OUTLOOK - Saskatchewan residents headed to the polls this week for the 2024 provincial election, and when all was said and done, it confirmed that the Land of Living Skies is once again looking at 'four Moe years' as Scott Moe and his Saskatchewan Party was victorious.
However, there was certainly noise made on the NDP side of things as the party was victorious in a number of urban ridings that had previously been Sask Party strongholds. It remains to be seen if the new rural vs urban mapping ends up sending a message to the just re-elected Moe government.
At the local level, two ridings that encompass Outlook and the surrounding community area saw a number of names vye for the vote of the people.
On the west side of the South Saskatchewan River in the Rosetown-Delisle riding, the Sask Party's Jim Reiter was once again victorious, with his win called at approximately 9:15 while holding a substantial lead at 593 votes over his opponents such as the NDP's Brenda Edel, who was sitting at 93 votes when Reiter's victory was called.
Reiter was first elected in 2007 on the evening in which the Saskatchewan Party first formed government, and his lengthy stay in office has shown the deep support he has gained from those in his riding over the years.
On the east side of the river in the Dakota-Arm River riding, the Sask Party's Barret Kropf was victorious, defeating numerous candidates such as the NDP's Jordan Wiens, the Saskatchewan United Party's Darren Ebenal, the Progressive Conservatives' Raymond Carrick, and the Green Party's Joseph Reynolds. Kropf's victory was called at 9:30 while he was sitting at 643 votes, a far distance from his nearest opponent, the NDP's Wiens at 197 votes.
The Dakota-Arm River riding was an interesting one to watch as all the candidates were largely new to constituents, including Kropf, who was taking over as the Saskatchewan Party representative from former MLA Dana Skoropad, who earlier this year had decided to exit the provincial political arena.
The polls across the province closed at 8:00 pm and the results from rural parts of Saskatchewan had started to come in 45 minutes later, with numbers from urban areas such as Saskatoon and Regina expected to come in later. Those results had started to trickle in more than 90 minutes after the polls had closed.
The seats data made for some intense number crunching, particularly when the urban numbers had started to come in at around 9:45.
A majority government for the Saskatchewan Party was called at 11:40, making for a stark contrast to the election in 2020, when a majority government for the Moe-led party was called by 8:37.
