Bob Bjornerud will again carry the Saskatchewan Party colors into the next provincial election.
Bjornerud, the current Melville-Saltcoats MLA and the province's minister of Agriculture was again nominated as the party's candidate in Saltcoats last Monday. His nomination means that the party has nominated half of its slate of 58 candidates for the November 2011 provincial election.
One of the founding members of the Saskatchewan Party, Bjornerud was first elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature in 1995 as a Liberal. He joined with seven other MLAs two years later to form the Saskatchewan Party. Bjornerud was re-elected as a Saskatchewan Party MLA in 1999, 2003 and 2007. Following the formation of the Saskatchewan Party government in 2007, Premier Brad Wall appointed Bjornerud as the minister of Agriculture.
"I think the biggest change I've witnessed since we formed government no matter where I travel in Saskatchewan is a more positive attitude where the mentality has shifted from 'we can't' to 'let's get it done'," Bjornerud says.
"There has also been tremendous positive change in rural Saskatchewan - we've gone from losing population to families returning home and from a decline in our K-12 school enrolments to the first enrolment increases in 17 years."
"We also took significant action to reduce the education portion of property tax and there will be more to come on that file in the future."
On the home front, Bjornerud said he's proud of the investment the Saskatchewan Party government has made through the Building Communities program into the Melville Communiplex - a 1,500-seat ice arena that will replace the 60-year-old Melville Stadium - scheduled to open in 2011.
He says he's also proud to have helped facilitate the move of the AgriStability administration to Melville in 2008 - a move that has resulted in approximately 110 new jobs at the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance office in Melville and another 30 jobs at other Crop Insurance offices throughout rural Saskatchewan.
"In terms of agriculture, our government has worked much closer with our producers and has been able to deliver results and aid much quicker than the previous administration," Bjornerud says.
"That said, there is still work to be done and that's why I'm running for another term in office."
With Bjornerud's nomination as the party's candidate for Melville-Saltcoats, the Saskatchewan Party will have nominated 29 candidates for the 2011 provincial election.
The Saskatchewan Party had two other nominations scheduled last week: Saskatoon Sutherland (Wednesday) and Lloydminster Thursday.
