Saskatchewan Election 2024

Five days of early voting started today in the Saskatchewan provincial election.

There are five candidates running to serve as MLA in the large provincial riding of Wood River, both southeast and southwest of Swift Current. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself 

Tell us about yourself and what got you into politics 

I've spent the last three decades in the world of sports and have the opportunity to coach and lead teams here in Saskatchewan as well as other places. I've always enjoyed coming back to Saskatchewan, it's my home province. Over the years, as we've traveled, we've seen lots of different things that just make you wonder, OK, where do I want to continue to raise my family? Saskatchewan is that place.  

Tell us about yourself and why you got involved in politics. 

I’m Blaine McLeod, and I'm a dairy farmer from just West of Moose Jaw. My dairy farm is on the south side of the highway at Caronport, and I've had the pleasure of being involved in the dairy industry for over 40 years, 43 to be exact. 

The Saskatchewan Provincial election is just a week away, with the province's parties looking at what they can do for the agriculture sector.

That includes working with other provinces and the federal government and responding to disaster years such as the droughts that have come up through the 2020s.

Trent Wotherspoon is one provincial candidate, who served as the Saskatchewan NDP's official critic for agriculture, finance, and transportation during his previous term.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Saskatchewan says with more than 880 locations across 61 ridings and polls open today through Saturday and then again on Monday, there are plenty of opportunities to vote. The deadline for applying to vote by mail has come and gone, but Dr. Michael Boda says more than 32,000 voters have applied, which is less than in the 2020 election during the pandemic.

Tell us about yourself and why you got involved politically 

I've been married to my wife, Tenille, for 23 years. We have three children, aged 17,15 and 12. We moved to Moose Jaw in 2005, and I practiced law with Chow McLeod for 18 years until I began serving in this role. 

During that time, I spent two terms on the Prairie South School Board from 2012 to 2020, and I chaired the board for two or three years during that period. 

North Hunter is representing the Green Party in the riding of Weyburn-Bengough. Hunter, who lives in Weyburn, isn’t new to the world of politics. She ran in the 2020 provincial election under the Green Party banner and also ran in the 2021 federal election.

In-person voting in the 2024 provincial election officially starts tomorrow, as advance polls open across the province for what has been dubbed Voting Week by Elections Saskatchewan. 

Here in the riding of Weyburn-Bengough, there will be five advance poll locations. In Weyburn itself, advance voting can be done at the Credit Union Spark Centre. The other four locations are the New Horizon Community Centre in Sedley, the Milestone Drop-In Centre, the Bengough Community Centre, and the Avonlea Community Hall. 

It's a homecoming of sorts for Constance Maffenbeier.

The Buffalo Party candidate for Swift Current MLA in this fall's provincial election lived in Val Marie and graduated from the Swift Current Comprehensive High School in the early 1970s.