NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter says healthcare is the top issue of the Saskatchewan election.

“Healthcare is the No. 1 issue and we think our platform deals very directly with that,” said Lingenfelter.

Speaking with News Talk Radio’s The Richard Brown Show on Thursday, Lingenfelter said it does so by providing dental care for young children in school, working to keep hospitals open, and working to retain Saskatchewan medical school graduates.

With First Nations leaders calling for their own political party, University of Saskatchewan professor Joe Garcea says having a provincial First Nations party by 2015 is a distinct possibility, considering First Nations parties have run in Saskatchewan in the past.

“Some candidates may end up running in northern constituencies,” said Garcea

The man who would be premier once again insists big advance poll numbers don't necessarily mean bigger voter turnout over all.

Earlier this week the Sask. Party's Brad Wall told reporters that evidence has shown from other provincial elections and this year's federal vote that big advance poll numbers don’t necessarily mean bigger voter turnout over all.

A major problem for SaskTel customers as a cable has been cut in the Colonsay area.

As a result there is a loss of landline service in Drake, Jansen, Meacham, Lanigan, Viscount, Young and Watrous.

This also means there is no 4G service for places like Humboldt, Lanigan, Watrous, Colonsay, Quill Lake, Naicam and Watson. Nor is there cell service for Manitou Beach, Lanigan, Viscount and Watrous.

No time frame has been given on how long it will take to repair.

Edited by News Talk Radio's Sabeen Ahmad.

Dwain Lingenfelter was a successful oil company executive in Alberta when he made the return to Saskatchewan. But having already completed a successful career in politics as deputy premier why did he choose to come back.

The phone calls from NDP members began right after the 2007 loss. Dwain Lingenfelter said they all told him he had experience at dealing with political defeat.

“Rebuild the party at the constituency level and you’ve got experience doing that after the '82 election,” said Lingenfelter.

A Winnipeg man is dead after a crash with a tractor near Esterhazy.

Just before 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening, RCMP received a call about a collision between a car and a tractor.

The tractor had been travelling north on a grid road when the vehicle, also travelling north, struck the tractor from behind. The vehicle collided with the cultivator the tractor had been towing.

The vehicle kept going through a field for one kilometre and ended up in a slough.

The man, 50, in the vehicle was found dead in the driver’s seat.

SGI has extended itself into Stony Rapids in northern Saskatchewan in time for the upcoming election.

Scott’s General Store in Stony Rapids has been an official Motor Licensee Issuer for nearly a month, providing government-issued identification cards which are an easy way to identify yourself to vote.

Glenn Koivisivo, an employee of the store, says the next closest SGI issuer was in La Ronge, 665 km away from Stony Rapids.

“In the summer it is a 12 hour drive,” said Koivisivo.

Anyone who's recently tried to rent an apartment in Saskatchewan will tell you it's a tough go.

The latest numbers, in April 2011, from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation finds the average cost for a two-bedroom apartment is $897 in Regina and $936 in Saskatoon. The average price in April 2010 in Regina was $858 and in Saskatoon was $923.

Annette Katchan has been in the rental business in Regina for 20 years.

She says they used to count on a unit having one- or- two months vacancy. Now a place isn't empty for more than a few days.

Colgate is recalling its "Colgate Motion Electric Toothbrush" after nine reports of it exploding while being used.

Health Canada reported that no one has suffered any "long term" injuries so far.

Colgate won't be making any more, but are worried that there are still some on store shelves.

Edited by News Talk Radio's Jared Knoll.

Onion Lake Cree Nation Chief Wallace Fox made a surprise announcement on Wednesday at a press conference aimed at encouraging indigenous people to vote, where he "ressurected" the concept of a First Nations political party.

"No longer will our people be silent," said Fox.

"I believe that it's time."