SASKATOON NORTHWEST

Candidates:

NDP: Jim Melenchuk   SASK: Ted Merriman   Liberal: Ken McDonough

Current MLA: Jim Melenchuk (Ind) is the Minister of Finance.

Constituency Profile: This constituency covers the extreme north of the city of Saskatoon, as well a rural area north, east, and south of the city. The urban portion is primarily single-family residential on the east, and the west side is mainly industrial.
The rural area includes the communities Clark's Crossing, Cory, Farey, Cedar Villa Estates, Hawker and Pike Lake. The riding is bounded by 51st St, Redberry Road Pinehouse Dr. and the South Saskatchewan River in the city. The rural portion begins north of City limits along the South Saskatchewan River NE to township #38, directly west to the border of Range #7, south along that line to township #33, east to South Saskatchewan River and from the river back to the city limits of Saskatoon.

Political History: Saskatoon Northwest was created as a new riding for the 1995 election. The boundaries have changed slightly since the last election. The Saskatoon Northwest constituency now includes some polls from the Redberry Lake, Rosetown-Biggar, and Rosthern constituencies.
Jim Melenchuk was the leader of the Liberal party, and was elected as a Liberal in the 1999 election. After the election, Melenchuk and another Liberal joined the minority New Democrats to form a majority coalition government. In 2001, David Karwacki was chosen as the new leader of the Liberal party. Melenchuk and fellow Liberal MLA Ron Osika were asked to choose between the party and the coalition. Both MLAs chose to stay on the government side of the house, and to sit as Independents.

2001-2003: IND   1999-2001: LIB   1995-1999: NDP