Thomson was brought into cabinet by Lorne Calvert as Minister of Energy and Mines in 2001. In this portfolio, he proposed the reduction of oil and gas royalties to stimulate drilling in the Souris Basin that was being effected by low oil prices, introduced the greenprint for ethanol production for the province, and handled Saskatchewan's approach to the Kyoto Accord implementation. The department was abolished in the government restructuring of March 2002, at which time Thomson was assigned the newly created Corrections and Public Safety portfolio as well as the newly created Ministry of Information Technology.