Saskatchewan election campaign kicks off Monday

Saskatchewan will be in election campaign mode starting Monday, in advance of voting Nov. 7.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall announced Wednesday that he will make the formal visit to the province's Lieutenant-Governor late Monday afternoon to ask him to dissolve the legislature and issue the writ of election.

While Saskatchewan has a set election date, the timing for the start of the campaign period is up to the premier.

"I hope everyone in Saskatchewan enjoys the Thanksgiving weekend, spends some time with their family and friends, and then let's have an election campaign," said Wall, who was in Saskatoon to make the announcement.

Wall, 45, currently heads a Saskatchewan Party government with 38 seats in the legislature. The opposition NDP has 20 members.

The campaign will be Wall's second as leader of the Saskatchewan Party and he will square off against Dwain Lingenfelter, an experienced politician with the NDP.

Lingenfelter, 62, took over the leadership of his party in 2009.

"You know, the orange wave never really hit Saskatchewan," Wall said, when asked about the strong showing of the federal NDP in the national election."They were shut out of this province in terms of seats."

Still, Wall said the provincial NDP in Saskatchewan is a formidable force at election time.

"Our opponents have a great history of being very effective campaigners," he said. "Very good at politics and very good at elections."

"I'm excited," Lingenfelter said Wednesday afternoon, in anticipation of the formal campaign starting. He said he was told around 10 a.m., by Wall, that the announcement was coming.

"We have an excited team," he added. "They're ready to go."

Lingenfelter said his campaign will engage new forms of communicating with voters, including such social media as Twitter and Facebook.

"The most important social media is knocking on someone's door and talking to them face to face," Lingenfelter said. "The best way to communicate and get someone to vote for you isto go visit them and have a coffee."