Sask NDP fills candidate list, and says which ones have driving convictions

REGINA โ€” Saskatchewan's Opposition has announced a full slate of candidates for the coming provincial election, and the list notes that six of the contenders have previous criminal convictions.

NDP candidate Carter Antoine, the candidate in Yorkton-Melville, and Lyle Whitefish, who is the party's candidate in Saskatchewan Rivers, both have an impaired driving conviction in the past decade.

Bhajan Brar, who is running for the NDP in Regina Pasqua, has a conviction for dangerous driving causing bodily harm from 2011.

Ken Burton, Bonnie Galenzowski Rod McCorriston, meanwhile, each have an impaired driving conviction that dates to the 1980s or earlier.

In July, the governing Saskatchewan Party released a list of six of its own candidates who have been convicted of impaired driving, which included one for Premier Scott Moe dating back to 1992, and that he had revealed in 2016.

Moe has yet to officially call the election, already set for Oct. 26, but he must do so within days.

The Saskatchewan NDP named the final 12 candidates to complete the slate of 61 on Friday.

"I am tremendously proud to be running shoulder to shoulder with such wonderful and diverse candidates, all dedicated to making life better for the people of Saskatchewan," said Leader Ryan Meili said in a news release Saturday.

"Scott Moe and the Sask. Party have been in power, and taking us for granted, for too long. I know this team can do better by putting people first."

The party said in the release that its slate includes representation of 46 per cent women and 23 percent Indigenous candidates.

Fourteen of the NDP candidates are teachers, the party said.

The Saskatchewan Party announced in a news release last Saturday that it had achieved a full slate of candidates, and that the party would "be meeting voters in every part of the province to present their plan for a strong Saskatchewan and a strong economic recovery from the pandemic."

The Canadian Press