Five things to know about the 2024 civic election in Saskatoon

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It was a historic election day in the Bridge City, one that didn’t end until after midnight. Here, then, are five things you might have missed or shouldn’t forget from the 2024 Saskatoon civic election …

1: GIRL POWER

It was an evening for the history books: Cynthia Block became Saskatoon’s first woman mayor.

Block is the 34th mayor in Saskatoon history. The new council will also include four other women: Kathryn McDonald (Ward 1), Jasmin Parker (Ward 6), Holly Kelleher (Ward 7) and Bev Dubois (Ward 9).

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It’s the second time in three Saskatoon elections that women made notable history. Voters elected a 6-5 female majority to city council for the first time in 2016.

Prior to Block, several women had finished as high as second in mayoral voting. The closest to becoming Saskatoon’s first woman mayor until this year was Sandra Mitchell in 1994; she finished just 1,295 votes behind Henry Dayday.

2: SO, ABOUT THAT VOTE SPLITTING (PART 2)

From the 2020 StarPhoenix post-mortem: “Observers, voters and — yes — the candidates wondered: Would right-leaning mayoral challengers Don Atchison and Rob Norris cancel each other out and allow left-leaning Charlie Clark to cruise along to another win? It’s not necessarily as simple as A + B = C, but the final voting totals do suggest some validity to the theory. Clark’s total of 27,377 votes was nearly equal to the combined total of 26,983 that went to Norris (15,261) and Atchison (11,722).”

This election appeared to be a similar story — on the surface. After ballots from all 82 polls were counted, centre-left candidate Block finished with 30,412 votes, while the combined total from centre-right candidates Gord Wyant (20,259) and Atchison (10,460) was 30,719.

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3: THE RACE TO WATCH

It would be understandable if Kevin Boychuk played the ‘What if?’ game in the hours, days and weeks that followed the last election. As in: ‘What if I had just received a measly few more votes?’

In 2020, Boychuk lost the city council race in Ward 1 to incumbent Darren Hill by just 56 votes.

On Wednesday, Boychuk received a few more votes in relation to his nearest opponent as he sought to win the seat on council. Rather than cause for celebration, however, it led to an even more agonizing defeat.

In the closest race of the night, Kathryn MacDonald defeated Boychuk by 52 votes (1,808 to 1,756) to win the seat.

4: VOTER TURNOUT

Based on 50 years of data, voter turnout in Saskatoon was essentially right on par.

According to Elections Saskatoon, 68,701 voters cast their ballots this year — a turnout of 35.04 per cent of eligible voters.

The average voter turnout, dating back to 1973, in civic elections: 36.3 per cent.

Voter turnout in the past half-century:

2020: 27.41 per cent

2016: 40.1 per cent

2012: 36.9 per cent

2009: 27.3 per cent

2006: 37.1 per cent

2003: 52.3 per cent

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2000: 26.4 per cent

1997: 21 per cent

1994: 45 per cent

1991: 38 per cent

1988: 52 per cent

1985: 51 per cent

1982: 31 per cent

1979: 35.7 per cent

1976: 39 per cent

1973: 20 per cent.

With six new city councillors, plus a new mayor, there’s plenty of changeover. In 2020, just one new member was elected — the lowest turnover since 2009, when all incumbent councillors and the mayor ran and won re-election.

5: TIMON MAKES HISTORY

In 2020, the election of David Kirton to represent vacant Ward 3 alongside repeat-winner Zach Jeffries in Ward 10 marked the first time in Saskatoon history that two Indigenous people were voted to council. This year saw the first member of a visible minority elected to city council.

Senos Timon, the winner in Ward 2, immigrated to Saskatchewan as a refugee from war-torn South Sudan more than 20 years ago. After his victory, Timon said he feels Saskatoon has become a more diverse city over that time. Seeing it reflected in the local government will be a positive for the community, he said.

“I am very honoured and grateful for the opportunity, that (the) people of Saskatoon really didn’t see (race) as a barrier.”

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— With Saskatoon StarPhoenix files from Phil Tank, Brody Langager and Michael Joel-Hansen

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