‘High and dry’: Voters in some Sask. constituencies eager to fill empty seats

Regina Walsh Acres resident Jamie Sunkewaste has not forgotten that his riding was left unrepresented by an MLA for more than a year.

It’s not a fond memory.

“The person who was in before knew that they weren’t going to be around that much longer,” Sunkewaste said.

“They should (have) actually not run (in 2016) if they were thinking that they weren’t going to represent this area. They should not (have) even ran for the last election.”

Warren Steinley was the last one to hold the seat, representing the constituency for the Saskatchewan Party since 2011. In September 2019, Steinley — along with fellow MLA and party member Corey Tochor — resigned to run in the federal election. Both were elected as MPs.

Their departures drew the ire of the NDP, which demanded that Steinley and Tochor resign by Aug. 6 of last year. While byelections typically have to be called within six months of a vacancy, the former MLAs blamed a “loophole” in the law that allowed Premier Scott Moe to forgo a vote because 40 months had elapsed since the last general election.

As a result, Regina Walsh Acres and Tochor’s Saskatoon Eastview have been empty ever since.

Moe told reporters then that calling byelections in the two ridings would cost $700,000 and that neighbouring MLAs would represent those constituents.

“We have a number of MLAs that will be working to ensure that the people of these two constituencies in our two largest centres will be well-served,” Moe said.

Kelly Hardy, the NDP candidate for Regina Walsh Acres in the Oct. 26 election, said she’s hearing from angry residents on the doorstep who still are upset about being left without an MLA.

Kelly Hardy, the NDP candidate in Regina Walsh Acres. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)

“They’re saying, ‘They left us behind. The Sask. Party didn’t think highly of us … They just left us hanging, high and dry. We had nobody. So it’s about time that we had representation,’ ” she said.

Jim Farney, the department head of politics and international studies at the University of Regina, isn’t sure the vacancy will impact the outcome on Oct. 26.

He said it likely matters to some people but at the polls, voters are choosing parties more so than individual candidates. As well, Farney pointed to the “candidate-level drama” in both ridings that might be a stronger factor in the race.

Until recently, the NDP candidate for Regina Walsh Acres was Sandra Morin, but party leader Ryan Meili declined to endorse her candidacy. Morin is now an independent candidate while Kelly Hardy is on the NDP ticket instead.

In Saskatoon Eastview, the Sask. Party candidate, Daryl Cooper, resigned due to social media posts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory. He was replaced by Chris Guerette.

“I would guess, and it is just a guess, that the year of absence would be washed by what’s going on otherwise,” Farney said.

However, Farney said people would feel an MLA’s absence where constituency work is needed. That could involve helping residents navigate the government bureaucracy and advocating for those who fall through the cracks.

“That’s really not something to be underestimated. It’s a really important part of an MLA’s job,” he said.

Of all the candidates in the riding, Morin is the only one who has held public office, serving as an MLA and a cabinet minister in the Lorne Calvert government.

Sandra Morin, an independent candidate in Regina Walsh Acres. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)

Constituency work is the most fulfilling part of being an MLA and also the most time-consuming, she said.

“They come to you with a variance of concerns, issues, problems, from A to Z,” she said. “And you have to know how to find the resources to help them with their issues and how to be their champion and how to be their advocate in the various ways you can pursue things.”

Recently, Morin heard from a constituent who ended up with “an outrageously high power bill.” As she knocked on doors, Morin found there were others with the same problem.

Morin said those residents had no luck resolving the issue with SaskPower so they reached out to another Sask. Party MLA, some of them even contacting the premier’s office. Without an MLA of their own, Morin said they had to be their own advocates.

“That is the problem when you leave a seat vacant,” Morin said. “A seat has to have representation so that the residents in that seat have advocacy because that’s what they deserve.”

In a tight race, Farney believes the NDP has an opportunity to exact a political price for leaving the seat empty.

“It fits so well with their overall brand for this campaign. The line that they’re trying to run is that, ‘We care about people like you. The Sask. Party doesn’t. And look: In these two ridings, they left you without representation for a year,’ ” he said.

Saskatchewan Party candidate Derek Meyers said the issue has not been brought up with him on the doorstep at all. He believes an MLA’s job is to represent everyone, whether they live in the same riding or not.

Derek Meyers, the Saskatchewan Party candidate for Regina Walsh Acres. (Derek Meyers/Submitted)

“You can’t just have a conversation with somebody and discount it because … they don’t live in my area,” Meyers said. “Our job is to represent the entire province and keep this whole province moving in the right direction and continue to grow and be strong and have a great economy.”

For Sunkewaste, whether or not he has had an MLA for the past year isn’t a deciding factor. Instead, his big priority is affordability, in a campaign that so far has been dominated by pocketbook issues.

“Affordability is huge and to lower the taxes would be nice too. (Dropping) the GST back down to at least five per cent, that would be really nice,” he said. “(Things are) actually pretty good. We both have jobs here so it’s not bad but the price of living is higher than what we are actually making.”

Farney said the Sask. Party will benefit from division within the NDP and could ignore the issue. It also could shift the ballot question and ask voters to turn their attention elsewhere, mainly to whom voters want representing them for the next four years.

“ ‘Yes, it’s a problem but look at the excellent candidate you’ve got in front of you from our party now,’ ” he said.

That’s what Meyers wants voters to concentrate on.

“The premier and the Saskatchewan Party’s growth plan laid out to 2030 speaks for itself and it’s my job to go and convey that and then listen to the people out there,” he said.

“It’s who is going to lead us best through this and I 100 per cent obviously believe it’s the Saskatchewan Party, Premier Moe and myself.”

— With files from Dominick Lucyk and Global News