Next time, however, he'll make sure he's off public roads before he starts his lesson.

"I'd want to be able to continue to do this with my daughter. It's not very many occasions where our teenage daughter thinks it's OK to hang out with her dad for an hour or so," Wall said Friday in a conference call from New York, where he had just wrapped up a trade mission.

"We can do this on private land if there is an option and there are some pretty good roads - some of the roads on private land are as good as the other roads."

While driving before having a licence is something many parents in rural Saskatchewan let their kids do - Wall himself admits his dad let him slip behind the wheel at nine or 10 years old - controversy erupted earlier this week when Wall admitted to a crowd of rural municipal leaders that he recently took his daughter Megan, 14, out driving on a country road near the family home in Swift Current.

Saskatchewan law says a driver has to be at least 15 years old and have a learner's permit before legally getting behind the wheel.

The Opposition NDP said Wall should not be publicly encouraging breaking the law and asked the premier to apologize.

The premier offered a qualified apology Friday, saying he is sorry if his actions led anyone to believe that what he did was right. He also noted that he has apologized to his family, and especially his daughter, for dragging her into a story.

"I've tried to guard my family from this public life that I've chosen as best I could, and this was a moment where I didn't do that," he said. "That's a regret that I have."

Since the story has broke, Wall said he has received numerous offers of private land he can use to let his daughter drive to her heart's content, and he may have to take someone up on the invitation.

"I understand that I have a job where there is a different standard, and that's for highway traffic violations - it's for the laws of the province," Wall said.

"Obviously safety is No. 1. We are talking about our kids, and I'll tell you what: I simply would not do anything that I believe would not be safe with my kids."