During the 1980s Wall began working as a political staffer, first in the office of Swift Current Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament Geoff Wilson in Ottawa. There he helped to found the "Alliance for the Future of Young Canadians," a pro-free trade group. Wall returned to Saskatchewan and worked as a ministerial assistant in the Progressive Conservative government of Grant Devine in Regina. Wall worked for Graham Taylor, Minister of Public Participation, Tourism, Small Business, Co-operatives and Health, and for John Gerich, Associate Minister of Economic Development. The Devine government was swept from power in 1991 under the specter of provincial bankruptcy and a growing expense scandal, which in the wake of the election turned into a massive fraud scandal. The subsequent investigation led to the conviction of 14 MLAs who served in the Devine government, 6 of whom received jail time, including Gerich, who was sentenced to two years.