The Conservatives again dominated federal election ridings in Saskatchewan and Alberta, but it wasn’t enough to form government.
Justin Leifso, an assistant professor in political studies at the University of Victoria, says rumblings of western alienation will continue because of the result.
Leifso said westerners must face the fact that if Conservatives are to form government, they must also appeal to urban voters in Ontario and Quebec.
“Are [voters in Saskatchewan and Alberta] going to keep parking our political interests with a party that is so focused on grievance?” Leifso, who grew up in Moose Jaw, Sask., asked Tuesday on CBC Saskatchewan’s The Morning Edition.
“Or are we OK with a party trying to broaden its scope in terms of getting enough seats to form government?”
Liberal candidate Buckley Belanger is projected to win Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, the lone Liberal from Saskatchewan heading to Ottawa.
Conservatives won Saskatchewan’s 13 other ridings without much competition. The NDP ran third in every riding.
Leifso said those results were not surprising.
Belanger’s projected win in the north riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River had more to do with boundary changes than anything else, he said.
“We didn’t see the same sort of red wave that the polls, maybe like about three weeks ago, nationally were showing.”
The NDP fell to third place in popular vote in the province for the first time in years. Leifso said that result had everything to do with U.S. President Donald Trump and the trade war.
“This was progressive centre-left voters who were frankly spooked by Donald Trump, his authoritarian tendencies and of course the tariffs, who voted strategically in their own minds, giving their vote to the Liberals,” Leifso said. “I have no idea if that’s going to remain.
“The question of the fortunes of the NDP in the mid- to long-future is completely up in the air because of that.”
Doug Richardson, a Saskatoon lawyer and former chief of staff for Liberal prime minister John Turner, said having the Liberals’ Belanger elected in northern Saskatchewan will be a welcome voice in Parliament.
“The fact that we now have a voice elected at the table from Saskatchewan is a big step forward on the unity question, on the bridge building that Prime Minister [Mark] Carney alluded to late last night,” Richardson said in a Tuesday interview with CBC Saskatchewan’s Blue Sky.
Conservative Kevin Waugh, the projected winner in the Saskatoon South riding, pointed out that the Tory vote held steady in Saskatchewan and Alberta while making some gains in Ontario.
“I think our party is strong. We have 144 [projected MPs], so roughly 25 more MPs heading to Ottawa,” Waugh said Tuesday on CBC’s Saskatoon Morning.
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The big story, Waugh said, was the crumbling support for the NDP, which was projected to garner just seven seats nationally — not enough to maintain official party status.
“Perhaps if they would have moved their vote up a little bit we’d be in government today. But still, 40 per cent nationally for the Conservative Party, with roughly eight million votes, speaks volumes,” he said.
Waugh said he has complete faith in Pierre Poilievre, despite the Conservative leader being projected to lose his own seat.
“We’re gonna reconvene here in May and we’re gonna have a game plan,” Waugh said. “I think Pierre needs to be our leader. I think we need to find a seat for him in this Parliament, and that’s what we’re going to discuss when we come back in.”
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Leifso said Conservative Party members are going to have some tough conversations.
“It’s already been happening where you start seeing some pretty high-profile Conservatives — both elected and sort of strategists — sniping at each other,” Leifso said.
Former Saskatchewan Party MLA Paul Merriman agreed.
Speaking with Blue Sky, Merriman said the Conservatives need to have a discussion on where they go from here.
“What happened between January and yesterday, and how can they move forward?” Merriman said. “And maybe that is some collaboration with the Liberals. Maybe that is some discussion on mutual points of agreement. Let’s move forward on those and not have the petty fights.”
Claire Card, a former federal NDP candidate in Saskatoon, said this a time for unity across parties.
“I think it’s time in this country that all of the members of Parliament come together, and this is a very critical moment,” Card told Blue Sky.
Merriman said he hopes the West will have better relations with Carney than with the previous Justin Trudeau government.
“I’m hopeful and somewhat optimistic that we can do a reset here, and the premiers can sit down with the prime minister and be able to plead the case of Western Canada, and how we can help out the rest of Canada.”
