In a provincial byelection that served as a key indicator into desired government policies, voters in the Lloydminster constituency of Saskatchewan, Canada, voted clearly on Thursday to affirm the path that Premier Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party are taking.

Wall is a major supporter of the Canadian oil industry and a key lobbyist for the Keystone XL pipeline.  His party won an electoral landslide in the last provincial election during 2011, taking 49 of 58 seats in the Legislative Assembly and winning 64.3 percent of the popular vote.

Thursday's byelection was being touted by opposition parties – all of which are to the political left of Wall's party – as a referendum not only on the government's progress to date, but also on the new Saskatchewan Environmental Code – which “has left out any mention of green house gas emissions or climate change.”  The left-wing opponents and media commentators were crying foul at the climate alarmism omission, but voters in the bellwether byelection yesterday clearly didn't care.

Colleen Young won the byelection with 64 percent of the popular vote compared to the opposition New Democratic Party candidate's 29 percent, which is effectively the same party results for this riding from the 2011 general election – back when the high-profile Saskatchewan Party candidate Tim McMillan won handily, and who recently stepped down (triggering the byelection) in order to become president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Both climate alarmism and proposals to raise oil royalties and increase renewable energy generation by multiple opposition parties were soundly rejected in this byelection.  The electorate in both of Canada's major oil producing provinces – Alberta and Saskatchewan – couldn't care less about greenhouse gas emissions when it comes to making choices at the ballot box, and the right-of-center political parties should be constructing their economic policies accordingly.