Marjorie Roden, Herald Contributor
REGINA, SK — The mood at the German Club in Regina was one of shock on Monday night as longtime Liberal MP Ralph Goodale was defeated by newcomer Conservative candidate Michael Kram.
“The Liberals won the minority, so at least we got that,” said Liberal Party volunteer Helen Kochanik after the announcement.
“He’s been in so long, and he’s been our best. He’s been our voice, and it’s going to be sad.”
“It will of course, be a very different Parliament,” Goodale said during his address to the crowd of supporters and volunteers, adding “We can indeed have great confidence in (Trudeau’s) leadership of that Parliament.”
Goodale added “I have had the extraordinary privilege of representing this constituency for 26 years, and it has been a singular honour, every day, to step into the House of Commons and to be able to say I represent Regina-Wascana.”
“The democratic process moves forward, and pages are turned, things change, and people go forward. One thing we all need to absolutely believe in with 100 per cent of our political hearts and souls is that the democratic process works and the people are always right. In this country, we share in a democracy that is a rare and precious thing in all of the world.”
Shawn Stevenson, the volunteer co-ordinator for Goodale’s campaign, was admittedly surprised by the end results because “the numbers looked really good coming in. It was different from 2015, for sure.”
However, Stevenson reflected Goodale’s sentiments by stating “What’s important for any political party is that you have faith in the people, faith in the voters, that we don’t condescend and get angry. We accept the judgement that (the voters) made today, but also understand this is about Liberals in the province of Saskatchewan working as hard as they possibly can to make sure we are seen as a viable option to the Conservative Party of Canada.”
The Conservatives swept all of the seats available in Saskatchewan. How will this affect the province?
To that query, Stevenson responded “I think, fundamentally, every government of Canada has a responsibility to represent all of Canada. That includes every province, every territory, every multicultural demographic, including Indigenous people, including Francophones, including Anglophones, that’s the nature of Canada. I know that the government that we have now sees the country that way, and that’s why I have a tremendous amount of faith in the future of this country.”
