LISTEN: ‘We’ll just continue to grow’: NDP Leader Carla Beck opens up after election

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck sat down with 650 CKOM’s Evan Bray on Thursday morning to share her thoughts on the results of the provincial election and everything that comes next.

While Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party won a fifth consecutive term in Monday’s election, Beck’s NDP swept the province’s urban centres and improved its seat count from 13 to 27.

Listen to the full interview, or read the transcript below:

BRAY: So how are you feeling?

I’m excited to take on the role of an expanded – a larger – official opposition. We always knew going into this race that we had a heck of a mountain to climb. And, you know, I’m real stubborn. If you watch me try to take groceries in, I don’t like to make two trips. I wanted to try to do it in one. But, you know, with some time to reflect I’m awfully proud of our team, the campaign we ran and our candidates. They they worked so hard out there, and were so committed to their their constituencies. Just a really, really great group of people. Unfortunately, not all of them were successful, but, you know, they made so many gains out there. And so, overall, still a little bit of disappointment, but mostly a lot of pride and (I’m) excited about the work ahead.

Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck joined Evan Bray in the studio on Thursday to share her thoughts on Saskatchewan’s provincial election, which saw her party make big gains. (Abby Zieverink/980 CJME)

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BRAY: On election night, you said exactly what you just said there. You used the word “disappointed.” It almost felt like the crowd revolted on you. Your people were like they were quite jubilant. At least that was the feeling you got by watching it on TV or listening to the reports. So how do you balance that; your end goal of getting it over the finish line and forming government, which you fell short of, but clearly, what the group that was in the room that night – your supporters, your MLAs – they felt pretty successful.

And they should. You know, there was a lot of gain in this election. We covered a lot of ground. We saw, you know, not success in every every constituency, but we saw growth in every constituency. And it was a campaign that people felt proud of, a campaign that was focused on the things that people had been telling us for the last number of years were most important to them. So I think the feeling of leaving it all on the field, which is always the goal – I always wanted to make sure that we did everything that we could, that we ran an honest campaign focused on Saskatchewan people. We made huge gains and as I said, this is an important role, the official opposition. We look forward to the next four years, and we’ll just continue to grow.

BRAY: It looks as though the seat count might be changing after the second count with the mail-in ballots. I know in Saskatoon, one riding might be moving to, well, you’re in the lead now, prior to that final count, that’s happening on the ninth.

Right, which would leave us with with 27 and all of the seats in Regina, the north, (and) all but one in Saskatoon. So that is huge growth. I don’t know that there were a lot of people at the start of the campaign who would have thought that that was possible. I thought it was.

BRAY: Pollsters did too. Were you buying into the polls?

I was taught well early on, don’t don’t allow your vote to rise and fall based on polls. What we were basing it on was the reception we were getting at the doorsteps, the number of people who were saying, you know, “I’ve never voted for your party before. I haven’t voted for your party for a long time, but I’m doing it this time,” or people who said, “I’ve given up on politics, but I’m going to go, go in there and mark my ballot for you.” And what we also wanted to see was a new engagement with with democracy, people being excited to vote. I think we still have a ways to go, but this is so important. You know, we need people engaged.

BRAY: I’ve got three points that I want to talk to you about, all based on discussions that I had the day after the election (and) feedback I’ve heard from people in the province. And let’s start with rural Sask. I know you’re so proud to be from rural Saskatchewan. It actually broke my heart listening to people calling in and texting into the show talking about this massive divide. How do you find a way for the NDP to build relation, meaningful relationships in rural Sask.?

One of the things that has always been a goal was to reduce, reduce that divide. I grew up in rural Saskatchewan, of course, raised my kids in the city. My family’s still out in rural Saskatchewan. It is incredibly important to me that people see where there there is common ground. If you go looking for division, certainly you will find it. But if you go looking for that common ground, it’s pretty easy to find. That was the campaign that we focused on; it didn’t matter what your postal code was (or) where you lived in this province. People want to be able to pay their bills. They want safe communities. They want to be able to have health care. They want their kids to get a good education. We really tried to center this on common ground, and to show Saskatchewan people that we wanted to be a government for all people in this province. There’s still more work to do, obviously.

BRAY: What is that work? Because in the Humboldts, the Balcarrases, the Langs of the province, you look at the numbers, I mean, yeah, maybe you made some increases, but we’re still talking in some cases splits of thousands of votes. So it’s not, in many cases in rural in Saskatchewan, close. What’s the strategy?

If you just look at at air-level messaging, it’s really hard to have the conversations that you need to find the common ground. I always say 10 minutes on the doorstep is really important. I can find common ground. We can find common ground pretty quickly if you let people get face to face, ask you the hard questions, maybe deal with some of the things they’ve been angry about our party about for a while, or perceptions. A real willingness to understand where they’re coming from, you know, I think that’s powerful. But it’s hard to do if you’re not going door to door or being face to face with people. And I think we’ve done a lot of that work in outreach. There certainly is a curiosity, a want to understand, to find that common ground and we’ve had some gains because of it. We’re going to continue with that work. And again, you know, some of this is just sitting down at the rink, watching your your your niece or nephew in Carnduff or Meadow Lake, and showing folks that there’s more that unites us than than divides us. But being face to face really is crucial, I think, to to breaking down some of those barriers.

BRAY: I actually had a texter that said, “You know what? At one time the NDP was all about the farmers. Now it seems like they’re all about big unions.” What’s your response to that?

My goal is to deliver on those things that are most important to people for all Saskatchewan people. That is not an easy task, but again – I really do believe this – there’s more that unites us in this province than divides us. And I think as leaders we have a choice. Do we want to lean into that division, or do we want to look for common ground? Do we want to be able to be at the table? Compromise? Look at how we actually make progress? Or do we want to be engaged in an endless fight from from polarized positions? I chose to look for a division, or to look for common ground, to reject that division. And I feel really good about that strategy. I think it’s what a lot of people are looking for.

BRAY: Do the do the big unions play a role for you though, Carla?

There are people across this province who are not being well served, who are working harder and harder, and their paychecks don’t get them through through the month. And if there are interests that we’re putting forward, certainly, you know, whether that’s unions, whether that is, you know, working people in in rural areas, folks in the north, if their message, our message, is one that is hitting the things that they care most about, then I think that’s why people are attracted to. This is really about focusing on the things that are most important to Saskatchewan people, and pulling away from stereotypes or misconceptions that they have about us or about the party.

BRAY: Couple more things I want to get in before our time is up, and one is your tie to the federal NDP. That was something I heard loud and clear from callers and texters in the province. There’s a lot of people that say, “You know what? I actually heard things from the NDP provincially that I like, but that connection to the federal NDP is enough that no, I’m never doing that.” How do you shake that?

You know what we did? And this is clearly how I would deal with any federal party, regardless of political stripe. My first interest, who I work for, are the people of Saskatchewan, regardless of who’s in power in Ottawa. And I’ve said this from day one when I became leader. If there is something that is happening with a federal decision that hurts the people of Saskatchewan, like the carbon tax – which I’ve said before and during and will say again, we don’t support the carbon tax – we will be at that table making sure that those those views are known and be still sitting there waiting to get a better deal. If there are things that stand to benefit the people of this province, whether that’s getting actually delivering on $10-a-day child care or diabetes medication, you better bet I’ll be at that table getting the best deal. And I don’t care who it is, who’s who’s in power. That’s the approach that I take. It’s always been my view. My job is to deliver for Saskatchewan people.

BRAY: What’s going to look different going forward? You’ve now got potentially 27 seats, depending on where the dust settles. How does that change the next four year term?

A lot of people, even people who weren’t voting for us – and I’ve, you know, heard this since the election – people wanted a stronger opposition. People wanted more balance in the legislature. You’re going to see that. You’re going to see us continue to focus on the issues that are most important to to Saskatchewan people. We’re going to have more resources, more MLAs. We’ve got a great group of new MLAs who are coming in, and they’re eager to fulfill their role of representing their their constituents, but also putting forth, you know, our view of where we should be in this in this province. There’s still a lot of concerns, a lot of problems that we’ve got out there right now, in health care, cost of living, education system, crime. We’re going to continue to be focused on those issues, because those are the issues that the voters told us are most important to them. And I think there will be a very changed dynamic in that legislature.

This interview has been edited for clarity.