August 12, 2024 | Advertise with us

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Former MLA Steven Bonk wins federal Conservative nomination

Steven Bonk has won a contested nomination and will be the federal Conservative candidate for Souris Moose Mountain.

Bonk is the former MLA for Moosomin who recently rescinded his Saskatchewan Party nomination so he could seek the federal seat. The incumbent MP Robert Kitchen announced he would not be seeking re-election after representing the riding since 2015.

Bonk beat the Mayor of Torquay, Michael Stratchan, in what was an incredibly short nomination process. The candidates told the media that they were given two weeks to file their paperwork and campaign.

Voting took place over two days with members voting and hearing speeches in Moosomin on Friday, and Estevan and Weyburn on Saturday.

Bonk said, “I’m extremely humbled to win this nomination. I want to thank my teammate, Mike Strachan. It was an honourable campaign, and he’s a good man, and I’m very happy with the way everything happened.” Bonk noted that both candidates had to scramble to prepare for the nomination.

Souris Moose Mountain is one of the safest Conservative seats in the country. In the most recent federal election, Kitchen won with 30,000 votes and 77%. Ten times the amount of the second place candidate. The People’s Party claimed second place with 3,000 or 7%.

Sponsored by the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association

Learn more about the great work the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association and its members are doing at saskheavy.ca.

A deeper dive into the Insightrix numbers

The polling shows that 28% of Saskatchewan voters are undecided if an election were held today. Among decided voters, The NDP stands at 48% support, while the Saskatchewan Party is at 47%.

When looking at the demographic breakdown, the polling confirms that the Saskatchewan Party is most popular among men aged 55 and up outside of Saskatoon and Regina. The NDP is most popular among women younger than 34 who live in Regina and Saskatoon. The parties are tied among voters aged 35 to 54.

The same survey also asked respondents to select the top three issues facing them right now. Regardless of party support, Healthcare (59%) and Rising Costs and Inflation (51%) were the top issues across the board.

For Saskatchewan Party voters, the economy, jobs, and taxes were other top issues. For NDP supporters, healthcare and education were by far the top issues for them. This shows why Scott Moe attacking the carbon tax is effective, and how the teacher’s strike and healthcare issues affected NDP communication.

The poll also asked about the impressions of both party leaders.

Scott Moe was rated an effective leader and advocate for the province as his top positive impression. His negative net was much higher, with dishonesty, lack of transparency, and uncaring attitude as his top negative impressions.

Carla Beck had a similar positive score to the Premier, with leadership and effort to unify as her top positive impression. Her net negative impression was lower than the Premier’s, but her top negative impression was the perceived lack of strength and effectiveness. The neutral score for Beck was twice as much as Premier Moe’s, suggesting many voters still don’t have any opinion of her.

Insightrix uses a ‘SaskWatch’ panel to conduct online polling. There are 20,000 SaskWatch members representing all regions of the province.

Insightrix research stated “A total of 860 randomly selected SaskWatch Research^® panel members participated in the online research study between July 23rd  and 26^h, 2024. Quotas were set by age, gender and region to match the general population of the province and as such the data did not need to be weighted.”

They continued, “Since the research is conducted online, it is considered to be a non-probability proportion sample; therefore, margins of error are not applicable. However, had a probability sample been utilized, the margin of error would be estimated to be ±3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20 for questions answered by all respondents (n=860).”

The Writ Podcast hosts Eric Grenier and Philippe Fournier discussed the Insightrix polling results on their latest episode.

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Saskatchewan government to cover cost of landfill search

The government of Saskatchewan will fund the cost of a landfill search which identified the remains of Mackenzie Trottier.

The search lasted 93 days. Trottier went missing in December of 2020 and Saskatoon Police say the suspect in her disappearance died of a drug overdose. Cellphone data and waste tracking led investigators to the Saskatoon landfill, where Trottier’s remains were identified last week.

Minister of Corrections and Policing Paul Merriman committed $1 million to cover some of the $1.5 million cost of the landfill search. The Saskatoon police have also requested the government fund the funeral service.

The news was announced through the media and Premier Scott Moe took to X to thank the Saskatoon Police and those involved saying, “Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mackenzie Trottier.”

The issue of funding a landfill search was a hot-button topic in the Manitoba election last fall, with former Premier Heather Stefanson narrating a campaign ad titled ‘Stand Firm.’ In the ad, Stefanson said, “For health and safety reasons the answer has to be no.” Premier Wab Kinew and the federal government pledged $20 million to fund the search. Here in Saskatchewan, landfill search costs $1.5 million, and the province will fund it with $1 million.

Nomination Update: Sask. Party closes in on a full slate

The Saskatchewan Party has nominated 56 candidates. There are currently no further nominations scheduled for the remaining five constituencies, however, there are nomination candidates in at least one.

The New Democratic Party has nominated 48 candidates. There are currently no nominations scheduled for the remaining twelve constituencies, however, there are nomination candidates in at least one.

The Green Party has nominated 24 candidates. In 2020, the Green Party ran in 60 of the 61 constituencies.

The Saskatchewan United Party has nominated 8 candidates. This is a new party and it is unclear how many candidates the party will recruit. They have their sights set on the Lumsden-Morse and Saskatchewan Rivers constituencies.

The Progressive Conservative Party has nominated 8 candidates. In 2020, the PC’s ran in 31 of the 61 constituencies.

The Buffalo Party has nominated 5 candidates. In 2020 they only ran in 17 constituencies, but placed second in multiple.

The Progress Party (formerly Saskatchewan Liberals) have nominated 0 candidates. In the last election under their former name, this party ran only three candidates. It is unclear if they will run any in this election.

More news and info

• RCMP union, Saskatchewan communities call for pause on Marshals Service (The Canadian Press)

• Markets see ‘settling of nerves’ after dramatic drop, but recession talk is ‘brutally devastating’ for governments, say observers (The Hill Times)

• Politicians in the Wild: Both party leaders campaign in Saskatoon with Moe at a BBQ and Beck door knocking.

• Conservatives lead by 20 as positive impressions of Pierre Poilievre rise (Abacus Data)

2024 Election Candidate Tracker