REGINA – No matter which party emerges as the next provincial government, Saskatchewan’s legislature will be less rural after the June 21 election.
It’s the first election held under new electoral boundaries, which reduce the number of seats from 66 to 58. It also sees a large swing of political power away from rural Saskatchewan and a corresponding growth in urban power.
While almost all constituencies will change shape, the number of urban seats remains almost the same. The eight-seat reduction will come mainly from the country.
Some of the seats are an urban-rural mix, including Saskatoon Northwest, Saskatoon Southeast, Regina Qu’Appelle Valley and Regina Wascana Plains, but these areas house thousands of city commuters and hobby farmers who work in the city The focus there is likely to be more urban than rural.
Read Also
Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research
Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
The population of rural Saskatchewan has declined while city populations have grown.
Today, constituency populations must be within five percent of the provincial average. During the Progressive Conservative government years of premier Grant Devine, the variation was far larger, allowing the Devine government to win a provincial election in 1986 by sweeping the country ridings, even though it won a lower percentage of the total vote than the New Democratic Party.
Now winning an election without urban support in a two-party race would be virtually impossible.
Can’t rely on city votes
But the new boundaries also make it difficult to win an election with only city seats.
The urban-rural split became glaring after Devine’s 1986 win, but disappeared in Roy Romanow’s 1991 victory, in which the NDP captured most of both the urban and rural seats.
Romanow said he doesn’t think there will be an urban-rural split after this election, even though his government has lost some rural popularity because of its changes to the Gross Revenue Insurance Plan and its closing of 52 rural hospitals.
Tory campaign manager Rick Swenson said the decline in the number of rural seats might make the rural political voice less dominant, but it will still be central.
He said the Saskatchewan economy, including that of the cities, is based on agriculture, so all governments and assemblies are aware of rural and agricultural issues.
