SASKATOON — The city remained the Conservative Party of Canada’s territory, with all three ridings delivering for the Tories with Kevin Waugh and Brad Redekopp winning their respective re-election bids for Saskatoon South and Saskatoon West.
The results of Monday’s election will be official once the Chief Election Officer has confirmed the members of Parliament elected in each constituency. The expected date for the return of the election writs is May 19. The Liberals, following the election results on Monday, April 28, held 169 seats compared to the Conservatives' 144, resulting in a minority government.
Waugh, Redekopp, and Saskatoon University’s Corey Tochor will join 10 of their fellow Saskatchewan Tories when Parliament reconvenes in May or June. All three incumbent Conservative MPs won comfortably against their Liberal opponents.
Waugh defeated his closest rival, Rokhan Sarwar of the Liberals, 24,516-20,107, while Redekopp convincingly won his re-election with 19,707 votes against the 10,257 of lawyer Chad Eggerman of the Liberal Party.
Waugh, the Conservative Party of Saskatchewan Regional Caucus Chair, told SaskToday that although he is now representing an urban seat, after the redistribution of the constituency, the Tories will continue to push for provincial issues, such as those affecting canola farmers who are impacted by tariffs.
“We heard more about the canola tariffs caused by this Liberal government putting the EV tariffs on China. Yet, when Mark Carney came to Saskatchewan three times, he never addressed the canola situation. Our farmers are scared right now,” said Waugh.
“We're on the eve of planting crops. Many farmers have planned for months to grow canola. They've seen the price drop, and yet the federal Liberals have not come out once to support our farmers and our canola producers in the province.”
He said they would pressure Prime Minister Mark Carney in Parliament, as they plan to be the voice of canola farmers and other crop producers in the province in Ottawa, and would continue to bring the issue up in the coming weeks.
“I think you're going to see a lot of fights in this 45th Parliament. We heard loud and clear from Western Canadians, including many from our province, that they're not happy with the policies of the Liberal government,” said Waugh.
"Seeing Mark Carney under pressure in the House of Commons will be interesting. Affordability is also an issue, and I believe we were on the right track, as we have over 140 seats, up from 119 in the previous Parliament.”
Waugh believes that, given two more weeks of campaigning, the Conservatives could have won enough seats to form a government, even if it were a minority one, since momentum was slowly shifting in their favour. Still, the Saskatchewan Tories are ready for what might happen once Parliament reconvenes.
Affordability among top issues
Redekopp said affordability is one of the issues that remains one of the concerns of residents, not only in Saskatoon West, but also aside from crime and the drug and mental health crisis that has plagued communities in the country.
“When you have roughly 23,000 people going to the food bank each month, it's a concern. We need to address this because people are hurting in this community. Whether it's mental health, or addictions, and people struggling with day-to-day affordability,” said Redekopp.
“I think you've seen in our communities a real concern going forward. The main issues that we heard repeatedly really resonated with the ideas we were looking for. We will be happy to see if that works out well.”
He added that crime and the impact of drugs in the city are also raised by Saskatoon West residents when he met with his supporters during the campaign, especially when he and his supporters went door-to-door in neighbourhoods in the riding.
Redekopp was a virtual unknown when he first ran in 2019, as he spent most of his professional life in accounting and finance. He defeated the incumbent Sherri Benson of the NDP and successfully won his re-election against the NDP’s Robert Doucette.
