REGINA - More candidates have been chosen as the major Saskatchewan political parties prepare for a provincial election later in 2024.
Both the Saskatchewan Party and New Democrats have held nomination meetings in recent weeks and have added to their lineup of candidates, with both parties having well over half their candidates nominated..
For the Saskatchewan Party, on March 11 they nominated James Thorsteinson in Cut Knife -Turtleford. This is the nomination that came open after incumbent Ryan Domotor was removed from caucus after being arrested and charged with soliciting sexual services. Thorsteinson, who is a former Sask Party president, was nominated by acclamation.
It was a different story on March 7 for David Chan, who defeated two other candidates, Kaitlyn Kitzan and Darcy Zaharia, for the contested Saskatchewan Party nomination in Yorkton. Chan now will have an opportunity to try and hold the seat that was held by longtime MLA Greg Ottenbreit, who is not seeking re-election.
Last week, Rahul Singh was acclaimed as the Saskatchewan Party candidate in Regina Northeast. The seat is currently held by Gary Grewal who was embroiled in the Sunrise Motel controversy last fall; Grewal recently announced he would not be seeking re-election.
To this point, the Saskatchewan Party has nominated 41 out of the 61 candidates with 20 more left to go. The party is scheduled to nominate its candidate for Regina Coronation Park on March 19, Saskatoon University-Sutherland on March 26, and Martensville-Blairmore on March 27.
On the NDP side, to this point the party has 33 candidates confirmed to be running in the provincial election.
Among those nominated is Kim Breckner, a Saskatoon lawyer, won a contested nomination to run in Saskatoon Riversdale. That had been a longtime NDP seat until 2020 when Marv Friesen won in a close contest for the Saskatchewan Party; Friesen is seeking re-election.
In Saskatoon Willowgrove, Alana Wakula also won a contested nomination and will take on the Saskatchewan Party’s Ken Cheveldayoff in what has been a Saskatchewan Party stronghold.
On the weekend, Trina Miller was acclaimed as the NDP candidate for Batoche, where Delbert Kirsch is not running again. Again, this is a longtime Saskatchewan Party stronghold.
There has also been news that the nominated candidate for Canora-Pelly, Michael Woolard, dropped out as the NDP candidate. A new nomination meeting will take place on March 27.
A key contested nomination battle is to be decided later this week as the NDP nominates its candidate in Regina University to run against Gene Makowsky. Three candidates are seeking the nomination on March 21: Sally Housser, Reid Hill and Deb Nyczai.
More nominations are expected in the coming weeks, with Wood River scheduled to hold its nomination April 7.
