Newly re-elected Premier Lorne Calvert says the people of Saskatchewan have placed their trust in his New Democrats to lead the province through progressive change.

"People clearly want change -- to encourage young people to remain in Saskatchewan, to build their education and their careers here," Calvert told reporters Thursday.

"A clear desire to change to see our economy stronger (and) growing. These are the fundamental elements I see as the first order of business for our new government," he added.

The NDP won its fourth consecutive term in power on Wednesday, taking 30 ridings, while the Saskatchewan Party picked up 28 seats. The Liberals were completely shut out.

Calvert handily won his riding of Saskatoon-Riversdale -- a constituency once represented by Roy Romanow. His party's fourth consecutive win was the first since the legendary Tommy Douglas led the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation to repeated wins in the 1950s.

Calvert's chief rival, Saskatchewan Party Leader Elwin Hermanson, was declared a winner in his riding of Rosetown-Elrose. Hermanson told supporters Wednesday he was proud of his party's performance at the polls, considering the party formed just six years ago out of an alliance of disgruntled Liberals and vanquished Tories.

"Let's remember, friends, that the Saskatchewan Party is a young party and we've started the move upwards," he said.

"We'll be back again. Who knows what will happen? It may not be long."

He could be right. Since the legislature is likely to elect an NDP member as Speaker, the government will have only 29 votes to the Opposition's 28 -- paving the way for some very tight votes.

Liberal Leader David Karwacki, meanwhile, lost his seat in the 58-seat legislature to the NDP's Frank Quennell. The young millionaire businessman spoke to his supporters shortly before a winner was declared in the tight race.

"The best thing about Saskatchewan is not just all the resources that we have -- the best thing about Saskatchewan is the people," Karwacki said as his wife and children looked on.

At dissolution, the NDP had 28 seats, the Saskatchewan party had 26 and the Liberals had one. There were three Independents.

One of the key issues in the campaign was the privatization of the big Crown utilities: SaskTel, SaskPower, SaskEnergy, and Saskatchewan government insurance.

Calvert had promised that if his party was elected for a fourth term, he would mandate the Crown to provide customers with the lowest utility-rate packages in the country. The Saskatchewan Party had promised not to sell off the four major Crown corporations, but said it would restrict some of their operations.

Other concerns targeted the province's faltering economy and a population that is shrinking as young people move away to such cities as Calgary.

Such high-profile NDP candidates as Agriculture Minister Clay Serby, Justice Minister Eric Cline and Speaker Myron Kowalsky were all re-elected. Finance Minister Jim Melenchuk went down to defeat along with Ron Osika, the government relations minister.

The Saskatchewan election was the last of eight provincial votes to be held across the country this year and voter turnout was described as steady.

Much of the campaigning by all three parties was focused on the 12 seats in Saskatoon, a city with a swinging electorate, re-adjusted riding boundaries and two races without incumbents.

The Saskatchewan Party swept the rural ridings in the 1999 election. This year, the party rolled out its "Win Saskatoon" campaign in the hope of breaking ground in urban areas.

Calvert tried to rally support in the rural areas as election day approached. His campaign took a bad turn early on when an NDP cartoon depicted the leader of the Saskatchewan Party as a Nazi guard loading people onto railcars.

Calvert fired highways department employee Dave Degenstien for his involvement with the cartoon. The man who drew the cartoon, Carlo Binda, and an NDP communications strategist, resigned.