Constituency Profile: Lloydminster

Lloydminster constituency is outlined in red on the map above.

For more information on Lloydminster constituency, please click here.

Lloydminster constituency first came into existence for the 1908 provincial election, then vanished after 1929 into Cutknife-Lloydminister. In 1995 Lloydminster constituency returned. In its early history Lloydminster voted strongly Liberal, but starting in the 1920s and 1930s took a strong socialist turn and remained that way into the 1990s, except for a brief interlude with the Tories in the 1980s.

The first MLA for the modern constituency of Lloydminister in 1995 was Violet Stanger of the NDP. Stanger was first elected in 1991 in the "Monday Night Massacre Part 2" in the old Cutknife-Lloydminster riding. In 1995 Stanger won with about 44 percent of the vote, or a margin of 266 votes. But when Stanger ran for re-election in 1999, she along with most of her rural colleagues were swept out by the Saskatchewan Party. Milt Wakefield, a former commissioner with the Canadian Grain Commission, won for the Sask Party with 53 percent of the vote, compared to 38 percent for Stanger. But the next time Wakefield ran for re-election in 2003, he almost lost to the NDP; only 76 votes separated Wakefield from Wayne Byers of the NDP. But Wakefield retired in 1997 and was replaced by fellow Sask Party member Tim McMillan who captured 61 percent of the vote, a 25 percentage point spread over the NDP. Today McMillan holds several cabinet portfolios, including Minister of CIC, Minister of ISC, Minister of SGI, and Minister of the Sask Liquor and Gaming Authority. McMillan also got a private members bill passed in 2009 to protect the wild ponies in Bronson Forest in his constituency.

McMillan is running for re-election on November 7. Based on his personal popularity, his track record as an MLA and Cabinet Minister and the dynamics of the election campaign, and the voting history of Lloydminister, it is likely that McMillan will be easily re-elected this time. McMillan faces no Liberal opponent, and the Greens are contesting this seat for the first time with an attractive young candidate named Meggan Hougham. Hougham is no hippie, is campaigning hard, and had a campaign visit from Green Leader Victor Lau early in the election campaign.