The Saskatchewan provincial election campaign is officially on.
As of August, there were seven registered political parties in the province, but only three held seats in the provincial legislature.
Entering the election, the governing Saskatchewan Party holds more than two-thirds of the 61 seats in the legislature (42), followed by the opposition Saskatchewan NDP (14). There are three Independent members — Speaker Randy Weekes, Ryan Domotor and Greg Lawrence — and one member of the Saskatchewan United Party, Nadine Wilson. There is one vacant seat.
However, multiple veteran MLAs from the Saskatchewan Party have announced their plans to either change banners or not run again.
Four MLAs who have held high-profile cabinet positions — Gordon Wyant, Donna Harpauer, Dustin Duncan and Don McMorris — announced their plans to not run again in their long-held seats earlier this year. Wyant’s former seat in Saskatoon Northwest is the one vacant seat in the legislature.
In an interview with CBC Thursday, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe said when veteran ministers leave caucus, it’s a cause to pause, but immediately followed that to say it’s also an “opportunity for renewal” for the new candidates.
“They are going to have to work, and work hard, because they won’t have the recognition of being an incumbent — and I would say that they already are,” Moe said.
The Sask. Party holds a commanding position in the legislature, but a recent poll from the Angus Reid Institute suggests a recent drop in approval for Moe, to the lowest it’s been since early 2022.
“The poll that we pay attention to is coming up. It’s going to be on October the 28th,” Moe said.
“We’re going to be putting forward our value proposition to the people of Saskatchewan on what we think the next four years of this province can aspire to.”
Moe only sees one other party as competitive enough to form government, the Carla Beck-led Saskatchewan NDP. It’s her first election as the leader of the party, compared with Moe who became party leader in 2018 and kept his party in power through the 2020 election.
The Sask. Party has won enough seats to be the governing party in every election since 2007.
“The thing that our candidates are hearing on the doorstep is, it’s time for change,” Beck said in an interview with CBC on Thursday.
Recent polling from CTV News and Insightrix suggests the gap in decided voters has significantly narrowed from this time last year, with the NDP holding a narrow lead over the Sask. Party.
An Angus Reid poll from late August found that, overall, the Sask. Party held a seven-point advantage in voter intent over the NDP.
However, when not including the two largest urban centres (Regina and Saskatoon), the Sask. Party held a commanding 25-point lead in the poll.
“I grew up in rural Saskatchewan, most of my family still lives in rural Saskatchewan,” said Beck.
“I knew when I took on this leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP that we had a lot of work to do, not only in rural areas, but in many communities, many places that we simply hadn’t been present for too long.”
