The 2016 Saskatchewan Election will go down in history as an election of no surprises and no big promises.
Polls across Saskatchewan closed at 8:00 pm on Apr. 4.
By 8:25 pm, the media was already declaring Brad Wall the winner with a majority government.
By 8:47 pm, media had declared the Saskatchewan Party’s, Donna Harpauer, as the winner of the Humboldt-Watrous riding.
Harpauer in the end would take 5747 votes, with NDP’s Adam Duke trailing with 1569 votes.
Even with the quick fourth win, Harpauer still feels nervous and excited every time Saskatchewan goes to the polls.
“When we start to see those numbers,...I do look at the (polls) and hope for the best but I always need to know those final numbers before I believe them.”
Seeing her early win, she still was on pins and needles for the rest of her Saskatchewan Party candidates.
When the dust settled and the boxes emptied, Wall would have his majority with 51 seats to 10 NDP seats that will make up the legislature.
Harpauer says it was daunting coming into the election but the people of Saskatchewan have spoken and they want a strong economy, says Harpauer.
“We need to facilitate economic growth within our province and through the benefits of that growth we can pay for health care, education, and social programs.”
Harpauer, who was the Minister of Social Services in the last Wall government jokes she never held a job with the Wall government with four different portfolios on her resume.
“I suspect but I don’t know what the premiers decision is going to be, that we’ll keep our portfolios for the upcoming budget. From there I suspect there will be a cabinet change and we’ll see what that looks like.”
This election, 110,716 people cast votes early and Harpauer is interested to see the reasons behind that; from the possibilities of busy families to the Alberta example.
Looking forward, Harpauer says there is a lot of work to be done in the legislature and getting back to work on the budget is going to be the next challenge.
“Oil prices have not changed a lot, so we’ve acknowledged that this will be a challenging budget and we’ve also announced that we’re going to be very mindful that it is about the economy and we need to bring that budget back into a non-deficit position.”
Especially in her own portfolio of Social Services, there is a lot to ask, says Harpauer, so for her own part in the budget, it will be a challenge going forward.
Rural Saskatchewan was all green with Saskatchewan Party’s Kevin Phillips, Delbert Kirsch, Greg Brkich, and Hugh Nerlien all winning their seats with healthy margins to take their ridings of Melfort, Batoche, Arm River, and Kelvington-Wadena respectively.
Student Vote results were also released when the polls closed and student values aligned with what happened in the official election.
Almost 20,000 students voted from 273 schools from all 61 ridings in Saskatchewan and would see Wall with a majority government with 48 seats to the NDP’s 13, said Student Vote and CIVIX Canada’s Dan Allan in a press release.
Arm River
Green Party of Saskatchewan - Dale Dewar 256
NDP Saskatchewan - Denise Leduc 1424
PC Party of Saskatchewan - Raymond Carrick 339
Saskatchewan Liberal - Russ Collicott 205
Saskatchewan Party - Greg Brkich 6128
Batoche
Green Party of Saskatchewan - B Garneau I 101
NDP Saskatchewan - Clay DeBray 2080
Saskatchewan Liberal - Graham Tweten 213
Saskatchewan Party - Delbert Kirsch 4451
Humboldt-Watrous
Green Party of Saskatchewan - Lori Harper 185
NDP Saskatchewan - Adam Duke 1569
Saskatchewan Liberal - Robert Tutka 212
Saskatchewan Party - Donna Harpauer 5747
Kelvington-Wadena
Green Party of Saskatchewan - Owen Swiderski 105
NDP Saskatchewan - Danny Hiscock 1340
PC Party of Saskatchewan - Tim Atchison 386
Saskatchewan Liberal - Bernie Yuzdepski 129
Saskatchewan Party - Hugh Nerlien 5076
Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan - Walter Hrappsted 218
Melfort
Green Party of Saskatchewan - Tanner Wallace 100
NDP Saskatchewan - Linsey Thornton 1392
Saskatchewan Liberal Association - Bruce Ber 149
Saskatchewan Party - Kevin K. Phillips 5534
