Regina Walsh Acres

Regina Walsh Acres covers a cluster of northwest Regina neighbourhoods — Walsh Acres, Normanview, Regent Park, Sherwood Estates, and McCarthy Park — that sit north of Dewdney Avenue and west of Lewvan Drive. The riding entered the 2024 campaign with an unusual backstory. Saskatchewan Party MLA Derek Meyers, a former Global TV sports anchor beloved in the constituency, died of cancer in March 2023 at age forty-five. His passing triggered a by-election that August in which NDP candidate Jared Clarke defeated the Saskatchewan Party's Nevin Markwart, flipping the seat orange for the first time since its creation. Clarke's victory was part of a pair of NDP by-election wins in Regina that signalled growing urban discontent with the governing party and foreshadowed the broader urban sweep that would come in October 2024.

Candidates

Jared Clarke (NDP) — Clarke is a biologist and elementary school teacher who spent eight years with Regina Public Schools before his election. An avid birder, he served as a board member of the Friends of Wascana Marsh and coordinated field trips for Nature Regina, and he has volunteered with the Canadian Western Agribition, Birds Canada, and CJTR Community Radio. He previously ran as the NDP candidate in Indian Head-Milestone in 2020, finishing second. After winning the 2023 by-election, he was named the official opposition's critic for Environment and for Rural and Remote Health, portfolios that drew on both his science background and his teaching experience in diverse classrooms.

Liaqat Ali (Saskatchewan Party) — Ali was born and raised in Pakistan and immigrated to Regina with his family in 2013. After working in retail and customer service, he started his own company in 2017. A community volunteer involved with local sporting events and cultural organizations, Ali was acclaimed as the Saskatchewan Party's candidate and tasked with reclaiming a seat the party had held since the riding's creation.

Local Issues

Healthcare dominated the conversation in Walsh Acres during both the 2023 by-election and the 2024 general election. Residents cited difficulty accessing family doctors, overcrowded emergency rooms, and the impact of provincewide nursing shortages on wait times at clinics serving the northwest corner of the city. Clarke campaigned on a platform calling for an online registry of physicians accepting new patients and expanded funding for nurse practitioners in community settings.

Affordability was a close second. The riding's housing stock includes a significant share of entry-level homes and rental units, making its residents acutely sensitive to rising utility bills, grocery costs, and property taxes. The NDP's promise to remove the provincial sales tax from grocery-store essentials and to cap SaskPower rate increases found traction among young families stretched by mortgage payments.

Education rounded out the top concerns. Parents in the riding's elementary schools expressed frustration with growing class sizes and the lack of educational assistants to support students with complex needs. The debate over the Parents' Bill of Rights added a values dimension to the education file, dividing opinion in a constituency where immigrant families and long-time residents sometimes held differing views on parental notification policies.