Saskatchewan election updates

In case the results haven’t reached you yet, read on

Voting for the 30th Saskatchewan provincial election concluded at 8 p.m. on Oct 28 and the second preliminary count of votes concluded on Oct 30. Voter turnout was similar to the last election. Global News reported that “about 54 per cent of the eligible voters cast their ballot in the Saskatchewan provincial election 2024…only a slight increase from the 2020 election of just under 53 per cent.”

Daniel Westlake, a professor at University of Saskatchewan, explained to Global News that “things like Student Vote that tries to get people voting before they’re eligible and get people used to the practice of voting even if they’re not casting a real ballot,” are useful, and that “we need more of that kind of stuff,” which helps increase voter turnout and public political engagement.

The final count concluded on Nov 9, according to Election SK’s calendar.

The Saskatchewan Party (Sask. Party) returned for its fifth consecutive term. To hold a majority government, a party needs 31 seats. According to the live election results on results.elections.sk.ca, the Sask. Party has 34 seats and the Saskatchewan New Democrats Party (Sask. NDP) has 27 seats.

CBC reported that this is the first time a party has served five consecutive terms since the Co-operative Commonwealth Party served from 1944 to 1961 under the leadership of Tommy Douglas. CBC’s report published on Oct 28 stated that Moe will remain as Saskatchewan’s premier and retain his seat in the Rosthern-Shellbrook constituency.

In a video on CBC’s page, Scott Moe, while celebrating the party’s victory at the Richardson Pioneer Recreation Centre in Shellbrook on Oct 29, released a statement. He said, “You know and believe, as do I, that Saskatchewan’s best days are still ahead of us, and you believe that the Saskatchewan Party is the best choice to lead Saskatchewan to that brighter future.”

Moe also recognized that the win was closer than other elections of his party, “I’ve heard the message that was delivered here this evening, and the Saskatchewan Party will be a government that works for all of the people of Saskatchewan.”

As for the NDP, the party gained a significant number of seats in comparison to the last provincial elections in 2020, when it had a total of 13 seats, according to the past election results. NDP leader Carla Beck, who retained her seat in Regina Lakeview, addressed the public and party members in her speech at the DoubleTree Hotel in Regina on Monday, Oct 28. “Friends, we came so close…We might not have crossed the finish line first tonight but, my friends, we have changed the landscape in this province,” she said.

After the final count, the Sask. Party and the NDP will form the entire legislation for Saskatchewan. Candidates from the other five parties, namely the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan, the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Green Party, the Saskatchewan Progress Party and the Saskatchewan United Party, have lost in all races they competed.

NDP won all seats in Regina and all but one in Saskatoon, the two biggest cities in the province, Sask. Party won the seat in Saskatoon Willowgrove. In an article by The Leader Post, it was reported that five prominent cabinet ministers were defeated by their NDP rivals in the initial counts.

Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre in Saskatoon Stonebridge-Dakota, Gene Makowsky (Social Services) in Regina University, Christine Tell (Environment) in Regina Wascana Plains, Laura Ross (Parks, Culture and Sports) in Regina Rochdale, and Paul Merriman (Corrections) in Saskatoon Silverspring were the leaders who lost in their respective constituencies. As per The Leader Post’s report, 21 out of the 48 MLAs who were elected in 2020 did not participate in the recent elections with Sask. Party under returning Premier Scott Moe’s leadership.

Moe stated in his victory speech on Oct 29 that, “We knew when we started this campaign that it was going to be a challenging campaign…Recent history has not been kind to incumbent, majority governing parties in this nation or around the world…But we also believed that we had a message and we had a record we could be proud of. And we knew we had an outstanding slate of candidates.”

It is worth noting that all three Indigenous MLAs belong to the NDP, none of the Sask. Party MLAs are Indigenous.The Saskatoon StarPheonix reported that two Indigenous candidates, Jordan McFail and Leroy Laliberte, were elected in the northern constituencies of Cumberland and Athabasca respectively and that Betty Nippi-Albright retained her seat in Saskatoon.

Doug Cuthand, a journalist with The Saskatoon StarPheonix, says in his article “Provincial election showcases need for change in Sask. Politics” that “the provincial election may have revealed the rural-urban split in Saskatchewan, but it also revealed the split between the Saskatchewan Party and Indian Country.”

Cuthand continues, “In their zeal to court the right wing, Indigenous issues have been ignored and the Saskatchewan Party government has instead placed a priority on cultural wedge issues, such as changing rooms for trans kids. This issue hardly shows on the First Nations radar […] issues such as health care, poverty, homelessness and the justice system were barely discussed. Health care being the exception.”

“According to Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand there are over 800 homeless people in Saskatoon, and most are Indigenous. The situation in Regina is likely similar. This is a complicated issue that must be addressed,” he said.

The Leader Post reported Beck’s statement regarding the NDP’s goals and approach going forward. “We’re going to keep fighting for health care that is there for people when they need it, so they don’t have to drive out of province or pay out of pocket to get it […] We’re going to fight for our kids so they get that good education that we all want for our kids and our grandkids, for jobs that pay the bills,” the NDP leader said.