Three candidates are set and ready to roll in the constituency of Weyburn-Big Muddy, prepared for any time the provincial election might be called; they include Sharon Elliott of the NDP; incumbent Dustin Duncan of the Sask. Party; and Colleen Christopherson-Cote for the Liberals.

Elliott said she has her team in place, and will be doing both traditional and creative activities for the campaign, including spending time at community events where she can meet people.

"I do that already as a member of the community," she added, saying one of her goals will be to meet with organizations or group that have unique initiatives to help the environment, groups like HELP International.

"I want to hear what the people are saying, and what's important to them. I can connect with people and I'm a good listener. I'm pretty good at motivating people if they're looking for a direction," said Elliott.

The timing of the election doesn't matter much to her, she added, she's ready for whenever it will be held.

Elliott was formerly a physiotherapist, and worked in both urban and rural areas in health care as a result. Currently, she is a freelance writer who is currently contracted with the provincial government.

For incumbent MLA Dustin Duncan, who began his political career just over a year by winning the byelection for Weyburn-Big Muddy, he said this past year has been a great learning experience in many ways.

"It's hard to believe it's been a year. It's been the most rewarding and gratifying year of my life. It's been more different and more challenging that I thought it would be, but it's been more rewarding that anyone told me it would be," said Duncan, adding his first year as MLA exceeded his expectations in many ways.

Duncan has found that Weyburn-Big Muddy is a very large and very diverse riding. Even with this fact, he is finding that an overriding concern or issue has arisen from most every quarter of the riding, namely concerns for the quality of health care in this province.

"What I'm getting is people throughout the constituency really disagree, they're not seeing any improvement in health care. Especially in rural parts of the constituency, over the last decade there's been hospitals closed, bed closures. You have seniors who are ready to go into long-term care, and they're being separated," said Duncan. "There seems to be a real disconnect between what the government is saying, and what people are seeing in their communities."

New to the political scene is the Liberals' candidate, Colleen Christopherson-Cote of Coronach. She was born and raised in Ontario, and has lived in Coronach since 2003 with her husband and two daughters.

She is heavily involved in her community, as she serves on town council, and as the town's economic development officer. She has a strong interest in literacy, winning the Council of the Federation Literacy Award for 2007, in recognition of literacy programs she has spearheaded in the community.

One of the reasons she wanted to run in the election is her concern for the plight of rural communities in regard to access to such basic services as health care, education, and the condition of the highways to enable such access.