Landslide win for Sask. Party!

[Natalka]

The provincial election was held yesterday in SK, and Premier Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party did amazingly well, winning its second term.

Prior to the election, the Sk. Party had 38 seats, NDP had 20.
Now, the Sk. Party has 49 seats (64% of vote), NDP has nine. No Greens, Liberals, or PCs elected.
NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter lost his own seat, and later in the evening, he resigned as party leader.

A small downside - voter turnout was down 10 percentage points: 66 per cent compared to 76 per cent four years ago. However, at the prior election, the majority of people were just determined to get rid of the governing NDP party - thus, the higher turnout.

Brad Wall is a great leader with integrity and good character, and will continue to build our province's economic prosperity, wonderful quality of life for the people, who continue to have hope for the future.

"This new Saskatchewan that you have built is stronger and prouder and better than it is ever been, and we are not going back," he said.
"There is still work to do, but I know we are up to the challenge because Saskatchewan people are facing their future today with hope and with optimism…. They know this: the only day better than today in Saskatchewan is tomorrow in Saskatchewan." - Brad Wall, Monday night

[DaveP]

Don't know Sask politics, is the Sk party left, right or center?

[Natalka]

Dave, it's right.

The Sask Party formed in 1997 - starting with four Conservative MLAs and four Liberal MLAs, and they became the official opposition.
Brad Wall became the leader in 2004. He had previously worked in the Mulroney government, and the provincial Conservative's Devine government.

some of the history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatc...olitical_basis

[Andit]

Saw a bit of coverage on one of the news channels last night. Was weather a factor in folks getting out to vote? & more importantly, what`s your opinion of them, Natalka?

[DaveP]

Dave, it's right.

The Sask Party formed in 1997 - starting with four Conservative MLAs and four Liberal MLAs, and they became the official opposition.
Brad Wall became the leader in 2004. He had previously worked in the Mulroney government, and the provincial Conservative's Devine government.

some of the history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatc...olitical_basis

[Natalka]

No, Andi, weather wasn't a factor, because even though we have snow, it's not much, and sure doesn't dissuade people to go vote. There were many days of advanced polls last week, and there was high turnout for those - we went then.
I think voter turnout was lower than usual because people 'assumed' the Sk. Party was going to win, so some may not have gone to vote. However, in seats through the province which were hotly contested - such as those with incumbent NDP MLAs - voter turnout was larger as the Sk. Party candidates won so many of those.
Many more seats were won in the cities than previously, as well, so that was a big coup.

Yup, I'm totally happy with having them re-elected. Through the long-suffering years our province had under NDP leadership, there were SO many scandals, misuses of funds - and just this general malaise of the people held under by the socialists.

The Wall government has brought optimism, made out province a 'have' province with proper management of our wealth of natural resources, encouragement of business and entrepreneurship - and a huge one for us, is dedicated funds to pay down the massive debt which the NDP amassed during its previous tenure.
There is low unemployment, and the province is a leader in economic growth. This has been just awesome for Saskatchewan - with our population increasing steadily, the future will even be better.

In the case of Sask., it's a combination of the right leader and the right party. Wall has had the highest popularity of any premier in Canada, and the party policies have encouraged incredible growth in our province.

The biggest difference in having the Sask. Party lead the province is the positivity of the people, who are inspired and confident. The NDPers were always the gloom and doomers.... and sucked the life out of the people previously.

[Natalka]

Well, Mr. Wall sure didn't take a day off to celebrate - he was on the move in the province today.

He made an announcement that there is going to be a fall sitting of the Legislature - which is good, so things can get moving then in the spring for legislation to be enacted.

For families, he kept his first campaign promise - to extend the PST exemption on children's clothing effective Nov. 15. Now it ends at age 14, so it will be extended to include clothing for children aged 15 to 17.
(Wow, wish I would have had that when my son was a teen!)

[saraL]

You know, this is a fascinating read! I clearly don't know much about Saskatchewan politics. I'm going to read that wiki article.

[scam-master]

Just as big a story has been the crash of the NDP. The party has completely lost its identity and ran a brutal campaign with over 3.1 Billion in more spending and revenue resource sharing with one race over another. Whomever was playing the cards for the NDP in the backroom came out a complete idiot.