Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party won a third term to run the provincial government with about the same margin the party had going into Monday's election.
Last night, the Saskatchewan Party won 51 of the 61 seats. In 2011, the party won 49 of the 58 seats.
The NDP, the only other party to have seats in the Saskatchewan legislative assembly, went from 9 to 10 seats. The party won seats in Regina and Saskatoon, the province's 2 largest cities, and the bookend ridings in remote northern Saskatchewan. Cam Breton, the NDP leader, lost his Saskatoon Westview riding, though Breton lost by 232 votes.
The NDP might not have been in good shape otherwise, but the party had to deal with the early withdrawal of 4 candidates due to offensive statements made on social media in the past. The party also lost its campaign manager early in the campaign.
The Green Party, the Liberal Party, and the Progressive Conservative Party ran MLA candidates, though not in every riding. None of the other parties came close to winning a riding. The last time the Liberal Party had MLAs in Saskatchewan was in 1999. The party hasn't been in control of the province since the 1967 election.
The Saskatchewan Party grew out of the Progressive Conservative Party in the province, beginning with the 1999 election. Brad Wall became the party leader on March 15, 2004 and has since won elections in 2007, 2011, and 2016. So even without the name "conservative" in the party, the Saskatchewan Party is the right-centre party.
The federal election delayed the provincial election in Saskatchewan, pushing the Saskatchewan election from November 2, 2015 to April 4, 2016.
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Wall said after casting his ballot Monday that he wanted a strong opposition. "I think it's always good to have the balance. I think government being held accountable is — whoever the government is — is an important part of the system."
The NDP might have that in quality, but certainly not in quantity.
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There wasn't a single crucial issue in the election. The economy is definitely an issue and struggling with the loss of oil-related jobs. The province's oil areas didn't qualify for extra employment insurance (EI). The Saskatchewan Party platform did promise to privatize liquor stores. The NDP promised more teachers and social workers.
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Bill Boyd won his 3rd term in the Kindersley riding for the Saskatchewan Party. Former Saskatchewan Party MLA Jason Dearborn ran in this riding as an independent. Boyd won 67.8% in the riding; Dearborn came in 2nd at 17.7%. Given that the PC Party candidate won 4.6% of the vote, right-wing candidates won 90.1% in the riding.
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"This is the not the night we were hoping for," Broten said with the concession speech for the party. When he concluded his speech, Broten said he was going to watch the results of his own riding. The fact that Broten lost his riding meant his earlier statement was accurate just not complete. The NDP had 32% support in the 2011 election and dropped to around 30% support in 2016.
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We know red is for Liberal, orange for NDP, blue for Conservative, but what colour is the Saskatchewan Party? As I saw from the results on CBC Regina, the Saskatchewan Party green is Roughrider green after the Saskatchewan Roughriders green of the CFL. The Green Party results were in a lighter green to discern its results from the darker green of the Saskatchewan Party.
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