Provincial opposition leader Ryan Meili on Tuesday announced Trent Wotherspoon, the MLA for Regina Rosemont since 2007, as the NDP’s critic for agriculture as well as finance, SaskTel, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC) and the province’s Crown Investments Corporation.

Wotherspoon was returned to office in the Oct. 26 general election by a spread of 1,580 votes over Saskatchewan Party challenger Alex Nau.

A teacher before entering politics, Wotherspoon also previously served as a director for Regina’s Warehouse Business Improvement District. In the legislature, he also previously served as interim opposition leader and as critic for portfolios including education and Crown corporations.

As ag critic he replaces Yens Pedersen, who on Oct. 26 lost his seat for Regina Northeast against Saskatchewan Party challenger Gary Grewal by a spread of 450 votes.

When the legislature reconvenes, Wotherspoon will face David Marit, who Premier Scott Moe re-appointed Monday as minister for agriculture and SCIC.

Marit, MLA for the southwestern riding of Wood River since 2016, has handled the ag file since 2018, when Lumsden-Morse MLA Lyle Stewart stepped down from the ag post to undergo treatment for cancer.

Stewart also returned to the provincial cabinet Monday as provincial secretary and as legislative secretary to the premier responsible for provincial autonomy.

The provincial secretary’s office handles matters relating to official protocol, provincial honours and awards and French language services. Stewart’s role as legislative secretary, Moe said, “will focus on areas where Saskatchewan can exercise and strengthen our provincial autonomy within the Canadian federation.”

Among other cabinet posts of interest to producers, Don Morgan was shuffled Monday to become minister responsible for “all major Crown corporations” including SaskWater, SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SGI, SaskTel and SaskGaming.

Joe Hargrave has also been shuffled to become minister for highways and the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency, and Warren Kaeding to become environment minister.

Jeremy Harrison was re-appointed Monday as minister of trade, while Everett Hindley, MLA for Swift Current since a 2018 byelection, enters cabinet as minister for mental health and addictions, seniors and rural and remote health. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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David Marit, MLA for the southwestern riding of Wood River since 2016, held his seat by a spread of 5,177 votes over the New Democrats’ challenger, teacher Roger Morgan, with 459 mail-in ballots remaining to be counted.

Marit farms at Fife Lake, about 150 km south of Moose Jaw, and served as president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities before running for provincial office. He was moved from the highways portfolio to the ag file in 2018, as Lyle Stewart stepped down from the ag post to undergo treatment for cancer.

Stewart, the MLA for Lumsden-Morse and ag minister from 2012 to 2018, also easily held his seat Monday by a spread of 4,507 votes over NDP challenger Nic Lewis, with 850 mail-in ballots still to be counted.

Ryan Meili’s opposition New Democrats, as of late Monday night, were elected or leading in 11 ridings, compared to 50 for Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party, which for the NDP would mean a net gain of just one seat over the 2016 election.

Several ridings, however, remained too close to call, with a total of 61,255 mail-in ballots to be tallied when the final count is held starting Nov. 7.

As with British Columbia’s provincial election held Saturday, the mail-in ballots — an option that got a major boost due to the COVID-19 pandemic — could still tip close contests one way or the other.

The NDP’s incumbent agriculture critic, Regina Northeast MLA Yens Pedersen, is one such example. As of Monday night, with 50 of 50 ballot boxes reporting, he was trailing Saskatchewan Party challenger Gary Grewal by 615 votes — but with 1,270 mail-in ballots remaining.

A Regina lawyer who grew up on a family farm at Cut Knife, about 50 km west of North Battleford, Pedersen had just come to office in a 2018 byelection against Grewal, held to fill a vacant seat after Saskatchewan Party cabinet minister Kevin Doherty resigned.

If Pedersen is defeated in the final vote count, the NDP again has a limited pool of obvious candidates for the agriculture critic’s job.

Among those may be Carla Beck, a Regina social worker and school board trustee and the MLA for Regina Lakeview since 2016. Beck also grew up on a family farm, near Lang, about 45 km northwest of Weyburn.

Beck on Monday night was leading Saskatchewan Party challenger Megan Patterson by a spread of 1,462 votes with 48 of 48 ballot boxes reporting — and another 2,127 mail-in ballots remaining to be counted. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Alanna Koch, who farms with her husband at Edenwold, Sask., about 40 km northeast of Regina, announced her candidacy Monday for the leadership of the province’s governing Saskatchewan Party.

Koch was the province’s deputy minister of agriculture from 2007 up until July last year, when she replaced Doug Moen as deputy minister to the premier and cabinet secretary.

Wall on Monday announced Koch is taking an unpaid leave of absence from that post and Kent Campbell, deputy minister for intergovernmental affairs, will take over for Koch on an interim basis.

Koch has been a prominent figure in Prairie ag policy for over 25 years, having served as executive director of the pro-deregulation Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association (1992-2000) and as a board member (2003-07) for Winnipeg grain handler Agricore United before its merger into Viterra.

While at Viterra, Koch also served as president (2005-07) of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, a trade group representing stakeholders in export-dependent agrifood sectors.

Koch’s resume in Saskatchewan public policy dates back to Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative government, in which she served stints as assistant principal secretary to the premier (1990-91) and as chief of staff for various cabinet ministers.

Koch, who was inducted into the Saskatchewan Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2011, also served previously as a director for the George Morris Centre at the University of Guelph and for AVAC Ltd., a not-for-profit investment firm backing agricultural start-ups.

“What sets me apart is the sheer breadth and depth of my experience. I’m a mother. I’m a farmer. I have stood up for farmers and the agriculture industry. I’ve helped open doors so our farmers can sell their beef, wheat and canola all over the world,” Koch said in a release Monday.

Wall, the MLA for Swift Current and premier since 2007, announced Aug. 10 he would step down as premier and party leader after the party chooses a new leader, who would then become premier. The party has scheduled its leadership convention for Jan. 27, 2018 in Saskatoon.

Koch’s release said she would “seek to build on the foundation of the Wall government’s policies.”

Other declared candidates for the party leadership so far include Regina MLA Tina Beaudry-Mellor, Saskatoon MLAs Ken Cheveldayoff and Gord Wyant and Meadow Lake MLA Jeremy Harrison, all of whom have served as ministers in Wall’s cabinet. — AGCanada.com Network

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By about 1 a.m. Tuesday, Premier Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party had won 51 of 61 ridings, for a third straight majority mandate coming out of Monday’s general election.

The opposition New Democrats, meanwhile, won just 10 seats and NDP leader Cam Broten was unseated in his riding of Saskatoon Westview.

Lyle Stewart, the Saskatchewan Party’s agriculture minister since 2012, won his redrawn riding of Lumsden-Morse over NDP candidate Rhonda Phillips, a town councillor in Lumsden, by a spread of almost 4,500 votes.

Stewart, a rancher at Pense, Sask., about 30 km west of Regina, has been a Saskatchewan Party MLA since 1999 and previously served as the party’s agriculture critic during its stint in opposition.

The New Democrats’ incumbent agriculture critic, Cathy Sproule, held her riding of Saskatoon Nutana by a spread of over 1,300 votes against Saskatchewan Party candidate Jamie Brandrick, a former deputy mayor for the village of Borden.

Raised on a farm in southern Saskatchewan, Sproule was a federal government lawyer specializing in aboriginal law before winning her first election in the Nutana riding in 2011.

Sproule, the party’s ag critic since late 2011, has also served as the party’s critic for rural affairs, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp., environment, tourism, parks, SaskPower and the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA), among others.

If Wall returns to the legislature with a cabinet shuffle, other possible candidates for the agriculture file include returning Arm River MLA Greg Brkich, previously a legislative secretary to the minister of agriculture, and Humboldt-Watrous MLA Donna Harpauer, the party’s former agriculture critic during its spell in opposition.

Both the Saskatchewan Party and NDP boosted their seat count from the 2011 election, when they won 49 and nine seats respectively, due to a redrawn electoral map with three additional ridings.

The Saskatchewan Party finished Monday night with an only slightly smaller share of the popular vote, at 62.6 per cent, down from 64 in 2011. The NDP took up about 30.4 per cent, down from about 32 per cent in 2011. The provincial Liberals and Green Party took about 3.6 and 1.9 per cent of Monday’s vote respectively. — AGCanada.com Network

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