After Sask Party landslide:
Toth says this will be his last term

Kevin Weedmark

Moosomin MLA Don Toth says his seventh election victory will be his last.

Toth was first elected as a Progressive Conservative in 1986, and was re-elected in 1991 and 1995 as a PC. He was a founding member of the Saskatchewan Party, and has now been elected under the Sask Party banner four times—in 1999, 2003, 2007, and again last Monday.

Speaking to supporters Monday night, Toth said it would be his last victory celebration.

“I said when I ran this will be the last time. Over the next four years the goal is to find some individuals and encourage them to start getting involved and look forward to a nomination before the next general election,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to serving four more years, and then we’ll invite someone else to step into this constituency and continue to be a strong voice for the people of this constituency, and for the province of Saskatchewan.”

Toth said in an interview with the World-Spectator on election night that he simply believes it will be time to go after one more term.

“I’ve enjoyed it immensely, but once you get close to 30 years in politics, there comes a time when you just want to enjoy life a little,” he said.

“I’ve got grandchildren I’d like to enjoy, and at the same time, you have to look at bringing some new blood into the party. We’ve got a lot of that in this election, a lot of new names.

“I think in this constituency we’ll see some very good people looking a couple of years or so down the road at coming forward to be a voice and work for the Saskatchewan Party in the Moosomin constituency.”

Toth told his supporters that he believes the province is coming into its own under the Saskatchewan Party.

“In this province, since 2007 there’s an electricity in the air,” he said.

“There’s a sense that people are really believing that this province is beginning to become what they always believed it could be,” Toth told supporters at his Moosomin campaign office as election results rolled in.

“We’ve had the resources for years. We’ve just had nobody willing to invest in the province, and a lot of that had to do with a government that really took a negative view toward investment dollars and the business community.

“But since 2007, with a forward-looking agenda, this province is now moving forward. We have more people than we’ve ever had in the province of Saskatchewan. We’ve got people who are excited, people who are looking to move to this province.

“I believe as we move forward under the leadership of Premier Brad Wall, as we move forward with our policies, and I think one thing that is very clear, despite the fact that the NDP will tell you that they’re the party for the small person, if you look at our platform, you’ll see that our platform is reaching out to the people with disabilities and we did more for people with disabilities in the last four years than the NDP did in 16. We did more for seniors with fixed incomes than the NDP did in the last 16. For people on low incomes, increasing the base property tax exemption is helping, plus a growing economy has people now working even in the private sector for a wage much higher than the minimum wage.“

“I believe there’s a lot to look forward to, I believe this province is going to move ahead.”

Toth told the World-Spectator he expects more of the same style of government in the Saskatchewan Party’s second term in office.

“I think you’ll see a steady hand at the helm,” he said. “I think the one thing that hopefully people will really begin to see is the fact that the Saskatchewan Party has been there to represent and work on behalf of all people. This party wants to be there to help the people who really need the help, like single-income families, and seniors in nursing homes on fixed incomes, who find it very difficult. I hope we’ll show Saskatchewan people that the Saskatchewan Party works on behalf of all and is more than willing to be there to help those struggling on the lower end of the wage scale.”

Toth said his personal goals include seeing a new health facility in Kipling through to completion.

“What I hope to see fulfilled in this constituency is the health facility in Kipling,” he said. “We now have seen movement, and construction has begun on Highway 48, and there is one other facility, I believe Grenfell is in desperate need of replacement for their heavy care home, we’ve got expansion of the school in Kipling, and the other thing I think that’s really important is working to help agencies that are providing services and care for people with disabilities.”

How does it feel to be elected for a seventh term as Moosomin MLA?

“It’s actually quite rewarding. It’s hard to put in words. The fact that the public have bestowed their confidence in you is humbling. I’ve had the opportunity of running in seven elections and seeing pluralities improve over the years. It’s humbling and I count it an honor.”

Toth said he never would have thought in 1986 that he would have been running for re-election in 2011. “In 1986, 2011 was too far away,” he said. “To think that I would be seeking re-election in 2011 certainly was the furthest thing from my mind. But last year as I was contemplating running again, just to have so many people all over the constituency come up and say I hope you’re not thinking of quitting yet. So many people offered encouraging remarks. I had to look at that and think if the public feel I should run, I can give them another four years.”

Toth said he was surprised by how many seats the Saskatchewan Party picked up in the election. The party picked up 11 seats, leaving the NDP with only nine.

“When we saw the last poll that came out certainly there was some concern whether we would be able to get the vote out. People4 might start saying ‘well, it’s in the bag.’ We heard that from too many people, and basically you just keep telling people every vote counts, every vote’s important, don’t look at polls, the one that counts is on election day. I guess election day is now indicating that the other polls weren’t all that far off. Personally I was a little surprised that we picked up as many ridings as we did. I anticipated that there might be an increase, but at the end of the day there were a lot of excellent candidates running for the party and the public decided they want to continue to see this province moving forward.”

Toth said he isn’t sure what his role will be in the new government. “That will be up to the premier and there are a lot of quality candidates as we’re observing tonight. Excellent candidates have come forward and there are only so many positions, but at the end of the day, you’re still a team. You work together as a team. We’ll wait and see what Mr. Wall decides. The important thing for us as MLAs is to accept our position and work together to build this province.”

Toth won with 77.2 per cent of the vote—his largest plurality ever. He had 4,778 votes, compared with 1,238 for Carol Morin of the NDP and 173 for Laura Forrester of the Green Party.

Toth was first elected in 1986 with 60 per cent of the vote, but narrowly won in 1991 when he defeated Mary McGuire of the NDP 3,005 votes (40.42 per cent) to 2,954 (39.74 per cent). The Liberal candidate in that election, Keith Lewis, received 19.84 per cent of the vote.

In 1995, Toth won with 42 per cent of the vote, compared with 32 per cent for the NDP and 26 per cent for the Liberals. His share of the vote has grown each election since then, from 59.77 per cent in 1999 to 59.86 per cent in 2003 to 72.32 per cent in 2007 to 77.2 per cent this time.