Saskatchewan votes ahead of municipal election

Throughout Saskatchewan, people are heading to the polls to make their voices heard in the 2024 municipal election.

Meadow Wells-Goudie was voting in Regina when the polls opened on Wednesday morning, she felt it was important to cast her ballot.

“I think voting is so important,” she said. “I’m a registered social worker and social policy is really important to me. I think it’s important that we go out and get our voices heard and back people who we think support the things we believe in our community and our values.”

She suggested it was easy this election to find candidates who supported values similar to hers.

Kristen Bouvet was also voting in Regina on Tuesday and feels the municipal election holds an important vote.

“I think it’s more so than any other ways we can vote. Municipal elections are actually what effects us directly, so it’s really important to have your say,” she said.

Bouvet said she found people she wanted to vote for, but mentioned it was difficult to find the platforms that candidates were running on.

“It was hard to try to figure out what their actual politics are. You’re trying to look behind things and make assumptions on things that you might think are important, but I found a lot of issues that are important to me aren’t really talked about,” Bouvet explained. “Trying to find someone that aligns with my values is important.”

In Saskatoon, one polling station got off to a rough start.

At St. Dominic school, the polling station that was supposed to open at 8 a.m. didn’t open on time.

According to the City of Saskatoon, the polling station didn’t open until 8:30 a.m. because of an issue that arose at the station. The city didn’t say what that issue was but confirmed that it was the only issue they found at any of the 67 polling locations.

Rhoda Adams voted at Oskāyak High School just off Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon and suggested for her it was pretty easy to find a candidate she liked.

“After watching the debate and stuff the answers that I wanted were there in the candidate that I ended up voting for,” she said.

Colleen Hala, who’s newer to Saskatoon said the candidates who came to her door helped her decide on who she’d cast her vote for.

“My mind was made up by different candidates coming to my home and talking to them and hearing their concerns,” she explained.

Both Adams and Hala said this election there was one main issue that they wanted to be solved in the city and that was homelessness.

“I would love to get to see something being solved about our homeless population. That is a multi-level kind of thing to get at and it’s not an easy thing that just one answer will take. I feel like that will be something that needs a lot more work than what some of the candidates were willing to give,” Adams said.

“There’s a lot of (homelessness) in Saskatoon and it needs to be dealt with properly. It’s not just pick them up, but real solutions that’s going to work for them,” she said.

Across Saskatchewan, polls will remain open until 8 p.m.