Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Sask Politics 1 comes your way again on Monday, October 10, when the provincial election writ is dropped.

Photos: Lingenfelter launches campaign in Regina

Photos: Lingenfelter launches campaign in Regina Images courtesy of Regina Leader Post.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter kicks off his party's 2011 provincial election campaign today at Tommy Douglas House in Regina.

Makowsky mum on his future

You can read about it here. Big Gene has a big decision to make.

Provincial election writ to be dropped Monday

This is it. Enjoy your last sane week before we get plunged into the election on Monday!

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.

Saskatchewan Greens nominated a full slate of candidates for November 7

The Green Party of Saskatchewan is going to run a full slate of candidates for the first time in its 13 year history.Almost half of the candidates are women. While 20 of the 58 candidates are parachute candidates, this is still a huge achievement for the Greens, who are also Saskatchewan's new third party. It looks like the Greens are already rebounding from the loss of their previous leader Larissa Shasko. Larissa quit as Green Leader on September 6 to join the NDP.

Constituency Profile: Cutknife-Turtleford

The Cut Knife-Turtleford constituency is outline on the map in red.

For more information on the Cutknife-Turtleford constituency, please click here.

The constituency of Cut Knife-Turtleford took on its present boundaries for the 2003 election and is a merger of the former Battleford-Cut Knife and Turtleford constituencies. This riding entirely surrounds the Battlefords constituency in its southeast corner.

The 2003 race in Cut Knife-Turtleford was a relatively close one between the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP. However when all the ballots were counted, Mike Chisholm had defeated John Vinek of the NDP, 3,130 votes to 2,505. The percentages of the vote were 48 percent to 39 percent, respectively. However in 2007, Chisholm rolled to a 30 percentage point win over the NDP. Chisholm is not seeking re-election, and the Sask Party candidate this time is Larry Doke, a councillor from the resort village of Metinota. The NDP candidate is Bernadette Gopher. There is a very good chance there will be a Liberal candidate in this seat this time,and given the recent electoral history of this seat, a Western Independence Party of Sasaktchewan candidate is likely here too. The Green candidate is Vinessa Currie, was also the Green candidate in Cutknife-Turtleford in 2007.

While in the past the NDP were very competitive in portions of this seat, it is not clear how the fortunes of the New Democrats will play out here this time. The party has nominated an active local candidate, but the party's provincewide polling numbers are being dragged down by the unpopularity of NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter. Thus is it easy to predict an easy Sask Party win here again this time. However if for some reason NDP fortunes happen to rebound around the province, evidence of an NDP revival would begin to show up in a seat like Cutknife-Turtleford.

Constituency Profile: Rosetown-Elrose

Rosetown-Elrose constituency map, courtesy of Elections Saskatchewan

for more information on the Rosetown-Elrose constituency, please click here.

The current constituency of Rosetown-Elrose has had its current boundaries since 2003. Before that it had been called Rosetown-Biggar since 1995, and Rosetown-Elrose before that to 1975. Prior to 1975, Rosetown and Elrose had been separate constituencies going back to the early history of the province.

In 2003, the MLA for this seat was Elwin Hermanson of Beechy, Leader of the Saskatchewan Party. Hermanson had been a Reform Party MP from 1993 to 1997. Hermanson failed to lead the Sask Party to government in 2003, but was re-elected in Rosetown-Elrose with over 63 percent of the vote. Hermanson retired in 2007 and is now with the Canadian Grain Commission. In 2007 the new Sask Party MLA for Rosetown-Elrose became Jim Reiter of Rosetown. Reiter was an RM Administrator prior to his 2007 victory. Reiter is a rising star in the Wall Government, having served as Minister of Highways and Infrastructure since 2009.

Reiter won 71 percent of the vote in Rosetown-Elrose in 2007. All of his opponents last time were parachute candidates from outside of the constituency. If Reiter similarly faces no serious opposition this fall, and that will most likely be the case, it is possible that Reiter could capture 75 to 80 percent of the vote this time, or more.

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.