In what some are calling a landslide victory, former Ward 6 City Councillor and television broadcaster, Cynthia Block has become Saskatoon’s first female Mayor. She topped the five candidates in the race with Gordon Wyant in second place. The unofficial results are Block with 30,412 votes to Wyant’s 20,259. Don Atchison had 10,460 votes while Cary Tarasoff received 6,386 and Mike Harder had 568. Wyant was first elected as a Saskatchewan Party MLA in 2010 until he decided not to run in the last election and chose instead to run to be Saskatoon’s Mayor. Wyant also served three terms as a Councillor in Ward 5. Block was first elected in Ward 6 in 2016 and spent two terms in that position until her decision to run for Mayor this year.
In the 2024 election in Saskatoon 68,701 voters cast their ballots for Mayor, Councillors and School Board Trustees. This represents an overall eligible voter turnout of 35.04 per cent. Which is considerably more than the 27.41 per cent voter turnout in 2020.
Out of 11 people, ten Councillors and a Mayor, there are only five people returning. Block returns as Mayor instead of as a Councillor. Incumbent Troy Davies won his seat easily in Ward 4 and the same goes for Randy Donauer in Ward 5. That leaves two Councillors who were acclaimed: Bev Dubois in Ward 9 and Zach Jeffries in Ward 10. Here are the new Councillors on the block: Kathryn MacDonald in Ward 1, Senos Timon in Ward 2, Robert Pearce in Ward 3, Jasmin Parker in Ward 6, Holly Kelleher in Ward 7 and Scott Ford in Ward 8.
The Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools’ Board of Education has ten elected trustees, with seven representing Saskatoon and then one trustee each for three subdivisions around the city including Martensville and Warman in Subdivision 1, Humboldt in subdivision 2 and Biggar in Subdivision 3. The seven candidates for the Saskatoon trustees with the most votes are Diane Boyko, Owen Fortosky, J.R. Boechler, Sharon Webicki-Zakreski,Tim Jelinski, Kate Day, and Michelle Christopher.
The Ward 1 Public School Board trustee is Tanya Napper. Wards 2, 3 and 4 were acclaimed with Vernon Linklater in Ward 2, Donna Banks in Ward 3, and Kim Stranden in Ward 4. Jennifer Scherman won in Ward 5, Kirk Jones in Ward 6, and Ross Tait was acclaimed in Ward 7. Anne-Marie Rollo is the trustee in Ward 8, with Kevin Schmidt in Ward 9 and Angela Arneson was acclaimed in Ward 10.
RM of Corman Park
The elections for Rural Municipalities are for odd-numbered divisions. In the RM of Corman Park, only two elections were needed because Joe Hargrave was elected Reeve by Acclamation. The same goes for John Germs (jerms) in Division 1 and Art Pruim (proom) in Division 5.
That leaves the two other odd-numbered divisions. From the unofficial results on election night, in Division three, Lydon Hyndon Haduik wins with 266 votes to Sheldon Giesbrecht’s 121, and in Division 7, Calvin Vaandrager wins with 106 votes to Lacy Boisvert’s 23. The official results are expected around noon tomorrow.
Martensville and Warman
Kent Muench has been reelected in Martensville as Mayor as was Darren MacDonald and Spencer Nikkel as councillors. Also elected were Tracy Cocks, Krista McCann, Katharine Carter and Brad Blixt. In Warman Gary Phillipchuk has been acclaimed to lead his community for another four years. And there is only one new face around the council table, based on unofficial results and that is Chris Mason. Returning are Kevin Tooley, Tracey Johnson, Doug Ramage, Marshall Seed and Richard Beck.
Prince Albert
Prince Albert has elected a new mayor. Incumbent Greg Dionne came in 2nd place in the civic election with 2,923 votes to Bill Powalinsky’s 4,424. Dionne was Prince Albert’s 29th Mayor, and he was in the position for 12 years. Powalinsky’s biography on the Prince Albert election website says he brings several decades of community development, small business and government management experience. His priority as Mayor will be to provide leadership that facilitates to ensure safety and well-being for residents, and he highlights transparency as a priority for City government.
Three Councillors were acclaimed: Tony Head in Ward 3, Blake Edwards in Ward 6 and Darren Solomon in Ward 8. That means only three of eight councillors and the mayor have experience on Prince Albert’s City Council. The new Councillors for the next term are Daniel Brown in Ward 1, Troy Parenteau in Ward 2, Bryce Laewetz in Ward 3, Stephen Ring in Ward 5 and Dawn Kilmer in Ward 7. Three Councillors were acclaimed – Tony Head in Ward 3, Blake Edwards in Ward 6 and Darren Solomon in Ward 8.
Regina
If you found it hard to choose from a list of five mayoral candidates in Saskatoon, those in Regina had over double that number of options. Incumbent Sandra Masters lost to Chad Bachynski. Also elected on Regina council are Dan Rashovich, George Tsiklis, David Froh, Mark Burton, Sarah Turnbull, Victoria Flores, Shobna Radons, Shanon Zachidniak, Jason Mancinelli, and Clark Bezo.
Moose Jaw
James Murdock was elected on Wednesday night, unseating Clive Tolley. Moose Jaw will have three new councillors, with Patrick Boyle, Chris Warren and Carla Delaurier all being elected while incumbents Jamey Logan, Dawn Luhning and Heather Eby will return to council chambers.
Yorkton
Aaron Kienle ousted former Mayor Mitch Hippsley. There are two newly elected councillors who are Stephanie Ortynsky and Greg Litvanyi. The rest of council seats will be filled by Dustin Brears, Quinn Haider, Randy Goulden and Darcy Zaharia.
North Battleford
Kelli Hawtin was elected as the first woman to be mayor of North Battleford. She beat out Terence (Terry) Caldwell and Wayne Baptiste (Semaganis). There are two new city councillors in North Battleford including Dennis Mercer and Rodney Fedler. Kent Lindgren, Greg Lightfoot, Bill Ironstand, and Ross MacAngus were re-elected.
Swift Current
In Swift Current council will include Ryan Plewis, Ryan Switzer, Leanne Tuntland-Wiebe, Tom Christiansen, Bruce Deg, and Courtney Stewart. Mayor Al Bridal was acclaimed in Swift Current.
