Constituency Profile: Kelvington-Wadena

Kelvington-Wadena constituency outlined in red on the map.

For more information on the Kelvington-Wadena constituency, please click on this link.

The recent history of the Kelvington-Wadena constituency begins in the pivotal 1975 provincial election. Kelvington-Wadena was fused together out of the old Kelvington and Wadena constituencies, both which were CCF/NDP strongholds. The first MLA for Kelvington-Wadena was Neil Byers. Byers was first elected as the NDP MLA for the old Kelvington constituency in 1969 over Liberal Bryan Bjarnason. The by-election was ordered by the courts because the 1967 results were so close; Anyhow, Byers won with about 50 percent of the vote in 1975, and 51 percent in 1978. But in 1982, this seat fell to the Progressive Conservatives as part of the 'Monday Night Massacre'. The victorious MLA was Sherwin Petersen, whose margin of victory was about 600 votes or 6 percentage points. Petersen was Minister of Highways in the Devine Government. Petersen was also convicted in the Tory Fraud Scandal and received a conditional discharge and three years of probation. Anyhow, Petersen won with 52 and 50 percent of the vote in his 1982 and 1986 victories. In 1991, Ken Kluz of the NDP defeated Petersen in the "Monday Night Massacre Part 2", or the NDP sweep. Kluz won 54 to 36 percent over Petersen.

In 1995 new boundaries came into play for Kelvington-Wadena, and NDP Natural Resources Minister Darrel Cunningham moved into this riding from the old Canora constituency. Most pundits figured Cunningham would be re-elected, but in fadt Cunningham lost a close race to Liberal candidate June Draude of Watson. Draude received 3,294 votes to 3,177 for Cunningham; Draude got 43.2 percent of the vote compared to 41.7 percent for Cunningham. It was a stunning upset that has had a profound impact on Saskatchewan politics. Draude was among the new Liberal MLAs were were part of the 1995 caucus coup that overthrew Liberal Leader Lynda Haverstock. In 1997 Draude joined 3 other Liberal MLAs and 4 Progressive Conservative MLAs to form the Saskatchewan Party. In 1999 Draude was easily re-elected with the Sask Party, winning over 65 percent of the vote compared to just 28 percent for Doug Still, the NDP candidate and Mayor of Humboldt. In 2003 Draude was re-elected again with 58 percent compared to 31 percent for the NDP. In 2007 Draude secured a fourth term with over 70 percent of the vote, compared to 23 percent for the NDP.

Since the election of the Wall Government in 2007, Draude has held several portfolios in cabinet including First Nations and Metis Relations, Northern Affairs, Crown Corporations, SGI, the Information Technology Office, and the Public Service Commission. Draude's current portfolios include Social Services and Status of Women.

In lead up to the 2011 election, it appears Draude will be safely re-elected in Kelvington-Wadena. The New Democrats have been slow to pick a candidate in this seat. There will be no Liberal candidate in the riding this time, and while the same Green candidate has been nominated who ran in 2007, that individual only got 1.8 percent of the vote. In the past 2 elections there has also been a Western Independence Party candidate on the ballot in Kelvington-Wadena, but again, their support was negligible, with the WIP winning just 1.0 percent in 2007. It is thus not beyond the pale that Draude could win this time with upward of 75 to 80 percent of the vote in this constituency.