LUMSDEN - The Saskatchewan United Party has announced they have a candidate in place in the upcoming Lumsden-Morse by-election.
Jon Hromek has been announced by the party as the nominee the Lumsden-Morse Constituency Association.
Hromek lives in the Lumsden area with his wife Jenn and four children. According to the party, he is an executive in Saskatchewan’s energy sector who has founded and managed oil exploration and production companies.
That brings to four the number of candidates who have received their party’s nomination to run in Lumsden-Morse, the longtime Sask Party seat held by Lyle Stewart who resigned for health reasons earlier this year. The Saskatchewan Party has nominated Blaine McLeod while the New Democrats have nominated Kaitlyn Stadnyk. The Buffalo Party has nominated Les Guillemin.
In announcing his candidacy, Hromek pointed to the recent controversy involving a presentation at a Lumsden high school by Planned Parenthood, who were suspended by the province over offensive sex cards they had on display.
“I decided to run for MLA of Lumsden-Morse because I could no longer, in good conscience, continue to watch from the sidelines as our government fails to listen to the people. The Planned Parenthood presentation incident at Lumsden high school was the last straw for me”, said Hromek in a statement.
“The lack of transparency and accountability of our government is staggering, and yet they go unchallenged. That is why I am putting my hat into the ring to run for MLA of Lumsden-Morse. The people of this riding deserve to have their voices heard and represented in their legislature.”
The nomination of a candidate by the Sask United Party follows on the heels of their launch of a series of town hall meetings on the topic of protecting parental rights in education.
The first town hall took place last week in Lumsden and among those attending was Sask United Party leader Nadine Wilson and former Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Gerry Ritz. Another town hall is scheduled for Strasbourg on July 13.
While the date for a by-election has not been set, campaigning has already been unofficially underway in Lumsden-Morse. It is widely expected by-elections will be called for Lumsden-Morse as well as for Regina Coronation Park and Regina Walsh Acres sometime this week.
This story has been updated to add the Buffalo Party nominee.