NORTH BATTLEFORD - Saskatchewan Party incumbent candidate Jeremy Cockrill was declared the winning candidate in the Battlefords riding in Monday's provincial election.
He took the lead in the 12 polls, with 4,160 votes, followed by the NDP's Tom Kroczynski with 2,533 votes. The Green Party's Sara Paitrofsky came in with 127 votes, and the Buffalo Party's Dale Richardson with 111.
The final official results and mail in ballots are still be confirmed in following election day.
Cockrill told reporters it's been a "very busy campaign" and was excited to be the winner in the race.
He said the Sask Party has accomplished a lot in the last four years as government, and for himself as the local MLA.
Cockrilll noted the Sask Party wants to continue working on healthcare, education, and infrastructure to support the local economy.
He added he is looking forward to "getting back to work," now that the election is over.
The Sask Party finished with a wide lead over the NDP candidate.
"Basically each time on election night on the end of the day those are votes cast by individual residents of our community," he said. "Really, the thanks is to the members of this community who have entrusted me again to continue to represent them. But it also I think really reflects the work that we have put in over the last several months, specifically this last week."
He said that voting week looked a little different this time, with more of a Tuesday to Monday voting period, to include advance polls.
"We just had an army of volunteers on the ground, a lot of local people stepping up and getting involved," Cockrill said. "Credit goes to them as well for helping us get over the line with very strong numbers."
Meanwhile, the NDP's Kroczynski spoke to supporters after the election, thanking them for their help during the campaign. He said he heard many stories about people's needs while knocking on people's doors.
"We didn't get the result we wanted tonight. Frankly, we didn't get the result we expected," he said in his speech. "However, thanks to you, I don't feel alone, and throughout this campaign, I have never felt alone. I've had the love and support of my wife, my entire family, all my friends here in the Battlefords and beyond, and so many of the voters from across this constituency."
Kroczynski reflected on what he described as "the strength and resilience" he found on the doorsteps across the Battlefords.
"There are many strong people out there, many strong people, but a lot of them are struggling," he said. "They're struggling to find a family doctor. They're struggling to get the best for their children in our underfunded schools, in our overcrowded classrooms. They're struggling with costs that keep going up and wages that are stagnant. It was my sincere hope to be able to get to work for them. And I know all of you here had that hope too, and it's not like we didn't try."
Once again Kroczynski noted he appreciated the support of his team in his campaign.
"I will not forget how hard all of you have worked to make Saskatchewan a better place, to make the Battlefords a better place, to make this a land of hope and inclusion with the government truly committed to meeting the needs of everyone. I will not forget what you have done, what we have done together," Kroczynski said.
Now that the election is over, Cockrill plans to re-open the MLA office again and get down to business.
Some of the first priorities Cockrill will focus on include tending to some initiatives he has been working on.
"I spoke about this at the Chamber forum," he said. "We have several projects that really started to gain momentum here over the last year or two in the Battlefords."
He will focus on the Battleford District Care Centre, looking at advancing work planning on replacing this facility in the future.
Cockrill will also continue to work with North West College on their developments.
"We've expanded the number of training seats over there significantly, especially on the healthcare side in the last couple of years," he said. "There has been lots of talk about how we continue to support the college with that growth. Those are two local issues I'm looking forward to getting back into."
The college is also looking at developing a new campus in the Battlefords in the future, which Cockrill said is still in its preliminary stages at this point.
- With files from Cleo Ding
