Kram defeats Goodale in Regina-Wascana

For a brief period Monday, Michael Kram was thinking he wouldn’t be giving up his day job.

“I went to Elections.ca and the first two polls that came in didn’t go my way and I was thinking, ‘OK, I guess I’m going back to my cubicle at my day job next week,’ ” Kram said. “Then the next several results came in for the better and I just got happier and happier as the night went on.”

As the results continued to come in, it became clear that Kram was pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the 2019 federal election. The 40-year-old Conservative candidate unseated longtime Liberal MP Ralph Goodale in Regina-Wascana.

Kram paid tribute in his victory speech to Goodale, who had represented the riding in the House of Commons since 1993.

“He has been such an institution in this city and province for such a long time,” Kram said later when asked why he had been so gracious toward Goodale. “He has done a lot of good work for this city and this country over the last however many years he has been in office, so I felt that was the appropriate thing to do.”

Kram lost to Goodale by more than 10,000 votes in the 2015 federal election. With 138 of 141 polls reporting early Tuesday morning, Kram had 20,624 votes to Goodale’s 13,946.

Kram said he didn’t do many things differently in his second campaign. Instead, he pointed to the circumstances in Canada as the reason for his victory.

“Four years ago, people were falling in love with Justin Trudeau,” Kram said of the Liberal leader, “and over the last four years, people have been very disappointed — particularly in Saskatchewan — with what they’ve been seeing from the Liberal government under Justin Trudeau.”

Goodale was quick to thank his supporters and campaign workers for their help in this campaign and in his 26 years as an MP.

“It’s a disappointing evening here locally, obviously, for all of the people that worked their hearts out on this campaign and have been so loyal and supportive in so many ways for so many years,” Goodale said after his concession speech. “It’s disappointing for all of those folks and for me, personally.”

Goodale was the public safety minister at the time that Parliament was dissolved. He was the lone Liberal MP when the election was called and he was caught up in the province’s blue wave.

“I’ve had the great privilege and honour of representing this area, doing my very best to stand up for this area and get things done for Regina and for Saskatchewan in the House of Commons,” he said. “I’m very proud of that legacy and very honoured that I had that great privilege for 26 years.”

Asked what was in his future, Goodale said he hadn’t looked past the election. He did, however, suggest he would be happy to help however he could.

“Political cycles come and go,” he said. “The personalities and the issues and the opportunities and the challenges change from time to time and I’m sure that Liberals will work very hard for good, positive principles that will be of assistance to this province and this region and this country.

“To the extent that I can help with that in some way, I’m happy to do it.”

Conservatives completed the sweep in Regina’s two other ridings.

Leader Andrew Scheer won re-election in Regina-Qu’Appelle and Warren Steinley won the seat in Regina-Lewvan.

The latter seat was won by Erin Weir for the NDP in 2015. But Weir was expelled from the party caucus in May of 2018 and, one year later, announced he wouldn’t be seeking re-election.

Regina-Qu’Appelle

Scheer led by 80 votes after the first poll — he had 91 votes out of the 115 counted — and pulled away as the night went on.

Scheer had 24,100 votes with 165 of 167 polls reporting, well ahead of the NDP’s Ray Aldinger at 7,471.

“Being the Member of Parliament for Regina-Qu’Appelle is an honour that I will never take for granted,” Scheer said, “and I will work hard every day to repay the trust that you have put in me.”

Scheer has held the seat since 2004.

Regina-Lewvan

Steinley, who resigned from the provincial Saskatchewan Party to run for the federal seat, took the lead when the first ballots were counted and continued to build on his lead.

With all 184 polls reporting, Steinley had 26,837 votes. Jigar Patel had 14,454 votes for the NDP.

Steinley said running in a provincial election helped him in his maiden voyage as a federal candidate.

“Any campaign involves getting out and knocking on doors,” said Steinley, who represented the Regina-Walsh Acres riding provincially. “It’s just a lot more doors in Regina-Lewvan, so it was a bigger scope.

“It’s the same formula for victory in any campaign; it’s just knocking on doors and listening to what people had to say and bringing forward a positive message like Andrew Scheer did and ensuring that we’re listening to what people want.”

Liberal Winter Fedyk finished third, but she was pleased with the national result of a Liberal victory.

“As a Canadian citizen, I’m very happy that a government that had a positive message is going to be the government,” Fedyk said before the final results in her riding were in.

“As somebody who’s part of the Liberal Party, obviously I’m ecstatic for my friends that I’ve met across the country and the people in the room, so I think it’s going to be a great night no matter what happens for me personally.”