For the third straight time, the Saskatchewan NDP leader lost his seat in the general election – or did he?.When the polls closed on Monday night, Ryan Meili trailed the Saskatchewan Party’s Ryland Hunter by 83 votes. Hunter had 2,805 votes, and Meili, 2,722, with as many as 1,656 mail-in votes left to be counted in the coming days..It was the news the NDP feared most. A Meili defeat would complete a decade of losses for NDP leaders in general elections. Dwayne Lingenfelter was not well-liked in the 2011 campaign. When he lost his Regina riding, he told the media he wasn’t surprised. Cam Broten also had a short tenure as leader and lost his Saskatoon seat in 2016..If Meili ends up losing his seat, it will be the Saskatchewan NDP Hat Trick. .On the face of it, Meili had it easier than his predecessors. His opponent was also a new leader, Scott Moe – not the charismatic veteran Brad Wall. Yet on Monday night, Moe said what Meili could not: “I’ve got to tell you I’m feeling pretty good tonight.” .The Saskatchewan Party ran over the NDP for the fourth consecutive time, harvesting votes like a new combine. Its 50-seat win was one less than in 2016, but four more than the 46 it held when the legislature dissolved. And unless mail-in ballots sink Tina Beaudry-Mellor in Regina University, Moe’s entire cabinet will get re-elected..The NDP only stole two Sask Party ridings. Matt Love took Saskatoon Eastview from the Sask Party by only 102 votes, even though Chris Guerette was just appointed Sask Party candidate on October 5, following the resignation of Daryl Cooper over social media posts. The NDP’s Jennifer Bowes beat Saskatoon University incumbent Eric Olauson, who himself beat Bowes in 2016..The other nine NDP wins came in Regina, Saskatoon, and northern ridings it had already held. Meara Conway won in Regina -Elphinstone Centre despite calling the oil sands “a f***ing nightmare” on Facebook in 2018. Maybe that gave her more street cred with leftists than the Green Party Leader Naomi Hunter herself, who only got 233 votes in the riding..Two other NDP losses added salt to Meili’s wounds. In Regina Northeast, former 2009 leadership candidate and former party president Yens Pedersen lost to the Sask Party’s Gary Grewal, despite beating Grewal in a 2018 by-election. Incumbent Nicole Rancourt lost by 222 votes to Sask Party newcomer Alana Ross in Prince Albert Northcote..A Meili decision might have cost the NDP a seat in Regina Walsh Acres. Former cabinet minister Sandra Morin won the nomination, but Meili nixed her candidacy, citing apparent red flags that came up in candidate research. Morin played spoiler as an independent candidate, taking 708 votes in a riding Derek Meyers won for the Sask Party by 695 votes..Voters just didn’t take to Meili. An October poll by Angus Reid showed that, politics aside, half as many people found him appealing as those who did not. That poll also found voters see the need for a stronger opposition and another centrist party..The absence of the Liberals should have been the NDP’s opportunity. In 2016, the Liberals had 61 candidates and received 15,568 votes in 2016. This time, they ran 3 candidates and received 338 votes. Despite facing the new Buffalo Party and a resurgent PC Party, the Sask Party notched up their share of the vote by 1 per cent, climbing to 63, while the NDP dropped 1 per cent and got 29..It was as if the Sask Party took all those former Liberal votes while it lost ground on the right. Progressive Conservative Leader Ken Grey recruited the most candidates to the party since 1995, also receiving its highest vote count in 25 years. The 31 PC candidates placed third in 21 races and beat the Greens in 27 ridings..But the surprise – at least to some, was the Buffalo Party. The new party ran in only 17 ridings with new candidates, new volunteers, little money, and was slapped with a lawsuit before the election. Regardless, the nine-month old party still beat the NDP in four ridings – two in the southeast and two in the southwest. And despite running in significantly fewer ridings, the BP received nearly 50 per cent more votes than the PCs, making it Saskatchewan’s clear third party..After his 2007 win, Brad Wall said, “Hope beats fear.” But in 2020, fear gives the NDP an ironic hope. An Angus Reid federal poll on September 10 showed that NDP voters were far more scared to vote in person than Conservative ones. If similar fears made Saskatchewan socialists mail in their ballots, Meili could still win. Even if he does, this party isn’t going anywhere. The party of Tommy Douglas is dead..Lee Harding is the Saskatchewan Correspondent for the Western Standard.Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
