Brad Wall, Saskatchewan Party win third consecutive majority

SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — Premier Brad Wall and his Saskatchewan Party delivered a resounding — and widely expected — threepeat majority victory in Monday’s provincial election.
Polls throughout the campaign had suggested the popular Wall would defeat the rival NDP for the third time since 2007.
Early voting results showed the Saskatchewan Party leading or elected in a comfortable majority of the legislature’s 61 seats against the New Democrats and their leader Cam Broten.
The NDP appeared to be holding its pre-election beachhead of nine seats, but was struggling to improve on that number.
Broten, running in his first campaign as leader, was trailing in his Saskatoon Westview seat. A Broten loss would be deja vu for the NDP. Party leader Dwain Lingenfelter lost his Regina seat in the 2011 election.
Wall, 50, handily won his Swift Current seat, which he has held since he was first elected in 1999.
Most of Wall’s cabinet were elected or were leading, including deputy premier Don McMorris, Economy and Energy Minister Bill Boyd, Health Minister Dustin Duncan, Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart and Education Minister Don Morgan.
The 27-day campaign featured few spending promises and pared party platforms.
It was widely considered to be a two-way race between the Saskatchewan Party and the Opposition NDP.
Broten’s NDP knew it was facing a formidable foe in Wall, who consistently polls as one of the most popular premiers in Canada and has carved out a niche as defender of the province and a strong voice for small-c conservatives, especially in the West.
Wall spent most of the campaign talking about his party’s record since taking office in 2007. The premier said the ballot box question was about the economy and which party would best protect and create jobs in the province.
Broten, 37, suggested that the sheen was off the Wall government. The resource-dependent province has been hit by sluggish oil and potash revenues and is running a $427-million deficit this year. Wall is expected to soon table another deficit budget for the coming year.
The Saskatchewan Party had 47 seats at dissolution in the 58-seat legislature compared with nine for the NDP. There were two vacancies. Riding redistribution since the 2011 election added three seats for a total of 61.
The Saskatchewan Party and Wall have been riding high since it won the 2007 election by capturing 38 seats to 20 for the NDP.
In 2011, the party upped that total to 49 seats and 64 per cent of the popular vote, the highest of any political party in the province’s history.
The left-centre NDP was aiming to reverse a decline in seats since 2007.
The right-centre Saskatchewan Party has traditionally been strong in central and southern rural areas and has been ahead of the NDP in the cities.
Even if the Saskatchewan Party wins a third term, it will have a way to go before reaching the height of some other political dynasties in Saskatchewan.
The Liberals won the first nine general elections from 1905 to 1938.
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, predecessor to the NDP, won five terms from 1944 to 1960, and the NDP won four terms from 1991 to 2003.