SASKATOON — The Saskatchewan NDP flipped several constituencies in Saskatoon, even knocking two cabinet ministers the Saskatchewan Party had in the city who were appointed during the previous government.
Darcy Washington enjoys a 713 lead over the Sask Party’s Bronwyn Eyre for the Stonebridge riding seat, with the latter serving as the Minister for Justice and Attorney General, 3,789-3,076. The Green Party’s Cheryl Mazil (94) and Jahangir Singh (79) of the Saskatchewan Progress Party, formerly the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan.
Hugh Gordon holds a 258-vote lead over Paul Merriman, 3,970-3,712. Merriman headed the Ministry of Corrections, Policing, and Public Safety and was the Minister Responsible for the Firearms Secretariat and the Deputy House Leader in the previous Sask. Party government.
All results, however, are preliminary, with a second count to be done on Wednesday along with mail-in ballots. There is also a third count with the mail-in ballots that came in on the deadline. However, if things do not change, the NDP will capture 12 out of the 14 seats.
Preliminary results show the Sask Party holding 35 against the 26 of the NDP, as they reach the needed 31 seats to form a government. The Saskatchewan United Party performed lukewarmly as it failed to divide the rural vote.
Former Sask Party member Nadine Wilson lost her Saskatchewan Rivers seat and finished third behind Eric Schmalz of the Sask Party and Doug Racine of the NDP. The Sask United hoped to win at least two seats, Wilson and Sask Party Leader Jon Hromek in Lumsden-Morse.
The NDP took all 12 seats in Regina, but it was insufficient despite picking up Athabasca and Cumberland. The NDP aimed to break the Sask Party’s rural stronghold, hoping to earn at least seats in Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and Yorkton.
The NDP, however, regained Athabasca, with Leroy Laliberte foiling the re-election bid of the Sask Party’s Jim Lemaigre. The Green’s Raven Reid was third with 44 votes. The incoming opposition retained Cumberland after Jordan McPhail beat Gregory Seib, 2,230-1,575. The other candidates for Cumberland were the Green’s Siwichie Bird-Paddy (164) and Independent Nasser Dean Chaifoux (49).
Five NDP win re-election bids.
NDP incumbents Betty Nippi-Albright (Centre), Matt Love (Eastview), Vicki Mowat Fairview), Nathaniel Teed (Meewasin), and Erika Ritchie (Nutana) have convincingly won their respective ridings. They will again be part of the official opposition to the incoming government.
Nippi-Albright garnered 3,480 votes from the 11 voting stations reported against the 2,067 of the Sask Party’s Dale Hrynuik and the 201 of the Green’s Darry Michelle. Love leads the Sask. Party’s Francis Kreiser, 4,950-3,137, while Brad McAvoy of the Saskatchewan United Party came in third with 191 votes, followed by 120 of the Green’s Kendra Anderson.
Mowat tallied 3,888, followed by the Sask. Party’s Zahid Sindhu (2,600), the Green’s Phoenix Neault (239) and Buffalo Party’s Tony Ollenberger (159) in Fairview. Over at Meewasin, Teed collected 4,191 votes against the 2,714 of the Sask. Party’s Maureen Torr and 237 from the Green’s Jackln Andrews.
Erika Ritchie won Nutana with 5,547 votes, compared to the 1,802 Mutaz Naseeb of the Sask Party and 177 of the Green’s Whitney Greenleaf.
From Sask Party to NDP
The NDP are also better positioned to win the ridings of Churchill-Widlwood, Riversdale, and University-Sutherland as Keith Jorgensen, Kim Breckner, and Tajinder Grewal lead their Sask Party counterparts by a significant margin.
Jorgensen looks to score an upset against Lisa Lambert with a 1,156-vote lead, 4,136-2,980. Morgan McAdam of the Greens was the third candidate with 123 votes.
Riversdale, previously held by the Sask Party with Marv Friesen, is likely to turn orange this time with Breckner (3,327). Olu Fakoyejo, who ran for Friesen’s seat after the latter opted not to seek re-election, had 2,004 votes, while the Green’s Naomi Hunter had 228.
Grewal is up in the newly created riding brought by the redistricting in 2022 with 3,635 over Ghislaine McLeod’s 2,505. Dawne Bedrock of the Sask United had 303, followed by the Green’s Felipe Guerra’s 138.
The NDP may also take Chief Mistawasis: Don McBean (4,265) up against Sask Party’s Parminder Singh (3,888), while the Green’s Shane Caellaigh third (283), and Southeast with Brittney Singer (4,402) over Sask Party’s John Owojori (4,110), followed by former MLA Greg Brkich of Sask United (211) and the Green Party’s Muhammad Abashar (101).
Sask Party survivors
Ken Cheveldayoff of Willowgrove and David Buckingham of Westview might be the two Sask Party survivors of the orange wave in Saskatoon, with the latter holding a slim margin over his NDP opponent.
Cheveldayoff has 4,525 votes against the 4,270 of Alana Wakula, with Sask United’s William Hughes (245) and the Green’s Tawe Morin (78).
Buckingham, however, holds a slim margin of 31 votes against the NDP’s April ChiefCalf, with the former having 3,362 against the 3,331 of the latter. However, things might change depending on the second count on Wednesday, Oct. 30, along with mail-in ballots and the third with the mail-in ballots that came in on the deadline.
