The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada • 4

A4 Tuesday. November 8. 2011 SASKATCHEWAN ELECTION 2011 Leader-Post leaderpost.com STRONGHOLD REMATCHES A tale of two cities Hutchinson, Michelson victorious TERRENCE MCEACHERN PAMELA COWAN LEADER-POST Sask. Partys Saskatoon Southeast winning candidate Don Morgan, left, and Saskatoon Eastview winning candidate Corey Tochor, who defeated Judy Junor, congratulate each other on election night in Saskatoon. Sask Party takes over Saskatoon was NDP candidate Derek Hassen, who garnered 2,669 votes followed by Progressive Conservative candidate Rick Swenson who received 273 votes.

The Green Partys Corinne Johnson trailed last with 98 votes. In the 2007 provincial election, only 33 votes separated Michelson from the NDPs Glenn HageL I think last time the people were a little unsure about what the Sask. Party would be like, but I think over the past four years weve certainly proved ourselves as a very capable government for the province," Michelson said in a phone interview from the Legion Hall in Moose Jaw. Its very gratifying that the people of Moose Jaw North saw fit to return me to the legislature. I think its a reflection of the leadership of Brad Wall and the accomplishments that we have made as a government for all of the people over the past four years.

The Leader-Post could not reach Hassen for comment Monday night. The results in two other neighbouring constituencies were a surprise by being closer than expected. In Moose Jaw Wakamow, the Saskatchewan Partys Greg Lawrence defeated incumbent NDP candidate Deb Higgins by a count of 2,997 to 2,783 votes. Higgins ran in the NDP leadership race three years ago. Similarly, in the constituency of Regina Lakeview, John Nilson of the NDP edged out Saskatchewan Party candidate Bob Hawkins.

tmceachern leaderpost.com qLjKT The rematch of Regina South between Saskatchewan Party incumbent Bill Hutchinson and NDP challenger Yens Pedersen proved to be less dramatic than last time, as Hutchinson won the seat by more than 800 votes Monday night. Afterwards, Hutchinson described the feeling of winning a second term as exhilarating and humbling. Hutchinson received 4,373 votes, 894 more than second place Pedersen at 3,479. David Orban of the Green Party came in third with 295 votes. Pedersen, who lost the 2007 provincial election to Hutchinson by 255 votes, said last nights results were disappointing, but added he was proud of the campaign he ran.

In the end, he said the campaign was fighting against the tide. Pedersen said it was too soon to say whether he would run again in the next provincial election. Meanwhile, the race wasnt as close in Moose Jaw North. Saskatchewan Party incumbent Warren Michelson easily won his seat with 4,474 votes. His closest contender v- Tv the farm and we ran a fiscally responsible campaign strategy and platform, Parent said.

In Saskatoon Fairhaven, NDP incumbent Andy Iwan-chuk fell to the Sask. Partys Jennifer Campeau, a University of Saskatchewan instructor, in a see-saw race that was within five votes late into the night In the end, political newcomer Campeau prevailed over Iwanchuk, edging him out by exactly 250 votes at press time in a seat held by the NDP since 1986. Voters wanted stability in the face of a turbulent world economy, Campeau said. The fact that there are more working people in that areas than ever before and they basically have more money in their pockets than they ever have, she said. Theyve been able to benefit from our economic boom, she said.

Saskatoon Southeast victor Don Morgan, the Sask Party justice minister at dissolution who won by 5,000 votes, said the party has ben-efitted from good fortune. To be perfectly candid, the province has done very well in the last four years because of strong royalties in resource revenue, he said. We were well tioned in a lot of things and the premier has done a good job of capitalizing on those things. A lot of those things were just fortuitous and we were the beneficiary. dhutton thestarphoenlx.com Twltter.comHuttonSP weve improved health care in the last four years.

The NDP managed to hang on to four Saskatoon ridings, all surrounding the downtown as Danielle Chartier in Riversdale, David Forbes in Saskatoon Centre, and Cam Broten in Saskatoon Massey Place retained their seats. Also, political newcomer Cathy Sproule, a lawyer with the federal government and the co-founder of the Ness Creek Music Festival, nipped out a closely fought win in stronghold Saskatoon Nutana, leading Saskatchewan Party Zoria Broughton, a school community coordinator, by around 400 votes at press time. The Saskatchewan Party continued to broaden its appeal in urban areas, capturing well over 50 per cent of the overall vote in Saskatoon compared to 29 per cent in its inaugural 1999 and 2003 election and 43 per cent in 2007. The party also knocked off several veteran NDP politicians. In Saskatoon Meewasin, Roger Parent was victorious in his second try at the seat, defeating Frank Quen-nell, the longtime MLA and former justice minister.

The 2007 race featured a three-way race between Quennell, Parent, and Liberal stalwart David Karwacki. This time, Parent was leading by more than 830 votes with all polls reporting. He credited the win to the party keeping its promises. They were giving away soundly in the suburban constituency, walked into the Sask Party election night headquarters at Prai-rieland Park with his hands held high above his head, celebrating. He said the Sask Partys gains in Saskatoon to centrist policies and its changed stance on privatizing the Crown Corporations after Wall was elected leader.

Sask Party newcomer Corey Tochor, the owner of a health communications firm, scored one of the biggest wins of the night, knocking off NDP stalwart Judy Junor in a seat thats been held by the party since 1988. Tochor garnered more than 55 per cent of the vote at press time, leading by a 1,200 vote margin with all but one poll reporting over the former president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses and a senior cabinet minister. He said the victory in the NDP stronghold was because of an energetic campaign team and gains in health care wait times in the constituency The No. 1 thing that let us win here was seniors in Eastview felt the improvement in health care, Tochor said. We have more to do in health care but the wait times are going down and its easier to see a doctor, not all the time, but it is improving.

I think that kindve turned the tide. We didnt have to tell people were going to improve health care. They felt that DAVID HUTTON AND BETTY ANN ADAM THE STARPHOENIX The NDPs 30-year stronghold on Saskatoon broke Monday night as Saskatchewan Party candidates, buoyed by unprecedented support at the ballot box, handed several veteran politicians losses in key urban constituencies. The New Democrats won seven of 12 races in 2007 and have won the majority of the citys seats for the past 29 years. Now, eight of the citys 12 seats belong to the Sask Party, another major breakthrough in urban ridings for a party that struggled to gain significant traction in cities since its forming in the late 1990s.

In 2003, they said we couldnt win in Saskatoon and Regina and we elected two candidates, said veteran MLA Ken Cheveldayoff, who steamrollered to another win in Saskatoon Silver Springs. In 2007, they said we couldnt win in Regina and we were fortunate to win three seats and two more in Saskatoon, but this shows that the Sask Party is an urban party. Its a rural party. Its a party for everyone. The huge gains in cities are credit the Sask Party becoming a mainstream party of the centre under leader Brad Wall, a number of candidates said Monday night.

Cheveldayoff, a senior cabinet minister who won BRUCE JOHNSTONE As provincial elections go, this one was like shooting fish in a barrel, only the fish had a better chance of survival than most NDP candidates. By the end of the evening (about half an hour after the polls closed), the Saskatchewan Party had swept to victory with 49 seats a decisive margin of victory. And the NDP the former natural governing party of Saskatchewan was fighting for its survival, not unlike another former natural governing BRYAN SCHLOSSERLeader-Post Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall takes to the stage of the Palliser Pavillion in Swift Current for his victory speech. OPINION Lingenfelter gets his just deserts A b. to invest in the province after 40 years without a new potash mine.

It should have been a point of pride. Instead, Lingenfelter chose to run against the fiscal regime that is largely responsible for the incredible potash expansion taking place in the province today. Of course, Lingenfelter had to have something to pay for the $5 billion in promises his party made at the rate of two per day throughout most of the 28-day campaign. And the potash companies and their extravagant CEO salaries looked like an easy target. But it was the wrong target and the NDP is paying the price for his misjudg-ment.

Johnstone Is the Leader-Post's financial editor of the potash industry and a handful of bureaucrats, fully understand it. What we do know is that our royalty rate is the highest in the world and that the changes introduced by the Calvert government in 2005 allowed potash companies to offset those royalties temporarily if they invested in potash expansion projects. And the potash industry has delivered to the time of about $12 billion in production expansion projects. And when those one-time offsets end and the expansion projects come on stream, the royalty revenue will increase commensurate with the increased production. And yet Lingenfelter downplayed the important role of those royalty changes in incenting the industry braced middle-of-the-road policies, like personal income and business tax reform, and generally ran a fiscally responsible government.

And it was the Calvert government that negotiated the potash royalty regime that Lingenfelter repeatedly attacked as a giveaway of the provinces resource wealth. Lingenfelter disingenuously stated on numerous occasions that the provinces royalty regime was collecting five cents on every dollar in potash revenue. In reality, the potash royalty and taxation structure in Saskatchewan that has evolved over decades and under several administrations is so complex that very few people, outside voters across the province. Some will say this wasnt the NDPs election to lose, that Saskatchewan voters have never failed to return a government after one term of office and it didnt matter who was the leader, the NDP were destined to lose this election. All that may be true.

But I would argue that the high stakes campaign Lingenfelter championed and defended even in his resignation speech was largely responsible for the crushing defeat that befell the NDP on Monday night. In effect, Lingenfelter wasnt so much running against the Sask. Party governments record. He was running against the record of the previous Calvert NDP government, which had em party the federal Liberals. To be reduced to a rump of nine seats amounts to a complete repudiation of the NDP platform, and its leader, Dwain Lingenfelter.

That Lingenfelter lost his own seat in the Douglas Park constituency merely adds insult to injury. Its not for me to judge Lingenfelter. The voters have done that. But the results are a clear indictment of Lingenfelters win-at-all-costs approach to this campaign. Instead of attempting to appeal to the core vote as Lome Calvert did in 2007, Lingenfelter gambled all and lost.

His campaign strategy shoot for the stars, promise the moon and worry about paying for it later was overwhelmingly rejected by the.