Constituency Profile: Cannington

 Cannington constituency is marked in red on the map above.
For more information on this constituency, please click on this link.

The original Cannington constituency was one of the 25 seats contested in Saskatchewan's first general election. The modern history of the Cannington constituency begins in 1975, which marked a pivotal turning point in this constituency's history., and that of the province's politics. Up to 1975, this constituency was a fief of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. But in 1975, Eric Bernston of the PC Party wrestled this seat away from the Liberals,and it has never been Liberal since. Berntson went on to get re-elected in 1978, 1982 and 1986, and served as Deputy Premier in the Devine Government. In fact Berntson was the driving force of the government, while Devine was the public facade sent out to greet the public. Berntson was appointed to the Senate in 1990, and the constituency remained vacant until the 1991 election. Berntson was later charged in relation to the Tory Fraud Scandal and convicted.

In 1991 Dan D'Autremont of Alida became the new PC MLA for this seat. D'Autremont was one of the survivors of the PC caucus in 1995 and was a founder of the Saskatchewan Party 2 years later. D'Autremont went on to easy re-election in 1999, 2003 and 2007. When the Sask Party won government in 2007, D'Autremont was made Minister of Government Services and the Liquor and Gaming Authority. D'Autremont is not in cabinet at the present time. Dan is running for re-election on November 7. He got 77 percent of the vote in Cannington in 2007. Without a Liberal candidate in Cannington this time and with the strong momentum behind the Sask Party and against the NDP, D'Autremont could easily win up to 85 percent of the vote in the constituency this time.