Cannington

Cannington covers the southeast corner of Saskatchewan, anchored by communities such as Carlyle, Oxbow, and Carnduff in the oil-producing region. The riding had been held by Saskatchewan Party MLA Dan D'Autremont since 1991, making him one of the longest-serving MLAs in the province. Originally elected as a Progressive Conservative, D'Autremont was one of eight founding members of the Saskatchewan Party in 1997 and became the last serving founder still in the legislature. He announced in November 2018 that he would not seek re-election, opening the seat for the first time in nearly three decades. The riding's economy depends heavily on oil and gas production, agriculture, and ranching, and southeast Saskatchewan had been hit hard by declining oil prices throughout the latter half of the 2010s.

The 2020 election in Cannington was notable for the Buffalo Party's strong second-place showing, which pushed the NDP into third place. The newly formed party, running on a platform of provincial autonomy and support for the energy sector, resonated strongly in oil-dependent ridings like Cannington.

Candidates

Daryl Harrison (Saskatchewan Party) — Harrison spent over thirty years in the oil and gas industry, including a role as account manager with Baker Hughes General Electric. He is a lifelong rancher in the Alida area, operating a cattle herd with his wife. Before entering provincial politics, he served as a councillor for his local rural municipality, a volunteer firefighter, a director for Zone 1 of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers' Association, and a school division trustee for both the Souris-Moose Mountain and South East Cornerstone school divisions.

Wes Smith (Buffalo Party) — Smith is a journeyman automotive technician and farmer who ran for office for the first time in 2020. He joined the Buffalo Party to advocate for support of the oil and gas sector, lower taxes, and less government involvement in daily life.

Dianne Twietmeyer (NDP) — Twietmeyer, originally from Australia, moved to Saskatchewan approximately forty-five years ago with her husband, who was raised on a farm south of Oxbow. She worked as a teacher in the Cannington area and on White Bear First Nation for over forty years and was also a former small business owner of a local bookstore.

Jaina Forrest ran for the Green Party but received less than two per cent of the vote.

Local Issues

The oil and gas downturn was the defining issue in Cannington during the 2016-2020 term. Southeast Saskatchewan's energy-dependent communities experienced shuttered businesses, declining populations, and idle oil wells as prices fell through the decade. The lack of pipeline capacity to move Saskatchewan crude to market compounded the problem, and the Saskatchewan Party government's strong advocacy for pipeline construction, including the Trans Mountain expansion, was a central campaign theme. The federal carbon tax added further costs to an industry already under severe financial pressure.

The retirement of D'Autremont after twenty-nine years also marked a generational shift in the riding's representation. As the last serving founding member of the Saskatchewan Party, his departure underscored how the party had matured from a grassroots movement into a governing institution. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Party's emergence as a second-place finisher in Cannington, ahead of the NDP, demonstrated that some voters in resource-dependent communities sought more aggressive advocacy for provincial control over natural resources and stronger opposition to federal energy and environmental policies.