SASKATOON – Either the issues were clearer or the voters more excited, but rural Saskatchewan had double the turnout of urban areas during the Oct. 25 health board elections.
Saskatoon and Regina, with the biggest health board budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars, drew only 15 percent of potential voters. The overall turnout in the rural areas of the province was 35 percent.
Each of the 29 health districts has eight wards to be represented and the provincial government will appoint four people to each health board by Christmas from lists submitted by the public.
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Of the 509 candidates running, 102 identified themselves as active or retired farmers and 123 were in health occupations. After the election the boards include 70 who identify themselves as health professionals and 55 as farmers. (Two people claimed both farming and health as their occupations.) The gender split was fairly even.
Ed Holgate of the Saskatchewan Health Coalition said several of its Saskatoon and Moose Jaw candidates got in but he was unsure about the rural districts. The coalition wants to retain the historic principles of medicare and ensure health workers are treated well.
The Saskatchewan Pro Life Association was officially neutral, said spokesperson Ed Landgraf, but Saskatoon and Regina each have one self-declared pro-life board member. He was not sure about representation on the rural boards.
