A former New Democratic Party cabinet minister and a fromer Saskatoon city councillor announced Friday that they will not be running for mayor in the upcoming municipal election.

Frank Quennell, who served alongside former Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} Premier Minister Lorne Calvert, said the “timing just isn’t right” and that he will be working instead for a candidate in the upcoming NDP leadership race, although he did not say who.

Also bowing out of the race is Lenore Swystun, who unsuccesfully ran for mayor in the last municipal election.

Swystun made the announcement on Friday in a Facebook post.

"This October I will take a different role in the election. With my hats on as a professional planner, past councillor, and a former mayoral candidate, I will offer an analysis on the election process as a whole and provide suggestions about how to be engaged during the campaign and beyond."

With Swystun and Quennell out of the picture, that means there are only two candidates who have announced their intention to run in this year’s fall election: Mayor Don Atchison and former mayor Henry Dayday.

With files from News Talk Radio's David Kirton