Saskatchewan NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter crushed by Wall

REGINA – For more than two decades Saskatchewan NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter served his province only to be dumped in Monday’s provincial election by his own constituents.

It was a humbling end for Lingenfelter, who first won a seat in 1978 and once served as deputy premier.

Fighting his first election as leader, he was unable to fight off the surging Saskatchewan Party across the province and in his own constituency of Regina Douglas Park.

Lingenfelter took sole responsibility for the loss and tendered his resignation as party leader effective immediately.

“That (defeat) was my fault, not yours, not your fault at all,” he told supporters who shouted back “No, no!”

He said he has instructed his caucus to appoint an interim leader.

Lingenfelter had been in the NDP’s top job since June 2009 when he was chosen to replace Lorne Calvert, who had led the party to defeat in 2007.

New Democrats hoping to ride an NDP orange wave after the success of the party in May’s federal election were largely washed away instead. Voters rejected the party’s election platform that relied on collecting more money from potash companies to cover spending promises.

The Sask. Party was on track to take 49 seats in the 58-seat legislature, leaving the NDP little more than a rump.

Polls and political observers had suggested before Monday’s vote that the outcome for the NDP would be dismal. Two days before the vote, Lingenfelter didn’t want to talk about what might happen.

“What I’m sure all leaders do going into the last few days is they think about election day and what happens after that is a whole other story or chapter,” he said.

Lingenfelter said he was running to win as many seats as possible.

The fewest number of seats the NDP or its predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, has ever had in the Saskatchewan legislature is nine. That was in 1982 when the Progressive Conservatives swept to power with 55 seats.

Lingenfelter was first elected to the provincial legislature in Shaunavon in 1978. He served as social services minister under former premier Allan Blakeney, but was defeated in Shaunavon in 1986. He bounced back in 1988 when he won a byelection in Regina Elphinstone, the seat Blakeney had held.

When the NDP returned to power under Roy Romanow, Lingenfelter held cabinet posts that included economic development, Crown investments and agriculture. He served time as deputy premier and government house leader as well.

Some saw him as a possible successor to Romanow, but Lingenfelter jumped to the private sector in 2000. He became vice-president of government relations for Calgary-based energy company Nexen Inc.

He was lured back to Saskatchewan after the New Democrats lost the 2007 election to Wall’s Saskatchewan Party and former premier Calvert stepped down as NDP leader.