up.

"I was firmly of the view that I wanted to contribute to and stay in Saskatchewan if the opportunity came.

"So when this opportunity came forward, this really was a great relief for me; I did not have to leave home."

In addition to his Saskatchewan university positions, Romanow will serve as visiting fellow in the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.