REGINA -- Veteran Saskatchewan Roughriders lineman Gene Makowsky is looking to tackle a new career in politics.
Premier Brad Wall announced Wednesday that Makowsky, 37, will run for the governing Saskatchewan Party in the provincial election next November.
The Saskatoon-born Makowsky has been with the Roughriders for all of his 16 years in the Canadian Football League. He is a five-time CFL all-star and has been in four Grey Cup games, including Sunday's loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
He said he's still undecided about whether this will mean an end to his football career. The next election is set for early November, 2011, when the CFL is typically heading into playoffs.
"I think I can play football and still do a good enough job on the campaign trail," he said.
"We were close this year and I'd like to get even closer, just one more time. And on the political side, it's something I wanted to try and give it a shot."
Makowsky acknowledged that politics can be a tough business, but he said he's faced challenges before.
"I would suggest to you that pro football is pretty tough too," Makowsky told reporters at the legislature.
"After you give up five sacks and you lose, there's not a lot of cheering sometimes, so I guess I'm going from a tough business to another tough business and that's fine. I've been involved in a few tough businesses. I've been a baseball umpire, I've been a substitute teacher and I've been an offensive lineman."
Makowsky also admits that his resume doesn't include political experience.
"I think the biggest thing is that I care a lot about this province and once you have that basis, I think you can do a good job," he said.
"I don't know what kind of job I'll do. I might be decent, I might not, but I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can to deserve a potential seat in the house. That's all I can do."
Makowsky isn't the first football player to take a run at politics.
Former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed also played in the CFL. Lougheed spent two seasons with the Edmonton Eskimos. Don Getty, who followed Lougheed as the premier of Alberta, spent 10 years in the league and had been a quarterback for the Eskimos.
Saskatchewan fullback Chris Szarka won a seat on Regina city council during municipal elections last year. Szarka has been with the Riders for all of his 14 years in the league.
Premier Wall has called on Makowsky in the past.
In 2008, the premier -- who is an avid Riders fan -- appointed Makowsky to do a report on the state of minor football in communities across the province. Wall said Makowsky's effort on that report won him over.
"The amount of work that was done, the amount of travel that was done in very short order, really had me thinking that whenever Gene decided that football was over, I would hope that he would think about public service as well," said Wall.
Makowsky will run in the constituency of Regina Dewdney, which has been an NDP stronghold since 1985.
New Democrat Kevin Yates has held the seat since 1991. But Wall noted that the vote was close in the 2007 election -- the NDP won by just under 500 votes.
"It's not any targeting of any individual person. We're going to pick spots, work very hard to win," said Wall.
Yates said the government has long indicated that it would target his seat in Regina.
"I wouldn't expect anything different from a government. They obviously want to win more seats and as the Opposition, we want to be the government," said Yates.
"In the reverse situation, I would do the exact same thing politically. I would run my best high-profile candidate against the Opposition house leader or higher profile members of the Opposition. That's what you do, that's what political contests are about."
Yates noted that he has already faced a former football player. In the 2003 provincial election, Yates defeated Rob Bresciani, who spent five years in the Canadian Football League with Calgary and Saskatchewan.
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