Constituency Profile: Estevan

Estevan constituency in red, image courtesy of Elections Saskatchewan

For more information on Estevan Constituency, just click this Elections Saskatchewan link.

The first time Estevan constituency was contested was in 1908. The first MLA was Liberal George Alexander Bell. He would be re-elected in 1912 and 1917. In a by-election held in 1918, the Liberals kept Estevan with Robert Dunbar as the new MLA. Dunbar was re-elected by acclamation in 1921. Estevan had another new MLA by 1925 in the person of James Creighton. By 1929 the Liberal MLA for Estevan was Eleazar Garner. The Conservatives would first win Estevan in a 1930 by-election with David McKnight as the winning candidate. The by-election was triggered over allegations surrounding the 1929 vote count in the riding. By 1934 the constituency was now called Bromhead and the Liberals won back this seat with Norman McLeod being the new MLA. In 1938 the constituency was re-christened Souris-Estevan, and McLeod was re-elected. But the Liberal hold on Estevan was ended in 1944 by the CCF sweep of the province. McLeod was crushed by Charles Cuming of the CCF in that historic election. It marked the first time that the Liberals had lost Estevan in a general election. The Liberals came back to win Estevan in 1948 with John McCormack as the winner. McCormack was re-elected in 1952. In the 1953 by-election in Souris-Estevan, the Liberals did not run a candidate, and Robert Kohaly of the PC Party easily defeated the CCF. But by 1956 the CCF won in Souris-Estevan again with Kim Thorson as the winning candidate. But Thorson went down to defeat in 1960 when Ian MacDougall of the Liberals took back the riding. MacDougall was re-elected in 1964 and 1967 but was defeated in the 1971 general election by Russ Brown of the NDP and again later that year in a by-election by Thorson.

The modern constituency of Estevan has had many boundary incarnations since 1908. The modern voting history of Estevan more or less begins in the 1975 general election when Bob Larter of the Tories won this seat by almost 2,000 votes over Thorson. The PCs had been shut out of the Saskatchewan Legislature since the Great Depression, but the party began a huge comeback in 1975, and Estevan was one of the 7 seats that were won this time. Larter was easily re-elected in 1978, but was gone from the Legislature by 1980. In the 1980 by-election, Jack Chapman of the NDP beat PC Leader Grant Devine by about 80 votes. the Liberal candidate was Ralph Goodale. Chapman went on to serve in the Blakeney Government until he was defeated by Devine in a rematch in 1982. Devine went on to be easily re-elected in 1986 and again in 1991. In 1992 Devine stepped down as PC Leader and didn't run for re-election in 1995. Larry Ward won a close 3-way fight in Estevan for the NDP in 1995, but lost in 1999 to Doreen Eagles of the Saskatchewan Party. Eagles has not had a close contest since first winning in 1999 - in that election she won with almost 47% of the vote over the Liberals, with Ward finishing third. By 2003, the Liberal vote had started collapsing in Estevan, which helped boost Eagles to over 51% of the vote. In 2007, Eagles cruised to 66% of the vote after the NDP vote cratered in the constituency. Without a Liberal candidate in Estevan this time, and given the strong oil and gas activity underway in the Estevan area, Eagles could win Estevan again with 78 to 80 percent of the vote or more. Estevan is solidly in the Saskatchewan Party camp and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, if not longer.