REGINA – Campaigning in Tommy Douglas country Monday, Jack Layton was unfazed by the fact the NDP hasn’t got a single seat in the birthplace of the party and is confident all that will change on election day.
"We’re building for the future here," he said following a stump speech in Regina. "We had a very solid vote across the province (in 2008). Virtually the same vote we had in Manitoba, only in Manitoba we won seats and here we didn’t."
Layton blames his party’s shutout in 2008, at least in part, to Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system and is calling for proportional representation.
"We tried to get the House of Commons to pay attention to that serious defect in our democracy just a month-and-a-half ago," he said.
"Unfortunately, the other parties wouldn’t support the idea of having a referendum on the Senate abolition and bringing proportional representation to Canada."
In 2008, the NDP came second to the Conservatives in 12 of 13 Saskatchewan ridings. The Liberals took the province’s 14th riding and came second to the Conservatives in one other.
But in Palliser, the NDP lost by just 3,290 votes in 2008 and in Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, they lost by just 262 votes.
Now, with "the best team ever" in Saskatchewan, Layton thinks there’s a "golden opportunity" to re-establish the party in the province.
"We have to work with (the) rules that we have and that’s why we spent the last 2 1/2 years building our local campaigns," he said.
University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman agrees the NDP has a good shot in Saskatchewan.
"The NDP historically has done very, very well in Saskatchewan in terms of seats. In fact, better there than anywhere in the country in percentage terms," he said.
In most elections, he argued, the NDP gains at least one seat in the province, although that seemed to change in 2006 when the party lost "a lot" of its western support as voters shifted to the Conservatives.
In 2008, the Conservatives won 13 ridings and had twice as many votes in most regions compared to the NDP.
Wiseman suggests Layton has an "urban and Ontario image," and that the NDP actually has a stronger voter base in Ontario even if it gained more seats in Saskatchewan in the past.
Still, Wiseman said the NDP is smart to build its presence in Saskatchewan because many people use their vote strategically.
"(The) NDP came in second and, as a voter, you may not want to keep the Conservatives in power," he said.
"So you start calculating who has the best chance of knocking off the Conservatives in your constituency."
With files from Carmen Chai
tcohen(at)postmedia.com
Twitter.com/tobicohen
CNS 3/28/11 15:21:21
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