Premier-designate Brad Wall said Thursday he will not commit to continuing the previous government's legal action against Ottawa over the equalization formula.

Wall said he wants more information before making a decision about the constitutional challenge over how resource revenues are treated in the formula, which is used to redistribute wealth among Canada's have and have-not regions.

"We need to find out exactly what kind of legal opinion … the Saskatchewan government had regarding this issue," he told CBC News.

Equalization is a $12-billion program under which Ottawa makes payments to poorer provinces so they can afford the same services and tax rates as richer provinces.

Thanks to surging oil and gas revenues, Saskatchewan has received virtually no equalization money in the past few years.

During the 2006 federal election campaign, the Conservatives promised to take non-renewable resources like oil and gas out of the equalization formula — a change former NDP premier Lorne Calvert said would mean an extra $800 million a year for provincial coffers.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper did in fact introduce a new formula in the March 2007 federal budget. It removed oil and gas from the equalization calculations, but added a cap on payments to poorer regions. As a result, Saskatchewan is getting $226 million this year and nothing next year.

Calvert told reporters Thursday that Wall may be searching for a way to tone down Saskatchewan's position with Harper's Conservative government.

"We will be watching very carefully over the next days and weeks into the December session about precisely what kind of discussions are going to happen between the federal Conservative government and our new Saskatchewan Party government in the province," Calvert told CBC News.

He said he is confident that the constitutional challenge launched this year under his premiership is a winning case.

"I am certain that when reviewed by Mr. Wall, or whoever he has to review them, they will find these to be very strong legal opinions," he said.

In court documents, the previous provincial government said it would argue that the equalization scheme treats Saskatchewan unfairly under the Constitution and interferes with its ability to manage its natural resources.