Vote counting was scheduled to begin when polls closed Monday evening in Saskatchewan’s 30th general election.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. after a campaign in which Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party sought a fifth consecutive majority after 17 years in office.

Carla Beck’s NDP sought to take back government for the first time since 2007.

During the month-long campaign, Moe promised broad tax breaks and to continue withholding federal carbon tax payments to Ottawa.

Beck has pledged to spend more to improve health care and education, suspend the gas tax and eliminate the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some groceries.

Political experts said Moe was favored to win, given his party’s strength in rural areas, but polls suggest a closer race.

To secure a majority in the 61-seat legislature, the NDP would need to win all 28 seats in the three largest cities – Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert – and hope for help elsewhere.

At the time of the dissolution, the governing Saskatchewan Party had 42 seats, while the opposition NDP had 14. There were four independents and one seat was vacant.

Beck voted Monday morning in her riding of Regina Lakeview, with her husband and three children. She wore a T-shirt that read “Prairie Living” and thanked election workers.

Moe and his wife voted last week in an advance poll in his hometown of Shellbrook.

Beck told supporters in Regina on Sunday that she was ready to make the change people were calling for.

“It’s time to have a government that will work with you, not for itself,” said Beck, who would be the province’s first female premier if her party wins.

“It’s time to fix health care here in the birthplace of Medicare. It’s time to make life more affordable from day one.

“It’s time to invest in our children, our most important resource, and ensure they get the education they need.

“And it’s time to get the economy back on track.”

Moe held no public events on the last day of the campaign. But on Saturday in Saskatoon, he said existing governments had struggled and his party faced similar challenges.

“That being said, we have 61 of the best candidates that I have certainly met,” he told reporters.

Blaine Higgs’ New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives were defeated last week by Susan Holt’s Liberals. Higgs, who also lost his seat, remained in office for six years.

Moe said he plans to create a better future for everyone.

“What we are focused on is forming a majority government,” he said.

Saskatchewan’s campaign focused largely on health care, affordability and crime, although Moe also raised the issue of school locker rooms.

Moe said his first task if re-elected would be to ban “biological boys” from using school locker rooms with “biological girls.”

He made the promise after learning of a complaint at a southeastern Saskatchewan school about two biological boys using a girls’ locker room. This commitment was not previously included in his party’s platform document.

It was later revealed that a parent of the two children subject to the complaint was an NDP candidate. Moe said he didn’t know that when he made the promise.

Beck said such a ban would make vulnerable children even more vulnerable. She also promised to repeal a Saskatchewan Party law that requires parental consent if children under 16 want to change their name or pronoun at school.

Beck said voters want the next government to address more pressing issues, including classroom sizes, improving health care and the ability to pay for gas and groceries.

She said her promises would cost an additional $3.5 billion over four years, with plans to cut what she called the Saskatchewan Party’s waste and balance the budget by the end of her term.

Moe’s platform would cost an additional $1.2 billion over four years. He said his tax cut plan would save a family of four $3,400 over four years. It also includes tax credits for those looking to expand their families or enroll their children in sports and the arts.

Moe promised deficits in the first two years, followed by a surplus in 2027.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 28, 2024.

Jeremy Simes and Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press