Regina Rochdale

Regina Rochdale sits in Regina's northwest, encompassing the Twin Lakes, Lakeridge, and Argyle Park neighbourhoods. Saskatchewan Party MLA Laura Ross had represented this area since 2007, first under the former riding name of Regina Qu'Appelle Valley and then under the redrawn Regina Rochdale boundaries from 2016 onward. A veteran backbencher and former cabinet minister, Ross was seeking her fourth consecutive term and faced the NDP's Brett Estey for the second election in a row.

Candidates

Laura Ross (Saskatchewan Party) — Born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Ross was raised on the family farm and earned a Bachelor of Arts in geography and sociology from the University of Regina. She and her husband worked in farming and the catering business before Ross spent more than 20 years in residential real estate. First elected in 2007, she served as Minister of Government Services from 2010 to 2012. Ross was a founding member of the Saskatchewan chapter of Equal Voice, which encourages women in professional and political life, and helped develop Regina's first Habitat for Humanity Women's Build project in 2011.

Brett Estey (NDP) — Estey grew up in the Rochdale neighbourhood and worked as an appraiser in the public service. He had also worked with the Canadian Cancer Society and volunteered coaching football at Winston Knoll Collegiate, his alma mater, where he had won the Regina Intercollegiate Football League's Citizenship Award. Estey also ran against Ross in 2016.

Murray Morhart (Progressive Conservative) and Sarah Risk (Green Party) also appeared on the ballot, each receiving less than 4% of the vote.

Local Issues

Education was a prominent concern in Regina Rochdale, where families in growing suburban areas grappled with rising class sizes and strained school resources. Provincial education funding had been cut by roughly $53 million in the 2017 budget, and the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation reported that schools had absorbed thousands of additional students without proportional increases in staff. The NDP's promise to hire hundreds of new teachers and educational assistants resonated in the riding, while the Saskatchewan Party argued its broader economic management was the foundation for stable public services.

The COVID-19 pandemic added a new dimension to the 2020 campaign. Voters weighed the government's pandemic preparedness and public health measures alongside longstanding concerns about infrastructure and growth in the riding's residential areas. The Saskatchewan Party emphasized its opposition to the federal carbon tax and its plans for economic recovery, while the NDP pressed for increased investment in healthcare and classroom resources.