Constituency Profile: Weyburn-Big Muddy

Weyburn-Big Muddy constituency map, image courtesy of Elections Saskatchewan

For more information about the Weyburn-Big Muddy constituency, click here.

It is kind of hard to describe the voting history of the Weyburn-Big Muddy constituency. Sometimes it acts like a swing riding, and other times it doesn't. We'll give you the background information, and let you decide for yourself what kind of a seat Weyburn-Big Muddy truly is. 13 individuals have earned the privilege of being the MLA for this constituency since 1908. The very first MLA for Weyburn was a Liberal, Robert Menzies Mitchell. He was the MLA from 1908 until 1919. Mitchell was trained as a physician in Ontario and moved to Saskatchewan in 1899 and opened a medical practice in Indian Head. Mitchell later moved to Weyburn and opened a drug store there. The Soo Line employed Mitchell as a quarantine inspector from 1901 to 1902. From 1904 to 1907, Mitchell was Mayor and Weyburn and was also Chairman of the local school board. Mitchell served as Speaker of the Saskatchewan Legislature from 1917 to 1919. In 1919, Mitchell resigned as an MLA when he was named Superintendent of the Weyburn Mental Hospital.

After Mitchell, Charles McGill Hamilton was the MLA for Weyburn from 1919 to 1929. In the famous 1929 election, Weyburn elected a Progressive Party MLA named Robert Sterritt Leslie. Leslie was the Minister of Knox Presbyterian Church in Weyburn. During most of the years that Leslie was an MLA, he was Speaker of the House. The Liberals recaptured Weyburn in 1934 and again in 1938, with Hugh Eaglesham and George Crane serving as the MLAs.

In 1944 Weyburn underwent a seismic shift in its politics and elected a pugilist and Baptist preacher named Tommy Douglas as its MLA. Douglas also happened to be Leader of the CCF and at that time became Premier of Saskatchewan. Douglas would remain the MLA for Weyburn until 1961 when he resigned as CCF Leader and Premier to become the first Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada. In the 1961 by-election held to replace Douglas, the seat was re-captured by Junior Staveley of the Liberals. Staveley was the Mayor of Weyburn, and his by-election win helped propel Ross Thatcher and the Liberals back into power in 1964. However, when Thatcher and Liberals rolled into power, Staveley was not among the victorious MLAs. Staveley was defeated in 1964 by Auburn Pepper of the CCF. Pepper was the long-time MLA for Weyburn after that with successful re-election in 1967, 1971, 1975 and 1978. In 1982 Pepper was swept out of office like most other NDP MLAs by the Tory juggernaut. Pepper was replaced by Lorne Hepworth, who would become a leading luminary in the Devine Government. Dr. Hepworth served in cabinet, including the prestigious posting of Finance Minister. Today Hepworth is President of CropLife Canada. In 1991 Hepworth was defeated by Ron Wormsbecker of the NDP, a laywer. In 1995 Wormsbecker was succeeded by fellow New Democrat Judy Bradley, who had previously been the MLA for Bengough-Milestone. Bradley served as Minister of Highways and Transportation in the Romanow Government until her defeat in 1999 by Brenda Bakken-Lackey of the Saskatchewan Party. Bakken-Lackey was re-elected in 2003 but quit in 2006 to pursue non-political opportunities. A by-election was held in Weyburn-Big Muddy lain June of that year that saw newcomer Dustin Duncan clobber Saskatchewan Liberal Leader David Karwacki, 49 to 27 percent. It was an event that helped fuel the collapse of the Liberals and further entrenched the Saskatchewan Party in rural Saskatchewan. Duncan was re-elected in 2007 with over 60 percent of the vote.

This time there will be no Liberal candidate in Weyburn-Big Muddy. In 2007 Colleen Christopherson-Cote still managed to win over 12% of the vote for the Liberals. It is also a seat where the NDP were late in nominating a candidate this time. At the time of the publishing of this feature, no NDP candidate was listed for Weyburn-Big Muddy on the party's website. The Greens also haven't nominated anyone in this seat yet. Without a Liberal candidate this time and given the extreme popularity of Premier Wall and the enormous unpopularity of Dwain Lingenfelter, Duncan could end up winning 75 to 80 percent of the vote in Weyburn-Big Muddy this time.