Sask. Party membership booms during leadership race

It appears a lot of people in the province want to have a say who the next premier is; as the Saskatchewan Party’s membership has almost tripled in the past three and a half months.

According to a release from the party, since Brad Wall announced his retirement in August, the party’s membership has grown from about 9,500 people to 27,125. The party says it’s the largest number of members it has ever had at one time.

Close to 14,000 of the new members have never held a Sask Party membership before the leadership race began — a fact which is encouraging to the executive director of the Sask Party, Patrick Bundrock.

“This kind of massive growth in our party membership is exactly what Premier Wall meant when he talked about renewing the party following his retirement,” Bundrock said in a news release.

“With so many brand-new members – in addition to those that have renewed their membership recently – the Saskatchewan Party is in a strong position not only for the leadership election but for the 2020 general election as well.”

There are five candidates vying for the leadership spot: Tina Beaudry-Mellor, Scott Moe, Gord Wyant, Ken Cheveldayoff, and Alanna Koch.

The party said it will start sending out voting packages in the mail this week. The deadline to return the ballot is January 26, 2018. Voting can also be done in person at the leadership convention in Saskatoon on January 27, 2018.