Little change expected in Saskatchewan as federal election kicks off

As Canadians prepare to head to the polls Sept. 20, it seems the only question in Saskatchewan to answer is whether there’ll be any colour but blue.

In 2019, the province went entirely Conservative in all 14 seats, even rejecting long-time Liberal Ralph Goodale from his Regina seat.

There is little to suggest there will be much change in 2021, although there will be some new faces for voters to consider.

In May, Tom Lukiwski announced he would not seek re-election. The Conservative candidate running in his place is Fraser Tolmie, the current Mayor of Moose Jaw.

Michael Kram is looking to hold on to the seat he took from Goodale, and this is the first time Kram won’t face the well-known Liberal.

And in the last week, long-time NDP MLA Buckley Belanger announced his resignation from the caucus in order to run as a Liberal in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River.

There is still the potential for a change, as has been seen in the past. In 2015, Saskatchewan elected three NDP MPs, along with one Liberal.

Andrew Scheer, the incumbent in Regina-Qu’Appelle, is no longer the Conservative Party leader so it remains to be seen how much attention the province will get from the federal leaders.

In the past, the leaders have only visited Saskatchewan once or twice during a campaign, with the majority of the attention in the main centres of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

That is expected to be no different this time around.

The Candidates

Here’s a list of the candidates in Saskatchewan’s ridings as of Aug. 15. The candidates and the ridings appear in alphabetical order.

Nomination meetings in some ridings are still being held.

Battlefords-Lloydminster: Rosemarie Falk, Conservative Party of Canada; Erik Hansen, NDP; Larry Ingram, Liberal Party of Canada; Ken Rutherford, Maverick Party.

Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek: Kelly Block, Conservative; Diane Pastoor, Maverick; Andrew Yubeta, People’s Party of Canada.

Cypress Hills-Grasslands: Alex McPhee, NDP; Jeremy Patzer, Conservative; Mark Skagen, Maverick.

Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River: Buckley Belanger, Liberal; Nasser Dean Chalifoux, Green Party; Harmonie King, NDP; Gary Vidal, Conservative.

Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan: Chey Craik, People’s Party of Canada; Talon Regent, NDP; Fraser Tolmie, Conservative; D. Craig Townsend, Maverick; Katelyn Zimmer, Liberal.

Prince Albert: Estelle Hjertaas, Liberal; Randy Hoback, Conservative; Heather Schmitt, Maverick.

Regina-Lewvan: Susan Cameron, Liberal; Tria Donaldson, NDP; Warren Steinley, Conservative; Michael Wright, Green Party.

Regina-Qu’Appelle: Annaliese Bos, NDP; Naomi Hunter, Green Party; Cecilia Melanson, Liberal; Andrew Scheer, Conservative.

Regina-Wascana: Michael Kram, Conservative; Erin Hidlebaugh, NDP; Victor Lau, Green Party; Sean McEachern, Liberal; Mario Milanovski, People’s Party of Canada.

Saskatoon-Grasswood: Mark Friesen, People’s Party of Canada; Rokhan Sarwar, Liberal; Gillian Walker, Green Party; Kevin Waugh, Conservative.

Saskatoon-University: Claire Card, NDP; Jeremy Fisher, Communist Party; Guto Penteado, People’s Party of Canada; Corey Tochor, Conservative; Dawn Walker, Liberal.

Saskatoon West: Kevin Brent Boychuk, People’s Party of Canada; Robert Doucette, NDP; Alphonsus Rajakumar, Liberal; Brad Redekopp, Conservative.

Souris-Moose Mountain: Robert Kitchen, Conservative.

Yorkton-Melville: Valerie Brooks, Green Party; Denise Loucks, Maverick; Cathay Wagantall, Conservative.