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More than 700 Saskatchewan Party supporters gathered to celebrate a historic milestone.
The party marked its 25th anniversary in Davidson on Saturday afternoon.
The Sask. Party came into being Aug. 8, 1997, when eight MLAs joined together to form their own political party. Four came from the Progressive Conservative caucus and the other four were from the Liberal caucus.
Ken Krawetz, one of the original eight founders of the Saskatchewan Party and former deputy premier, was at the celebration and said it meant a lot to him to be surrounded by so many important people.
“It’s been a tough couple of years with COVID and people not being able to get together. It was an opportunity to celebrate 25 years that started back in 1997,” Krawetz told Gormley on Monday.
Six of the eight original members — Krawetz, Bill Boyd, Dan D’Autremont, Don Toth, Bob Bjornerud and June Draude — were in attendance this weekend for the anniversary celebration.
Rod Gantefoer was forced to miss the event due to health reasons. The eighth founding member, Ben Heppner, has since passed away.
Krawetz gave a speech in the place of former premier Brad Wall. Krawetz said he wanted to really detail the party’s path and how it has evolved.
“(It was) an inspiring message about where we were (and) how we’ve come forward,” Krawetz said.
Premier Scott Moe speaks at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Saskatchewan Party in Davidson. (Saskatchewan Party/Submitted)
Premier Scott Moe and former prime minister Stephen Harper each shared a few words on the stage regarding their experiences with the Sask. Party.
With so much history to look back on, Krawetz said it was nice to reminisce with old colleagues and political party members in a more relaxed setting.
“It was an opportunity to get together, to communicate, to talk about those days when there were secret meetings involved between the four Liberal members and Conservative members to move forward,” Krawetz said.
“For too long, people told us that the unified minority was getting elected because there was a division among that group of people that we refer to as centre-right.”
Although the two sides may have had their differences, they all agreed on one thing. Saskatchewan had room for improvement, but only if they worked as one, Krawetz said.
“Saskatchewan has so many resources, it has such great people and everyone who I think is elected always wants to see the province move forward and that’s exactly what’s happened,” he said.
Moving forward, the former Sask. Party member believes the current party has room to grow and expand to new heights.
“There’s about 60 per cent of the people that are neither far left or far right. That 60 per cent of people has elected the Saskatchewan Party,” Krawetz said. “The best years for Saskatchewan are ahead of us. We no longer are a ‘have-not’ province.
“We have the potential to be a leader not only in Western Canada but across Canada as well and I can see tremendous potential for even international recognition.”
