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‘Bitter Divide’: Behind Saskatchewan Election’s Urban-Rural Split

News Analysis The Saskatchewan Party’s narrow majority win on Oct. 28 and the stark urban-rural divide in the province raises questions as to what lies behind such stark polarization. Premier Scott Moe led his party to a fifth straight majority government in the election, taking 35 of 61 seats. However, the party was shut out [...]

Many MLAs of the previous PC government were implicated in an expense scandal that further tarnished the party brand. So in 1997, four Liberal MLAs and four PC MLAs representing rural areas left their caucuses to form the Saskatchewan Party as a united front against the NDP. Their NDP rivals won narrow victories in 1999 and 2003, until the Sask.

Party enjoyed soaring popularity under a new leader, Brad Wall. He won majority governments in 2007, 2011, and 2016 before Moe took over as leader and premier in 2018. Malcolm Bird, political science professor at the University of Winnipeg, called the Saskatchewan Party’s fifth-straight majority win an “astonishing” and “pretty remarkable” accomplishment, given Saskatchewan’s history as “the birthplace of the NDP.

” Leis says in rural areas, there is less support for such issues as not keeping parents informed of changes to children’s lives at schools when it comes to gender issues..