It took five rounds of voting but Saskatchewan has a new leader of the Saskatchewan Party and a new Premier-designate with Scott Moe taking 8,075, or 53.87 per cent, of the votes at the convention on Jan. 27 in Saskatoon.
In total, 17,159 ballots were counted.
By round four, Moe and fellow candidate Alanna Koch were in the lead with 36.43 per cent and 34.06 per cent of the vote respectively with Cheveldayoff being the last to be eliminated with 29.51 per cent of the popular vote.
Candidates Rob Clarke, Tina Beaudry-Mellor, and Gord Wyant was eliminated in previous rounds.
Candidates were given time for final speeches before the votes were counted.
Moe said that he was honoured to stand with such dedicated people who have made it their life’s work to stand for Saskatchewan and win the election in 2020.
“Our party is now stronger than ever and our commitment of our party and our people to this province and the communities within is most definitely stronger than it has ever been.”
Moe took to the podium around 7 p.m. to thank his fellow candidates for a race that saw candidates out talking to Saskatchewan people in over a hundred communities as well as his family.
“Saskatchewan is and always will be the very best place for us to live and to work and to raise your family and mine. We can charge our own course.”
Moe promised to keep on investing in infrastructure and the economy going forward, saying exports are up 65 per cent and agricultural exports doubling in the last decade. Part of his acceptance speech also included promising not to impose a carbon tax in Saskatchewan.
“A federal carbon tax threatens the livelihood of every farmer, every miner, every worker in the energy sector. I will fight for this province, I will fight for our economy to ensure that we do not have a carbon tax.”
Moe had a special message for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the carbon tax issue.
“If you are wondering how far I will go, just watch me,” said Moe, in reference to Pierre Trudeau’s famous 1970 October Crisis line.
Over 27,000 Saskatchewan Party members were eligible to vote in the Saskatchewan Party leadership race, a jump from 9,500 members at the time of Brad Wall’s retirement, said a Saskatchewan Party press release.
Humboldt-Watrous MLA Donna Harpauer was especially pleased by Moe’s win considering she had endorsed Moe back when he first announced his plans to run for the leadership of the party.
Now that he has won the leadership of the party, Harpauer expects a smooth transition for Moe as he moves from MLA to party leader.
“He already has solid endorsements and support from the team. He will be able to transition quite quickly with uniting caucus and then basically getting back to work.”
Especially with the provincial budget being next on the docket, Harpauer says Moe does have experience with treasury boards and strength in cabinet.
Votes were cast using the preferential voting system where voters were asked to rank their preferences from one to five. Candidates with the lowest amount of votes were then eliminated with voters second choice counted. The count continued until one candidate received over 50 per cent of the popular vote.
