The fall of 2024 is a great time if you are a provincial political junkie. Saskatchewan is the third and final (scheduled) province to have a provincial election, set for October 28.
The Saskatchewan Party (right-wing people and centrists) have won 4 straight majority governments in the province. Their neighbour to the east (Manitoba) flipped from Progressive Conservatives to NDP. Is that possible in Saskatchewan in 2024?
Let's start with the nuts and bolts. There are 61 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan so 31 seats are needed for a majority. Scott Moe, who has been premier since February 2, 2018, is the leader of the Saskatchewan Party, which had 48 seats in the 2020 election. The party has 42 at the writ drop.
Carla Beck is the New Democratic Party and the opposition leader. Beck has been in charge of the party since June 26, 2022 so this is her first election as leader. The NDP won 13 seats in 2020 and currently has 14 legislators. Jon Hromek of the Saskatchewan United is very new to this race as of May 16 of this year. Hromek's party won 0 seats in 2020 and currently has 1 MLA.
There are 3 Independent MLAs with 1 vacancy. There has been speculation of a possible merger between the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Buffalo Party. Neither party has any seats in the legislature.
So far, the governing Saskatchewan Party is the only team to already have a full 61-person roster. Of those 61 people, the party has said 16 are women, 45 are men, 27 are currently serving as MLAs and 34 are vying for a seat. Also, the Sask. Party disclosed that five of its candidates have past convictions for impaired driving, including Premier Scott Moe.
The Regina Leader-Post reported on the lead up to the provincial election. The Saskatchewan Party has a surprisingly small number of incumbents. Normally that would be bad for the party in power but if boats are being overturned, some of that Sask Party candidates can claim they aren't part of the establishment. 14 Saskatchewan Party MLAs are retiring and not running in 2024 vs. 2 for the NDP.
Love the fact that the procedure is to disclose past convictions for impaired driving and there are quite a few in the Saskatchewan Party. Reminds us of a major presidential candidate in the United States in 2000 where the press was trying hard not to write about that conviction for that candidate.
In covering a lot of provincial elections, we are often surprised that parties don't have a candidate in every riding. We don't have numbers for the NDP and those numbers can shift in the early part of the election cycle.
Under Premier Scott Moe, Saskatchewan is in last place in healthcare and education.
— Saskatchewan New Democrats (@Sask_NDP) September 2, 2024
Saskatchewan deserves better. pic.twitter.com/ZbViOwIb4U
One of our readers pointed out this ad that ran on the CFL on TSN. We love the contrast of Canadian political ads versus those for the States. We also are intrigued since New Brunswick and Saskatchewan have female opposition leaders. The only current female premier is Danielle Smith in Saskatchewan's neighbour to the west in Alberta.
Lorne Calvert was the last NDP premier in the province, serving from February 8, 2001 until November 21, 2007.
Saskatchewan passed a transphobic policy against kids in their schools, just like New Brunswick. There isn't any reason to pick on people on the edges of society except to pick up cheap political points. We don't think the political damage is as substantial in Saskatchewan as it has been in New Brunswick, though that doesn't change the cruelty of the legislation.
Like Manitoba, the battle for ridings is mostly in Regina and Saskatoon, the 2 largest cities by far in Saskatchewan. Food and gas prices, carbon tax are key though housing is a more significant issue in British Columbia and New Brunswick, fellow provinces with provincial elections in October.
Saskatchewan Party wins a fourth straight majority government
British Columbia Saturday, Saskatchewan on Monday: Election results likely to be delayed
2020 Saskatchewan election preview
2024 Canadian politics preview
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage
Often when there is a new premier, there is political pressure to have an election. Moe waited over 2 years after being premier to have an election. Saskatchewan has a different pace to things.
Saskatchewan also had a pandemic election, just like British Columbia and New Brunswick. The other 2 provinces moved their elections up within a pandemic but not Saskatchewan. Manitoba had been scheduled for 2020 but moved theirs up to 2019. Now an election can truly be about which direction that the constituents of Saskatchewan want to go. The general thought is that the 2024 elections may be "throw out the baby and the bathwater."
We would argue that the situation in each province is very different. We watched the Canadian press take an odd interpretation in the 2 recent federal byelections almost as if they wrote the story before the results came out.
Celebrating Donald Sutherland and his love for Canada, especially the Montreal Expos
CanadianCrossing.com Saskatchewan coverage
The first photo is of the Tommy Douglas bust in the legislature building in Regina. Tommy Douglas brought single payer health care to Saskatchewan and eventually to Canada. Douglas also was briefly the father-in-law to the late Donald Sutherland and grandfather to Kiefer Sutherland.
The second photo is of the beautiful and local Saskatoon berries that the province is known for growing. I have been to all 10 provinces but Saskatchewan was the final one I had not been to before I visited.
photo credits: me; Elections Saskatchewan; me
Twitter capture: @Sask_NDP
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