The victory is the fourth consecutive majority for the Saskatchewan Party
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Saskatchewan voters chose four more years of Saskatchewan Party leadership in Monday’s provincial election.
“I gotta tell you, I’m feeling pretty good tonight,” Premier Scott Moe said in his victory speech.
Moe and the rest of his party won or were leading in 50 of the province’s 61 seats Monday and will have a majority in the provincial legislature for the next four years.
The fifty-seat total represents an increase of four seats compared to when campaigning began on Sept. 29.
A party needs 31 seats to win a majority. Ryan Meili’s NDP won or led in the province’s remaining 11 ridings.
Moe’s victory is the fourth consecutive majority government for the Saskatchewan Party, who have formed government since 2007.
The victory is also the first majority win for Moe, who succeeded Brad Wall as party leader after Wall resigned in February 2018.
With the election now in the rear-view mirror, industry groups are eager to engage with the Moe government.
A majority government means continuity for the next four years, said Todd Lewis, president of Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS).
“Certainly, at the bureaucratic level, there’s going to be continuity and likely at the ministerial level as well,” he told Farms.com.
On a provincial level, APAS hopes to work with the government on multiple items.
The Moe government passed rural trespassing laws in May 2019. The law states that anyone wishing to access private land must receive permission from landowners.
Some of the details about how the law will be enforced are still in development, Lewis said.
“That’s an ongoing policy that we’ll be keeping an eye on in the short term,” he said.
In the longer term, APAS hopes to work with the government on its water-management and internet-connectivity strategies.
“How you manage water has always been an ongoing policy matter,” Lewis said. “And one of the major issues right now is internet and cell phone service. Many people in rural Saskatchewan have rudimentary service or none at all, so we’ll be looking forward to seeing a priority placed on connectivity.”
Almost all of Moe’s cabinet ministers were re-elected in their ridings.
Agriculture Minister David Marit, Finance Minister Donna Harpauer and Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison, for example, won in their ridings of Wood River, Humboldt-Watrous, and Meadow Lake, respectively.
Advanced Education Minister Tina Beaudry-Mellor led her Regina University seat by 178 votes as of 11:30 p.m. local time Monday with mail-in ballots remaining to be counted.
Farms.com has contacted Minister Marit’s office and hopes to speak with him about working with the ag sector going forward.