Saskatchewan’s 2024 provincial election was a tight race between the ruling Saskatchewan Party and the Saskatchewan New Democrats. While the two parties were neck and neck in the polls, financial disclosures show the province’s business community was of one mind on who it wanted to win.
Corporations gave $1.6 million to the Saskatchewan Party last year, amounting to about one-third of the party’s fundraising and 70 per cent of all corporate donations made to the province’s political parties, according to data from Elections Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan NDP took in just $111,990, or five per cent of corporate contributions.
Almost all donations from trade unions went to the Saskatchewan NDP, which took in $661,629 compared to just $4,000 donated by unions to the Saskatchewan Party.
Financial returns show that 41 corporations made donations of $10,000 or more, and the Saskatchewan Party received 36 of them.
The party’s top corporate funders included Kelly Panteluk Construction ($56,002), Redhead Equipment ($53,000), Brandt Corporate Services ($50,000) and the law firm McDougall Gauley LLP ($45,000).
McDougall Gauley also gave $19,106 to the Saskatchewan NDP, making it the party’s largest corporate donor and one of only two companies, along with The Mosaic Company ($16,489), that donated $10,000 or more.
Saskatchewan has been called the “Wild West” of campaign finance laws because it sets no limit on contribution amounts to political parties or candidates, and allows corporations, unions or individuals from anywhere in Canada to donate. Only two other jurisdictions in Canada, the Yukon and Newfoundland and Labrador, have comparably lax contribution limits.
The Saskatchewan United Party (SUP) didn’t win any seats in last year’s election, but it did take in the two largest corporate donations: a loan of $465,485 from Adonai Resources Corporation and a loan of $75,000 from Radics Enterprises.
Former Adonai Resources CEO and Chairman Jon Hromek was the SUP leader throughout 2024, but stepped down following the party’s election loss.
The SUP received $605,815 from corporate donors in 2024, about a quarter of all corporate donations made in Saskatchewan.
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