Moe won’t rule out early trip to polls
SASKATOON Saskatchewan’s New Democratic Party is preparing for the Oct. 26 provincial election, but will be ready if Premier Scott Moe calls for an earlier campaign.
Moe refused to rule out the possibility of an early election call by the governing Saskatchewan Party when asked by reporters on Monday in Saskatoon.
Moe reminded reporters he holds the power to call an early election.
“Our election is Oct. 26,” Moe said. “That is the election date we have set. That is the election date that we continue to plan for. In saying that, the premier of the province has the prerogative to call an election at any point in time prior to that.”
Former Saskatchewan Party premier Brad Wall introduced a law as one of his government’s first orders of business in 2007 that set provincial election dates in early November.
A conflict with the 2015 federal election moved the election scheduled for late 2015 to the spring of 2016. Moe noted that other Saskatchewan premiers have called early elections.
“That’s happened before in this province,” he said. “Four years for us would be up sometime here this spring, but as I say, Oct. 26 is the date that we’re preparing for.”
John Tzupa, the secretary/ceo of the Saskatchewan NDP, said in an interview Wednesday that he would have preferred the premier delivered a clear message to Saskatchewan residents.
“I think that it’s always best to be honest and straightforward with the people of Saskatchewan,” Tzupa said.
He suggested the NDP would be ready for an early election call, even though the legislation has set the date for Oct. 26.
“We’re a political party,” he said. “We’re constantly organizing.”
The NDP has 28 candidates nominated for the provincial election; two more are expected to be nominated this weekend.
The NDP represents 13 of the province’s 61 ridings. The Sask. Party holds 46 seats and two are vacant.
The Sask. Party has nominated 54 candidates; three more nomination meetings are scheduled over the next couple of weeks, according to the party’s executive director, Patrick Bundrock.
With files from Alex Macpherson ptank@postmedia.com twitter.com/thinktanksk