Well-known and popular former agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud has announced he won’t run in the next Saskatchewan election.
The MLA for Melville-Saltcoats stepped down from cabinet a couple of years ago and his decision is not unexpected.
“Even though I don’t look like it, I will be 70 by the time of the next election, so I think it is time for someone else to carry the Saskatchewan Party banner into that election,” he said.
Bjornerud is one of the eight founders of the party. He was elected as a Liberal in 1995.
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He and seven others formed the Sask Party in 1997 and was subsequently re-elected in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. He won the last time with 73 percent of the popular vote.
Premier Brad Wall said Bjornerud has been a steady voice for rural Saskatchewan in both opposition until 2007 and in government.
“Bob would never call himself this but I will — he’s been a champion for rural Saskatchewan,” Wall said in a statement. “That’s why he was the obvious choice to be our government’s first agriculture minister.”
The next election is expected in 2016.
