REGINA – As the three major political party leaders trade shots on the national stage, local candidates are hard at work in the trenches, knocking on doors and asking for your support.
But in Saskatchewan, there are a lot fewer of them from the Liberal Party, which still has to nominate six more candidates to run in the province’s 14 ridings.
University of Saskatchewan political scientist Joe Garcea speculates it may be due to the competition: in 2011, Liberal candidates finished third in all but one constituency – Wascana, where Ralph Goodale has been the Member of Parliament since 1993.
“It’s hard to find candidates when the chances of winning certain ridings are not strong,” Garcea said. “To some extent, a party has to decide where it will concentrate its resources.”
Past results suggest the best chance may be in Saskatchewan’s urban ridings – and there are candidates in place for the six districts within Regina and Saskatoon city limits.
READ MORE: 4 Sask. federal ridings to watch
At this point, however, the party does not have nominations even scheduled for Prince Albert, Battlefords-Lloydminster, Yorkton-Melville, Cypress Hills-Grasslands, Souris-Moose Mountain or Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek.
A Liberal spokesperson noted Monday the party has 303 candidates in place across the country, which he said is the most among federal parties.
11-week campaign
Voters won’t go to the polls until October 19, so there is still plenty of time – and the Liberals aren’t alone either. The Green Party, which finished fourth in all 14 Saskatchewan ridings, also has to nominate six more people to challenge for a seat.
“Some of the parties probably didn’t anticipate an election being called so early and thought they’d have the rest of August and into Labour Day to nominate candidates,” Garcea said.
It’s not discouraging to Louis Browne, the Liberal candidate in Regina-Lewvan.
“I was nominated on October 20 and we were out door knocking that very week,” Browne said. “So that’s my focus, listening to the voters in Regina-Lewvan and trying to understand what they’d like me to do, should I have the honour of representing them in Ottawa.”
Browne suggested the Liberals have strong candidates in each of the Saskatoon and Regina-based ridings as well as Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River and Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan.
Ultimately, Browne believes many people are still undecided who they’ll vote for “on a long weekend during the summer.”
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