Cypress Hills—Grasslands

Cypress Hills—Grasslands is a federal electoral district occupying the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan. The riding stretches from the Alberta border in the west to the area around Old Wives Lake in the east, and from the United States border in the south to the Kindersley area in the north. It encompasses the Cypress Hills, the Great Sandhills, and vast stretches of short-grass prairie, making it one of Saskatchewan's most geographically distinctive ridings.

Candidates

David Anderson (Conservative)* — Anderson was born in Frontier, Saskatchewan, and graduated from Frontier High School before earning a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Regina and a Master of Divinity from the Canadian Theological Seminary. He is a farmer and businessman who settled with his wife Sheila in the riding. He was first elected to Parliament in 2000 as a Canadian Alliance candidate and was re-elected in every subsequent election through 2015. He served on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food and was the Conservative critic for the Canadian Wheat Board, as well as chairman of the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa from 2006 to 2010.

Trevor Peterson (NDP) — Peterson grew up on a farm near Central Butte, Saskatchewan, and worked as a teacher for 25 years. He ran as the NDP candidate in Cypress Hills—Grasslands in multiple consecutive federal elections, serving as a persistent standard-bearer for the party in one of the most Conservative-leaning ridings in the country.

Duane Filson (Liberal) — Filson ran as the Liberal candidate in Cypress Hills—Grasslands, a riding where the party had little organizational footprint.

Helmi Scott (Green Party) — Scott ran as the Green Party candidate in the riding.

About the Riding

Cypress Hills—Grasslands is quintessential prairie Saskatchewan: sparsely populated, deeply agricultural, and overwhelmingly conservative in its political orientation. The largest community is the city of Swift Current, which serves as a regional hub for retail, healthcare, and agricultural services. Other significant towns include Maple Creek, Shaunavon, Assiniboia, and Gravelbourg, a bilingual community with a strong Francophone heritage. The riding also includes the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, whose forested uplands rise above the surrounding plains as a remnant of terrain that escaped glaciation.

The economy is anchored by dryland grain farming, cattle ranching, and energy production. Wheat, canola, lentils, and durum are major crops, while the oil and gas sector provides employment in the western portions of the riding near the Alberta border. The Great Sandhills, covering approximately 1,900 square kilometres, are among the largest active sand dune complexes in Canada and have been a point of contention between ranchers seeking grazing access and environmentalists advocating for habitat protection.

In 2011, the riding was one of the safest Conservative seats in Canada. Anderson won with nearly 70 percent of the vote, reflecting the deep alignment between the Conservative platform—with its emphasis on lower taxes, agricultural deregulation, and energy development—and the values of the riding's predominantly rural electorate. The Canadian Wheat Board debate was a significant local issue, with Anderson firmly supporting the end of the single-desk marketing system that had governed prairie wheat and barley sales for decades.

The opposition parties were unable to mount serious challenges. Peterson's long-running NDP campaigns kept the party visible but could not overcome the Conservative advantage in a riding where the Reform-Alliance-Conservative lineage had dominated since the 1990s. Anderson chose not to seek re-election in 2019, and the riding was later redistributed into Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley for the 2025 election.