Blackstrap

Blackstrap is a federal electoral district in south-central Saskatchewan, named after Blackstrap Lake, a man-made reservoir located south of Saskatoon. The riding includes the southeastern portion of the city of Saskatoon east of the South Saskatchewan River and south of 8th Street, as well as a large rural area stretching south and east to include the communities of Dundurn, Kenaston, Hanley, and surrounding agricultural lands. It combines urban Saskatoon suburbs with the flat, open prairie of the grain belt.

Candidates

Lynne Yelich (Conservative)* — Yelich was born Lynne Zdunich to a family of Croatian heritage and settled with her husband Matt in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, where they purchased farmland. She was first elected to the House of Commons in 2000 as a Canadian Alliance candidate and was re-elected in every subsequent election through 2011. She was appointed Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification in 2008 and later served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Consular in 2013. She lost the Conservative nomination for the newly drawn Saskatoon—Grasswood riding in 2015 to Kevin Waugh.

Darien Moore (NDP) — Moore was an active member of the Saskatchewan NDP and ran a spirited campaign in Blackstrap in 2011. He later ran for the presidency of the Saskatchewan NDP, narrowly losing to Cory Oxelgren by a margin of just three votes at the party convention.

Deborah J. Walker (Liberal) — Walker ran as the Liberal candidate in Blackstrap in a riding where the party had limited support.

Shawn Setyo (Green Party) — Setyo ran as the Green Party candidate in Blackstrap.

About the Riding

Blackstrap straddles the boundary between urban Saskatoon and the surrounding rural prairie, giving the riding a distinctive split character. The Saskatoon portion includes established middle-class neighbourhoods on the city's east side, including areas near the University of Saskatchewan and the Stonebridge subdivision that was rapidly developing in the late 2000s. Beyond the city limits, the riding stretches across the flat farmland of the South Saskatchewan River basin, where grain farming and cattle ranching are the dominant economic activities.

The riding takes its name from Blackstrap Lake, a reservoir created in 1967 as part of the Saskatoon South East Water Supply System. Blackstrap Provincial Park, featuring a man-made hill that rises 45 metres above the surrounding prairie, was built for the 1971 Canada Winter Games and remains a local recreation destination. The rural communities of Dundurn, Kenaston, and Hanley serve as small agricultural service centres, while Canadian Forces Base Dundurn is a significant local employer and training facility.

In 2011, the riding was firmly in Conservative territory, reflecting both the urban-suburban growth areas of Saskatoon's southeast and the deeply conservative rural hinterland. Yelich, a cabinet minister with over a decade of parliamentary experience, was well known in the community. The NDP's Moore ran an energetic campaign that attracted attention at a Jack Layton rally in Saskatoon, but the national NDP Orange Wave that swept Quebec had little effect on Saskatchewan's electoral landscape.

Yelich won re-election with approximately 54 percent of the vote, a commanding margin that reflected the Conservative Party's overwhelming strength in Saskatchewan during the Harper majority. The NDP and Liberals trailed far behind. The riding would be dissolved for the 2015 election when redistribution carved its territory between the new ridings of Saskatoon—Grasswood and Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan.