NDP, ag minister defeated in Sask.

Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party made long-sought gains outside the usual rural strongholds of its namesake province to win Wednesday’s provincial election, taking several key seats from Lorne Calvert’s New Democrats, including their agriculture minister’s.

The NDP’s Mark Wartman, a United Church minister, MLA since 1999 and minister for agriculture and food since 2004, was declared defeated in his riding of Regina Qu’Appelle Valley.

Unofficial final results reported Wednesday night by Global TV in Saskatoon showed Wartman lost by fewer than 200 votes to Regina realtor Laura Ross of the Saskatchewan Party.

Wartman’s was one of nine ridings the NDP lost Wednesday night as the Saskatchewan Party collected 37 of 58 seats over the NDP’s 21. The NDP had held power in the province since 1991, most recently in a narrow 30-28 win in late 2003.

The provincial Liberals, led by David Karwacki, were again shut out of office in this election. Karwacki placed third in his Saskatoon riding, while Wall and Calvert easily won reelection in Swift Current and Saskatoon, respectively.

While a new cabinet remains to be chosen, prospective candidates for the agriculture minister’s job won’t be hard to come by from the Saskatchewan Party’s base of rural MLAs.

The party’s agriculture critic going into this election was Bob Bjornerud, who farms at Saltcoats in the province’s southeast and easily won his Melville-Saltcoats constituency over NDP challenger Marlys Knezacek. Bjornerud first came to the legislature as a Liberal MLA in 1995.

The Saskatchewan Party’s deputy critic for agriculture and rural development, Pense-area farmer Lyle Stewart, also won his southwestern constituency of Thunder Creek by a wide margin over NDP challenger Larry Hall. Stewart has held the riding since 1999.

Stewart also defeated Rick Swenson, a farmer and former cabinet minister in Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative government (1982-91), who bid to revive the PC party in this election with a small group of candidates but won no seats and finished fourth in his former riding.

The Saskatchewan Party is a relatively young political force in the province, formed in 1997 by a group of Progressive Conservative and Liberal MLAs.