Top miner lures MLA Campeau to private-sector job in B.C.
A provincial byelection will be held in Saskatoon later this year to replace Jennifer Campeau, the Saskatchewan Party MLA who has represented the Saskatoon Fairview riding since 2011.
Campeau announced Wednesday she is leaving politics and Saskatchewan. She will resign as of Sunday to move to British Columbia and accept a senior advising role with mining company Rio Tinto Alcan.
“This has been a very difficult decision for me, but definitely, I couldn’t pass this opportunity up,” an emotional Campeau said at a news conference. “You weigh the pros and cons of waiting for the last three years of sitting in the legislature, sitting out my term, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I had to take it.”
A byelection must be held within six months — by the end of December — to fill the vacant seat.
Premier Brad Wall said he will make an announcement about the byelection date “at some suitable time.”
The Saskatoon Fairview riding was an NDP seat for 25 years before Campeau beat incumbent Andy Iwanchuk by 247 votes in 2011. She narrowly held onto the riding last year, beating NDP candidate Vicki Mowat by 152 votes.
Wall acknowledged Saskatoon Fairview will be hard to win.
“Whether or not the current political dynamic was changed by the most recent budget, this constituency we’re talking about is tough; 184 votes with an excellent candidate, so, you know, we’re pretty realistic about that. It’s going to be very, very difficult.”
Mowat said Campeau’s announcement came “as a surprise” and she is putting serious thought into whether to once again seek the NDP nomination in the riding. She said she believes the current political climate has created a “strong opportunity” for the NDP to reclaim Saskatoon Fairview.
Nicole Sarauer, the new interim leader of the NDP, said her party looks forward to the byelection.
“Every byelection is important,” she said. “Our hope is, if we have to take the Sask. Party seats one by one, we will.”
Campeau, a one-time high school dropout and single mother, holds a master of business administration and was an instructor at the University of Saskatchewan before she dove into politics in 2011. She served as central services minister from 2014 to 2016, and has most recently been legislative secretary in the Education Ministry for First Nations student achievement.
She said one of her most significant accomplishments as MLA was her work on an anti-bullying report, which informed the ministry of education’s action plan.
Wall also said Campeau has played a major role in identifying women to take leadership roles in Crown corporations.
“For the first time in the province’s history, 50 per cent of the members of Crown corporation boards are women … We’ve been able to do that because, well, of Jennifer championing the issue in general, but also working hard to develop interests among women who would want to serve.”