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By Nigel Maxwell

Time to vote

Election Day arrives, advance polls suggest high voter turnout

Apr 28, 2025 | 8:49 AM

After nearly five weeks of hearing campaign promises, it’s officially time to make a decision.

Canada’s 45th general election runs today, and a lot of eyes will be on the northern riding of Desnethe-Missinnippi-Churchill River due to its unpredictability and history of results being counted late into the night.

The candidates in this riding include Jim Lemaigre for the Conservatives, Buckley Belanger for the Liberals, Doug Racine for the NDP and Jackie Hanson for the Green Party of Canada.

Incumbent Conservative MP Gary Vidal, who had been in office since 2019, was not running for re-election because of electoral boundary changes.

Advance polls were held over the Easter long weekend.

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Preliminary numbers for this riding indicate 2,808 votes cast.

This compares to a total of 206,754 votes cast for Saskatchewan, which in itself was a big jump from 2021, when 183,898 votes were cast.

The riding, which essentially covers the northern half of Saskatchewan, has been known to swing between parties such as the Conservatives, New Democrats and the Liberals.

In the last 25 years, 13 have been under a Conservative MP, seven have been under a Liberal and five have been under the NDP.

FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron has publicly encouraged Indigenous people to get out and vote and noted this was one of the ridings in Saskatchewan that could be decided by their vote.

Polls are open today from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Don’t forget to bring one piece of government-issued identification such as a Driver’s License. If you don’t have ID, you can still vote if you declare your identity and address in writing and have someone who knows you and who is assigned to your polling station vouch for you.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Blue Sky: @nigelmaxwell.bsky.social