Constituency Profile: Cumberland

Cumberland constituency is outlined in red on the map above.

For more information on Cumberland, please click here.

Cumberland constituency can trace its electoral history back to the historic 1912 provincial election, when the Liberals won 45 out of 53 seats, and 57 percent of the vote. Cumberland's first MLA was Deakin Hall, a Liberal. The 1912 results were declared void for Cumberland. Hall won the 1913 by-election, and won re-election in 1917 by acclamation. In 1921, George Langley was acclaimed here for the Liberals. But in a 1922 by-election Hall won here again for the Liberals, and was acclaimed again as MLA in 1925. Hall was re-elected in 1929 with 85 percent of the vote, and with 91 percent in 1938. But in 1944, Hall lost to Leslie Lee of the CCF; it marked the end of Hall's long political career. In 1948, the Liberals took back Cumberland for the last time, with Lorne Blanchard as the candidate. But in 1952, Bill Berezowsky won in Cumberland for the CCF with 52 percent of the vote, and this seat has been in the CCF/NDP column ever since.

Berezowsky was re-elected in 1956, 1960, 1964, 1967 and 1971. In 1975 Berezowsky retired and was replaced by Norm MacAuley, a fellow New Democrat. MacAuley was re-elected in 178, but in 1982 Lawrence Yew was elected for the NDP, just one of eight for the party after the "Monday Night Massacre". But Yew was a one-term MLA; in 1986, Keith Goulet became the NDP candidate and kept Cumberland for  the party. Goulet was re-elected in 1991, 1995 and 1999. Goulet was first person of Aboriginal ancestry to become a Saskatchewan Cabinet Minister. His portfolios included SGI, Education and Northern Affairs. Goulet retired in 2003 and was replaced by CBC Journalist Joan Beatty.

Beatty won with 69 percent of the vote in Cumberland in 2003 and was named Provincial Secretary and Minister of Culture, Youth and Recreation by Premier Calvert. Beatty was re-elected in 2007 with 66 percent of the vote. But in January 2008, barely 2 months after being re-elected, she quit to become the federal Liberal candidate in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River. The move angered people in both the NDP and the Liberals, and in the end Beatty was never elected as MP. In the June 2008 by-election held to replace Beatty, the NDP kept Cumberland with Doyle Vermette as the new MLA - but just barely. There was no Liberal candidate in the by-election (a sign of things to come for the 2011 provincial election) and the Greens fielded a candidate who won 181 votes or 6 percent of the vote. The Sask Party ran Metis politician Dale McAuley, who won 45 percent of the vote and came within 164 votes of being Vermette with his 50 percent.

Vermette is running for re-election, but is being challenged by Joe Hordyski of the Sask Party and Samuel Hardlotte of the Greens. For the second election in a row, there will be no Liberal candidate in Cumberland. If the trend from the 2008 by-election holds, then the Sask Party could win this NDP fortress. But if the results from 2007 prevail, then Vermette should be in good shape. The conventional wisdom is that the NDP will keep this seat, but with the Sask Party polling at 66 percent provincewide in the final days of the election campaign, a Sask Party win in Cumberland can't be ruled out either. This seat could very well be a toss-up, take your pick.