Premier Moe receives seal of approval from party members at convention, leadership review

Premier Scott Moe was given strong approval from Saskatchewan Party members at the party's convention and leadership review in Saskatoon on Saturday.

Moe received "80 per cent plus almost 20 per cent" of the vote, according to James Thorsteinson, president of the Saskatchewan Party.

According to its constitution, the party only announces the exact results of the leadership review if a leader receives less than 80 per cent, said Patrick Bundrock, executive director of the Saskatchewan Party.

The leadership review is a regular part of the party's biennial conventions. Moe also received an approval rating of over 80 per cent at the last convention two years ago.

"[Any leadership review vote is] influenced by the challenges or the opportunities that provinces and governments ultimately are faced with at that point in time," said Moe, prior to the results being announced.

"There's no doubt that over the course of the last 20 months … one of the largest challenges for this province and all other provinces and territories in Canada and really the rest of the world has been our response to COVID-19 and the subsequent waves."

The convention was the first opportunity for the party's membership to gather since the 2020 provincial election, according to Moe, but it was scaled back from the original plan because of the pandemic.

Moe spoke to party members about the economy but also his government's response to the fourth wave of the pandemic.

"We are not through this pandemic in this province by any stretch of the imagination," he said.

However, the drop in recent active case numbers has been encouraging, he said.

"That's why we have resisted some of the calls that we have all heard to impose even ... tougher restrictions."

While Moe addressed party members inside of TCU Place, a group of people gathered outside to protest how the government has handled the fourth wave of COVID-19.

"Scott Moe is the problem," said Theresa MacKinnon, one of the organizers of a group called Concerned Citizens for COVID Action.

"He needs to lead us through this pandemic, and he hasn't."