Ken Krawetz Will Not Run Again in Next Provincial Election

Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Ken Krawetz today announced he will not seek re-election in the next provincial election expected in April of 2016. Krawetz is the MLA for Canora-Pelly and a founding member of the Saskatchewan Party.

“It has been a tremendous honour to serve the people of Canora-Pelly through five terms of office and I look forward to doing so for the remaining two years of this term,” Krawetz said. “Serving as an MLA first in opposition and then in government has been a great experience but now it’s time for someone else to have that responsibility. I expect a strongly contested nomination race in Canora-Pelly and I will be working to ensure our candidate is elected as the next Saskatchewan Party MLA for Canora-Pelly.”

Canora-Pelly was considered an NDP stronghold when Krawetz was first elected in 1995 by a margin of just 50 votes. Krawetz was re-elected with much larger margins under the Saskatchewan Party banner in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. In 2011, Krawetz won by over 2700 votes, earning over 71 per cent of the popular vote.

Premier Brad Wall said the leadership, intelligence and character of Ken Krawetz will be missed.

“There is no one held in higher regard in the Saskatchewan Party Caucus than Ken Krawetz,” Wall said. “When the Saskatchewan Party was formed in 1997, the eight founding MLAs chose Ken to be our first leader, which gave our new party instant credibility. Since 1998, Ken has been the Deputy Leader of the Saskatchewan Party, first in opposition and then in government. He has the respect of everyone he works with and I will miss Ken sitting next to me in the Assembly.”

Wall said while Krawetz will leave big shoes to fill, he is confident the next Saskatchewan Party candidate for Canora-Pelly will work hard to retain the seat for the party in the next election.

“When Ken first ran, his constituency was right in the heart of NDP country and I don’t think he was expected to win,” Wall said. “Today, because of Ken Krawetz, this is one of the strongest Saskatchewan Party seats in the province. Still, we take nothing for granted and our next candidate will have to work as hard as Ken did to earn the trust of Canora-Pelly voters.”

15 Saskatchewan Party MLAs have already been nominated for the next election and 15 more have their nomination meetings scheduled in the coming weeks.

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For more information: The Saskatchewan Party, 306.359.1638 or 1.800.966.9611.