Kevin Weedmark new MLA for Moosomin-Montmartre
November 4, 2024, 8:41 am
Ashley Bochek
Kevin Weedmark was elected the new MLA for the Moosomin-Montmarte constituency in Saskatchewan’s provincial election Monday.
Weedmark won with 67 per cent of the vote in Moosomin-Montmartre.
The Saskatchewan Party won the provincial election with 53 per cent of the votes in the province, compared to 40 per cent for the NDP.
The Saskatchewan Party government was returned for a fifth term as a majority government, and was re-elected with a reduced seat count, but with a higher percentage of the vote than when the party was first elected to government 17 years ago.
Weedmark says he had a lot of fun on election day, touring towns in the riding and meeting with supporters all over the constituency before ending the night in Moosomin with a crowd of supporters at the Nutrien Sportsplex to watch the results come in.
Scrutineers for Weedmark’s campaign were calling in results from each poll, while provincial results rolled in on the screens.
“Election Day was a great day,” he said. “Murray Gray, my Campaign Manager, got a bit of a taste of what I have been doing for the last few weeks now, as I’ve built out a network of supporters and contacts across the riding, building that structure brick by brick, starting by going into towns where I knew almost no one and building out a network one person at a time,” said Weedmark.
“I’ve talked to more than 3,000 people between the nomination race and the election, and now I have contacts and supporters in every community, and I am still building that out.
“We started Election Day in Indian Head, we got a group together there for morning coffee. We had a meeting with quite a large group in Indian Head at the start of the day and I met with a reporter who wanted to meet with me there. Then I went over to the returning office and talked to John Kort, he is the returning officer for the riding. I thanked him and his team for all of their hard work, and then we worked our way back across the riding from Indian Head back toward the Moosomin area. We stopped in Wolseley and met with a few supporters. We were in Grenfell after that and met with the mayor and a few other supporters. We met with a few people at Broadview, then Whitewood, then Wapella, Moosomin, and Rocanville before heading to the watch party.”
Weedmark says election day was very exciting and he appreciates the support and volunteers who helped him along the way.
“It was very exciting,” Weedmark said. “There were so many people that came out to vote at the advance polls in Moosomin that we were informed the day before the election that there was a second team to help count the ballots at the advance poll, and when those were counted I had the support of 78 per cent of people who voted in that advance poll. It was great to see so many people enthusiastic and it was great to see that level of support. It was exciting.
“We had lots of people at the Sportsplex on Election Night from all over the riding, from Indian Head, from the Kipling area, from Wolseley, and Moosomin who were excited to see the vote count come in. We also had so many volunteers, I tried to thank all the volunteers. We had people door-knocking, putting up signs, scrutineering in every poll across the riding, watching those votes come in and texting the vote totals for every poll. It was an amazing feeling to see that support, to see people excited, and to know I have so many people behind me.”
He said he was happy with the voter turnout.
“We had strong voter turnout in Moosomin-Montmartre, much higher than the provincial average, and I’m thankful for everyone who came out to vote—in each town we stopped in on Election Day, we spent a bit of time at the polls, thanking people for coming out to vote. Whoever people voted for, I’m thankful to them for participating in the democratic process and voting.”
Fifth term
The Saskatchewan Party was re-elected for its fifth term in government in the 2024 Election.
“This government has been re-elected to a fifth term—that is unprecedented in Saskatchewan in modern day times. It’s never happened before in my lifetime,” says Weedmark.
“Even though the seat count is down a bit, when the Saskatchewan Party was first elected and Brad Wall became the premier 17 years ago, he won with 50.9 per cent of the vote, last night the Saskatchewan Party got 53 per cent of the vote and the NDP got 40 per cent. So, after 17 years, the Saskatchewan Party has more support than it did 17 years ago when it was first elected, so that is phenomenal—not only to be re-elected for a fifth term, but on top of that to be more popular than when you started, that is absolutely phenomenal.
“Premier Moe said in his speech on Election Night that he heard a message from voters, and vowed to reflect on those results, and to work for all the people of Saskatchewan. Similarly, my goal is to represent all of the people of the Moosomin-Montmartre riding.”
Weedmark said he is grateful for the support in communities throughout the riding.
“In every single town, we had those folks behind us and that is great to have that network, and part of my focus for the next four years is to continue connecting with people in all of our communities, to be aware of their needs and concerns, and to work on their behalf.
“It feels wonderful to have that support and to know that about two-thirds of people across the riding supported the Saskatchewan Party. We had five candidates running in Moosomin-Montmartre, and I am humbled and honored—truly honored—to have won with about two-thirds of the support across the riding. I’m so grateful to have people working hard for me in places like Wolseley and Indian Head who I hadn’t even met until just a few weeks ago. I just met these folks, and am just getting to know them, and they’re willing to work hard for myself and for the Saskatchewan Party, so that makes me very proud to have all those folks on our team.”
Weedmark said he is busy getting organized as MLA.
“My job now is to get everything set up in the constituency here and get a constituency assistant in place, and an office set up. My goal is to represent the people of this riding to the best of my ability, and that means getting to know as many people as possible across the riding. That is the exciting part for me. To develop all those new connections. Part of my role is to be a communicator and connector, to make sure I understand the concerns of people in our communities, so I can do my best to represent them.”
Tweet
