Victory in defeat could be the new slogan for the Liberal candidates in and near Saskatoon.
All of them failed to secure their seats but say they’re still enthusiastic that Justin Trudeau will be the first party leader asked to form government.
“We’ll be able to move forward with a very progressive platform, we’ll be able to continue with the foundation that we built over the last three and a half years and that is very exciting to me,” said Tracy Muggli, the candidate for Saskatoon-Grasswood, who lost to incumbent Conservative member of Parliament, Kevin Waugh.
It was a disappointment for someone who said she knocked on 25,000 doors in the lead-up to the election.
Yet barely 20 people were watching the results at the Liberal gathering in Saskatoon when they found out they had a minority government.
Muggli and the Liberal candidates for the other Saskatoon ridings, and Carleton Trail-Eagle Creek candidate Rebecca Malo, held their election event at the Persephone Theatre.
The turnout for the event mirrored the support they had in the region but the candidates said they were still excited about the overall election results.
“I believe in the many things that the Liberal government has done over the past four years … I’m pleased the Liberal government will continue with some of those important things,” said Susan Hayton, the candidate for Saskatoon-University.
Malo and Saskatoon West candidate Shah Rukh said they knew it would be a challenging campaign based on the 2015 election results.
“My team, my volunteers already knew what was going to happen…because we looked at the three seats in the last election,” Rukh said.
“You can find out how many people voted Liberal in Warman,” said Malo, speaking about her home town.
“Three per cent of the people in Warman voted Liberal, so that means if I go knock on a 100 doors, three of them will be happy to see me.”
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