1 week Ago By Brody Langager
••••• A new mayor of Saskatoon will be chosen on Wednesday — but no matter who wins, it will be a familiar face. With Charlie Clark choosing to not seek reelection, former mayor Don Atchison, long-time city councillor Cynthia Block, prior mayoral contender Cary Tarasoff and former Saskatchewan Party MLA Gord Wyant are vying to replace him. A fifth candidate, Mike Harder, is also entered in the mayoral race.
After several days and locations for early voting, Saskatoon residents are heading to the polls on Wednesday to determine the city’s next mayor, city council and school board trustees. Atchison this week said he’s feeling very confident. He said issues he feels are important — public safety, homelessness, the Downtown Event and Entertainment District — were generally the same issues raised by residents he spoke with while door-knocking.
“When you go to some of these homes, and they tell you they have to choose between buying food for the family or looking at the mortgage for their homes and other things, it’s quite heart-wrenching,” he said. Block described feelings of being overwhelmed and humbled, and reflected on the long hours and hard work needed to get the many messages of her campaign in front of the public. “I feel overwhelmed in a way that I’m not used to.
I think that’s just because of the support that I’m feeling in the community,” she said. Tarasoff said comments that he’s been seeing have sunk in, adding that he feels there’s been a shift in election priorities among Saskatoon residents. “I think there’s been a good discussion of topics across the board in all the debates.
I think every candidate got the chance to talk pretty openly about their views.” Wyant said he feels good and believes he has strong momentum. All the candidates expressed some concern with voter burnout, but Wyant said he felt optimistic based on the turnout for advanced voting.
“This city is becoming a lot more diverse. Some of the other things we’re hearing at the doors around diversity and inclusion and those kinds of things are things that really need to be addressed,” he said. Harder did not respond to a request for comment.
Two contestants in the closest Saskatoon city council race of 2020 are among the candidates again this year, as council prepares for big changes heading into the next term. In Ward 1, incumbent Darren Hill is joined in the five-person race by Kevin Boychuk. Four years ago, Hill retained his seat on council by just 56 votes — 1,639 to 1,583 — over Boychuk.
With the same pair back in contention, and joined by Dallas Burnett, Kathryn MacDonald and Russell Nadin, in Wednesday’s civic election, it’s expected to be one of the wards to watch. Overall, five out of the 10 wards will elect a new city councillor. In Ward 2, the candidates include Franklin Arthurs, Jean Beliveau, Janna Horn, Fraser Kent, Karen Kobussen and Senos Timon.
Previous councillor Hilary Gough is not seeking reelection. In Ward 3, Coun. David Kirton is not seeking reelection.
Vying for his seat are Devyn Gregoire, Robert Pearce and Mike San Miguel. Multi-term councillor Troy Davies is seeking reelection in Ward 4, while Courtney Saliken and Numaan Shafqat are vying to replace him. In Ward 5, Randy Donauer is seeking another term as councillor.
Kyla Kitzul, Tyler Knihnitski, Nick Prytula and David Prokopchuk are also entered in the race. A new councillor will be named in Ward 6, with Cynthia Block seeking the mayor’s chair. Contenders include Terry Alm, Tony Bassett, Terry Hoknes, Jonathan Naylor and Jasmin Parker In Ward 7, Edward Agbai, Holly Kelleher, Jamie Kirkpatrick and Justin Wiens are looking to replace Mairin Loewen, who chose to not run again.
Ward 8 will also have a new councillor, with Sarina Gersher not seeking reelection. The candidates include Darren Abrey, Henry Tsz Lok Chan, Scott Ford, Prathamesh Kale, Ron Mantyka, Malvina Rapko, Peggy Schmeiser and Kevin Zarycki. Acclaimed candidates include two veterans of city council: Bev Dubois in Ward 9 and Zach Jeffries in Ward 10.
During four days of advance polls, from Nov. 1 to 4, more than 19,400 voters cast their ballots at 10 polling stations in the city, Elections Saskatoon said. In 2020, the city reported 19,666 total advance voters.
“Based on the number of eligible voters, this volume translates to approximately 10 per cent overall turnout,” Elections Saskatoon said in a statement. Voters are casting ballots to determine the city’s next mayor and city councillors, as well as board trustees in the public and separate school divisions. In 2020, overall voter turnout was 27.
4 per cent, or 58,734 ballots cast. It was the lowest turnout since the 2000 election, which saw 26.4 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot, though the 2020 election comes with a caveat — approximately 35 centimetres of snow blanketed Saskatoon the day before and the day of the election.
It was the largest snowfall in the city since January 2007, and led to the election being postponed for four days. Elections were being held for mayor; city councillor in wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; public school board trustees in wards 1, 5, 6, 8 and 9; and Catholic school board trustees..
