Constituency Profile: Regina South

Regina South constituency is outlined in red on the map above.

For more information on Regina South, please click here.

Regina South first appeared on the political map in Saskatchewan in 1964. The Liberals won the election, and the winning candidate in Regina South was also a Liberal, Gordon Grant. Grant had been Mayor of Regina, and Gordon Road, Grant Drive and Grant Road in south Regina are all named after him. Upon entering the Thatcher Government, Grant held several cabinet positions including Highways and Transportation, Industry and Commerce, SaskPower, Telephones, and Public Health. Grant oversaw the introduction of utilization fees as Public Health Minister, an event that lead to the defeat of the Thatcher Government in 1971. Grant was re-elected in 1967 and 1971, and retired in 1975. Grant was replaced by fellow Liberal Stuart Cameron, who served for one term. After his term as MLA, Camerson was apppointed as a judge, and remains so to this day. In 1978 the Tories won Regina South, with Paul Rousseau as the winning candidate. Rousseau lost to Grant Devine in the 1979 PC Leadership race, and was added to cabinet when the Tories formed Government after the "Monday Night Massacre" in 1982. Rousseau held several positions in cabinet; Industry and Commerce was probably his most senior position. Rousseau was dumped from cabinet in 1985, and he chose not to run for re-election in 1986. Jack Klein, the PC MLA for Regina North, won the Tory nomination in Regina South, and went on to win the seat in the 1986 election. Klein held numerous portfolios in both terms of the Devine Government, including Urban Affairs and Trade and Investment. Klein ran for re-election in 1991 but finished third behind Serge Kujawa of the NDP and the Liberals. Kujawa was a famous Crown Prosecutor prior to winning in 1991. Kujawa was Crown Prosecutor in both the Colin Thatcher and David Milgaard trials. Kujawa only served as MLA for one term. In 1995 he was replaced as the MLA for Regina South by fellow New Democrat Andrew Thomson. Thomson was the first person born after the 'baby boom' to become a Saskatchewan cabinet minister. In 2006, Thomson was appointed Minister of Finance by Premier Calvert. But Thomson abrupty retired from Saskatchewan politics in 2007 and did not run for re-election. Today, Thomson has a successful executive career in Toronto with Cisco Systems.

In 2007, Regina South was narrowly won by the Saskatchewan Party. Bill Hutchinson beat Yens Pedersen of the NDP by 255 votes to become the MLA for Regina South. Hutchinson was a City Councillor before joining the Wall Government, and is Minister of Tourism, Sport, Parks and Culture. Pedersen is a lawyer with roots in the National Farmers Union, and finished a respectable third in the Saskatchewan NDP leadership race in 2009. Both Hutchinson and Pedersen are facing off again on November 7th, but this time without a Liberal candidate in the mix. Hutchinson captured about 44 percent of the vote last time, Pedersen 41 percent, and the Liberal candidate got about 12 percent. In the past, the NDP couldn't win in Regina South without the free enteprise third party winning over 15 percent of the vote in that seat. Without a Liberal candidate at all in Regina South this time, it will be impossible for the NDP to gain this seat back. We should look for Hutchinson to be re-elected here on November 7th, with possibly 60 percent of the vote or more.