Kindersley—Biggar

Kindersley—Biggar is a newly merged constituency created by the 2024 redistribution, combining the former Kindersley riding with much of the former Biggar—Sask Valley seat. The result is a sprawling west-central Saskatchewan riding whose economy rests on two pillars: oil production from the prolific Kindersley-Kerrobert formations and diversified grain farming across some of the province's most productive cropland. Neither of the two outgoing MLAs sought re-election. Kindersley's Ken Francis, elected in a 2018 by-election, stepped aside in May 2023. Biggar—Sask Valley's Randy Weekes, one of the longest-serving MLAs in the legislature and Speaker of the Assembly since 2020, lost the Saskatchewan Party nomination to newcomer Kim Gartner and subsequently endorsed NDP leader Carla Beck—a dramatic break from a party he had represented for twenty-five years.

Candidates

Kim Gartner (Saskatchewan Party) — Gartner grew up on a family farm east of Macklin and completed a diploma in municipal government administration. He spent more than three decades in rural and urban local government, with more than thirty years as Chief Administrative Officer of the Town of Macklin. He also served as a trustee with the Living Sky School Division and held leadership positions in the Saskatchewan Urban Administrators Association and the Sumassure Insurance Reciprocal board. He won the Saskatchewan Party nomination over the incumbent Speaker, Weekes.

Cindy Hoppe (NDP) — Hoppe was born and raised on a farm west of Landis and spent decades farming north of Biggar with her husband while raising three children. She began her career as the Farm Service Manager for the Landis and Tramping Lake Co-ops and built a forty-five-year record of board governance, including service as an RM councillor, on provincial health boards, and as a school trustee. A recognized fibre artist who has exhibited at the Saskatchewan Craft Council's Dimensions showcase, she has chaired the Saskatchewan Craft Council and received a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022 for her volunteer contributions.

Wade Sira (Independent) — Sira ran as an independent, arguing that freedom from party discipline would allow him to better represent local concerns. He advocated for a Saskatchewan Investment Fund modelled on Alaska's permanent fund and called for reducing regulatory burdens on business.

Local Issues

The political upheaval surrounding Speaker Randy Weekes defined the backdrop to the Kindersley—Biggar race. Weekes, who had represented the Biggar area since 1999, resigned from the Saskatchewan Party caucus in 2024 after alleging harassment by caucus members and accusing the party of tolerating racism. His public endorsement of the NDP and his departure from the party he helped build sent shockwaves through a riding that had been reliably Saskatchewan Party territory for a generation. The contested nomination between Gartner and Weekes laid bare tensions within the party's rural base.

Oil and gas remained central to the Kindersley half of the riding. The sector had recovered from the pandemic-era shutdown, with drilling activity in the Kindersley-Kerrobert area returning to pre-2020 levels by 2023. However, producers faced ongoing concerns about federal emissions regulations, the future of carbon pricing, and the long-term viability of conventional extraction in a policy environment increasingly oriented toward decarbonization. For a community where oil field employment is one of the few alternatives to farming, these regulatory questions carried existential weight.

Healthcare access was a critical issue across the merged riding. The Kerrobert Health Centre experienced repeated emergency room closures in 2022 and 2023 due to staffing shortages, and emergency stabilization services at the Wilkie and District Health Centre were shuttered for more than three years beginning in 2020. Residents in communities far from Saskatoon or North Battleford faced the prospect of driving hours to reach an open emergency department, fuelling frustration with the provincial government's pace of healthcare recruitment.