Saskatchewan's election: Four charts to read before Monday's vote

"The No. 1 issue in this campaign in the province will be the economy," the Saskatchewan Party's Brad Wall proclaimed when the provincial election campaign kicked off on March 8. But what does Saskatchewan's economy look like? Here are some key issues, and how they have played out on the campaign trail.

• Read the Saskatchewan Party and New Democratic Party’s platforms
• Voting? Check Elections Saskatchewan’s website to find out how and where

1. THE DEFICIT

Shortly before the election was called, Mr. Wall's government issued a third-quarter budget update projecting a $427-million deficit this fiscal year, $165-million higher than the midyear forecast. Low oil prices have been taking a bite out of the province's resource revenue, and Mr. Wall and New Democratic Party Leader Cam Broten have each been trying to convince voters that they are the best qualified keep the province on an even keel. Mr. Broten has accused the government of keeping its budget under wraps, and that it should have been made public before the election.

2. UNEMPLOYMENT

The slump in commodity prices has hit the resource-rich prairie provinces hard in recent years, though Saskatchewan's labour market is better off than neighbouring Alberta's. Both the Saskatchewan Party and NDP promise to stimulate the economy and create jobs through infrastructure projects, such as highway-building. The federal government's recent budget promised an initial wave of $11.9-billion on infrastructure spending in the next two to four years, so the winner of Monday's Saskatchewan election would be the point person to steer some of that money to the province. Mr. Wall had some harsh words for that budget because its overhaul of employment insurance extended benefits in some oil-dependent regions, including most of Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan, but not the oil patch in Southern Saskatchewan. (The Trudeau government later said it would review the policy.)

3. THE ENVIRONMENT

Mr. Wall has been one of the strongest opponents of Ottawa's plans for a national minimum carbon price. But Mr. Broten is not keen on carbon taxation either – he says an economy-wide tax is "not the right approach for Saskatchewan" – and even the province's Green Party says it would not impose a carbon tax if elected. Instead, the two main parties would make big emitters pay a carbon levy, the proceeds from which would support a clean-technology fund. The Saskatchewan Party government has passed such legislation, but it has never been brought into force.

4. CITY VS. COUNTRY

Saskatchewan's growing population has been getting steadily more urban over the years. It has already reshaped the province's political landscape at a federal level: Before the 2015 election, changes to the federal ridings created new urban seats in Regina and Saskatoon that the Liberals and NDP courted heavily. Mr. Wall and Mr. Broten's campaigns have been strongly focused on urban centres too; there are three more ridings in this election than there were in the 2011 race, two in Saskatoon and one in Regina. Media and voters in Saskatchewan have noticed the leaders' focus on those cities, and have sometimes accused them of taking rural issues for granted – an accusation their campaigns have both strongly denied and levelled at each other.

With a report from The Canadian Press

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