2022 Athabasca provincial by-election

2022 Athabasca provincial by-election
February 15, 2022 (2022-02-15)
District of Athabasca
Turnout24.42% (Decrease 9.21pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
SP
Ind.
Candidate Jim Lemaigre Georgina Jolibois Darwin Roy
Party Saskatchewan New Democratic Independent
Popular vote 1,163 916 157
Percentage 51.3% 40.4% 6.9%
Swing Increase 14.79 pp Decrease 16.40 pp -
A map of Saskatchewan's provincial ridings, showing Athabasca highlighted in red.
MLA before election

Buckley Belanger
New Democratic

Elected MLA

Jim Lemaigre
Saskatchewan

A by-election was held in the provincial district of Athabasca in Saskatchewan on February 15, 2022, following the resignation of incumbent New Democrat MLA Buckley Belanger. After 16 years in Parliament, Belanger resigned from the legislature on August 15, 2021, to run in the 2021 Canadian federal election, as a federal Liberal in the riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. He was defeated.[1]

The seat was vacant for six months between Belanger's resignation and the by-election. The seat, which was first contested in 1908, had been held by either the Liberals or New Democrats for the entirety of its history. Along with the neighbouring northern riding of Cumberland, the riding has been considered one of the safest New Democratic seats in Saskatchewan,[2] although candidates for the centre-right Saskatchewan Party have polled somewhat better results in the 21st century compared to Saskatchewan Party and Progressive Conservative candidates in previous elections.

In a major upset, the Saskatchewan Party's Jim Lemaigre, defeated NDP candidate, and former federal MP for much of the district, Georgina Jolibois. The NDP had held the predominantly-indigenous riding almost continuously since 1975,[3] and a conservative candidate had not come within ten percentage points of victory since 1964. The result also came in spite of polling in the month before showing the NDP closer to the Saskatchewan Party in province-wide support than any point in the previous five years.[4]

Three days after the election, leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party Ryan Meili announced his intention to resign as leader and trigger a leadership election.[5][6]

  1. ^ "NDP MLA Buckley Belanger resigns from legislature to seek federal Liberal nomination". thestarphoenix. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  2. ^ "Saskatchewan election results 2016: NDP wins Athabasca riding | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  3. ^ Grenier, Éric (February 16, 2022). "Sask. Party scores historic win in Athabasca". The Writ. Archived from the original on February 22, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022.
  4. ^ Anton, Jessie (January 20, 2022). "Sask. Party, NDP polling numbers closest in 5 years: Angus Reid survey". CBC. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  5. ^ Hunter, Adam (February 18, 2022). "Sask. NDP Leader Ryan Meili to step down, will remain as interim leader until party chooses a successor". CBC News. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  6. ^ Williams, Ethan (February 16, 2022). "Sask. Party candidate takes Athabasca riding in byelection upset". CBC News. Retrieved February 19, 2022.