Lori Carr has picked up where Doreen Eagles left off.
Carr, who was running for the Saskatchewan Party, captured 5,386 of the 6,917 votes cast (77.87 per cent) in Monday night’s provincial election to become Estevan’s next MLA. She will replace Doreen Eagles, who had been Estevan’s MLA
since 1999.
Eagles, who was also part of the Sask. Party, had 79.24 per cent of the vote in the previous election in 2011.
Carr will be part of a Sask. Party majority government, as they won 51 of 61 seats. The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) won the other 10 ridings.
“I’m just very thankful that the people of Estevan have the confidence in me to take over the seat from Doreen, and I’m just so excited to move forward,” Carr told the Mercury as the results came in.
Carr’s victory was never in doubt after the first of 55 polling stations reported results.
Carr captured 72 of 83 votes at that polling station. Paul Carroll of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan had nine, and Tina Vuckovic of the NDP had two.
Vuckovic eventually finished second with 627 votes, or about 9.06 per cent of the vote. Carroll was third with 610 votes, or about 8.82 per cent support.
Sitting in fourth place was Oscar Karkabatov of the Saskatchewan Liberals with 116 votes (1.68 per cent), independent candidate Cameron Robock was fifth with 90 votes (1.30 per cent) and Branden Schick of the Green Party of Saskatchewan was sixth with 88 votes (1.27 per cent).
People she spoke to during the election campaign were concerned with the state of the local economy, but most understand it reflects the price of oil, which has been sliding for more than 18 months.
“They’re looking for better days to come when the price of oil goes up,” said Carr.
Carr brings some political experience to the MLA job, thanks to her tenure with Estevan city council. She was elected in 2003 and re-elected in 2006. After being defeated in 2009, she was returned to council in 2012.
“The issues are obviously different from being a city councillor, but basically it comes down to listening to your constituents and doing what’s best for the area,” said Carr.
She will officially resign from council at the April 11 meeting. Since this is also a civic election year, a by-election won’t be needed to fill Carr’s seat.
And while she enjoyed her time on city council, the MLA’s job is something Carr has been working towards even before she became a city councillor. She made her ambitions clear to Eagles during Carr’s first term on city council.
“It was actually more than 10 years ago that I sat at a fundraiser next to our MLA, Doreen Eagles, and I looked her in the eye, and I told her that I wanted her job,”
recalled Carr.
“Well, she looked at me a bit shocked, and I can only imagine what was going through her mind, but I said ‘No, no, no, not right now. When you’re ready and when my kids are grown up and graduated (I’ll run).’”
Carr admits there will be a steep learning curve as an MLA. She looks forward to getting to the legislature and learning the details of her job.
Lobbying for a new regional nursing home in Estevan will be her top priority. The Hearthstone Community Campaign raised more than $8 million that was needed for the project to proceed. They reached their goal in early 2015, and the project is now in the queue for new health-care facilities, as the provincial government has yet to commit
to the project.
As for the Sask. Party, they captured 267,238 of the 426,706 votes cast across the province, and collected 62.63 per cent of the popular vote.
“I’m not really surprised,” said Carr. “Brad Wall has been a fantastic leader for the Saskatchewan Party, and he has led this province in such a great direction. For people to support him going forward would have been nothing less than what I expected.”
The NDP received 129,530 votes, which was 30.36 per cent of the vote.
“If we’ve heard it once during this campaign, we’ve probably heard it a thousand times: we’re not going back to the way things were under the NDP. We’re going to continue to move this province forward under the leadership of Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party.”
The Liberals, Green Party, PCs, Western Independence Party and independent candidates divided the remaining seven per cent of the vote.
Overall voter turnout was 56.83 per cent.
There are a lot of MLAs in the Sask. Party caucus, but that won’t deter Carr from seeking a cabinet seat.
“The first opportunity I get to lobby for a cabinet seat, and/or if I get offered something, I will be there,” said Carr.
