WYNYARD, Sask. – The winds of change are blowing in rural Saskatchewan, predicted the Liberal candidate in Last Mountain-Touchwood midway through the 1999 election campaign.
They are, at least, for him.
Ken Kluz represented the riding of Kelvington-Wadena from 1991 to 1995 as a New Democrat.
When the electoral boundaries were redrawn in time for the 1995 election, former agriculture minister Darrel Cunningham inherited most of the constituency and the nomination, leaving Kluz without a seat. Kluz sought the nomination in Last Mountain-Touchwood and lost to Dale Flavel, the current MLA.
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Since then, Kluz has unsuccessfully sought provincial and federal NDP nominations.
In this week’s election, he will challenge Flavel again, but this time as the Liberal candidate.
“They’ve welcomed me with open arms,” Kluz said of the Liberal party prior to touring a poultry processing plant with leader Jim Melenchuk. “The transition has been a lot smoother than I expected.”
He said he is having no trouble maintaining traditional Liberal support, and is taking NDP votes with him.
Kluz is not the only candidate who has changed his party stripe for this election.
Only one of the 10 Saskatchewan Party MLAs seeking re-election was actually elected under that banner. Wayne Elhard won the June byelection in Cypress Hills, but the others were previously elected as Liberals and Conservatives.
These include agriculture critic Bob Bjornerud, who is up against NDP candidate Leo Fuhr, chair of the provincial milk control board and a local reeve, in Saltcoats.
Other Saskatchewan Party candidates with higher-profile agricultural ties include: former Canadian Grain Commission head Milt Wakefield in Lloydminster; Rudi Peters in Battleford-Cut Knife, a former director of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities; and Terri Harris, executive director of the Saskatchewan Elk Breeders Association, in Regina South.
For the NDP, former Canadian Wheat Board advisory committee member Bill Rosher is running in Kindersley. Former cabinet minister Carol Carson, defeated in Melfort-Tisdale four years ago, is making a return bid, as is Armand Roy in Humboldt.
In Thunder Creek, Liberal agriculture critic Gerard Aldridge is being challenged by two other farmers, Lyle Stewart of the Saskatchewan Party and Ivan Costley of the NDP. The seat is traditionally right wing, and Aldridge won a tight three-way race in 1995 by just 445 votes.
