Iggy popped, Jack a rock star, but Prairies still singing from Tory songsheet

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/05/2011 (5328 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON – It was a virtual replay of the 2008 election on the Prairies: Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s team clobbered almost all comers.

Once again the Tories captured 27 of 28 ridings in Alberta and 13 of 14 in Saskatchewan. They even added two more in Manitoba, winning 11 of 14, and increased their share of the popular vote in all three provinces.

In Manitoba, the Conservatives took a bite out of both of their opponents.

In Winnipeg South-Centre, Tory Joyce Bateman defeated Liberal incumbent Anita Neville, who had held the riding for more than a decade.

Neville didn’t mince words.

“I’m … to be quite blunt, very unhappy that Stephen Harper has a majority government,” she said. “It’s not the Canada I want, it’s not the Canada I want for my children, and it gives me great fear.”

Neville’s loss leaves just two Liberals on the Prairies.

In the Saskatchewan riding of Wascana, party deputy leader Ralph Goodale defeated Tory challenger Ian Shields.

Goodale, who has fought in the political arena for more than three decades, said the Liberals faced similar decimating setbacks in the 1950s. He predicted the party will lie down and bleed awhile, then rise again.

“I have every confidence that Liberals, who have been an integral part of the political heart and soul of this country for 150 years, will pull together now as never before,” he told supporters.

“Let’s not be naive about the results, but at the same time let’s not be discouraged.”

The other remaining Liberal is Kevin Lamoureux. He wrested Winnipeg-North from the NDP in a byelection last year and on Monday defeated NDP challenger Rebecca Blaikie.

Blaikie has political pedigree, being the daughter of longtime MP Bill Blaikie.

While she couldn’t break through, two other New Democrats hung onto their seats in Manitoba.

The Tories took 53 per cent of the vote in Manitoba, 56 per cent in Saskatchewan and 67 per cent in Alberta. Harper won his own riding, Calgary Southeast, with 75 per cent of the ballots.

Andrew Scheer held his Regina-Qu’Appelle riding taking more than 50 per cent of the vote. He said the Tory majority means the party can move on issues such as abolishing the long-gun registry and the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly on the marketing of western grain.

“The support I received last time stayed solid and I think that’s because voters in Saskatchewan are for the most part very pleased with our focus on the economy, on keeping taxes low, getting tough on crime and getting rid of the gun registry,” Scheer said.

“Now we have a majority. We tried in the past to provide choice for farmers and we were always stumped by the fact that we couldn’t get our legislation through. I’m very hopeful and very confident that now we’ll be able to move ahead with that.”

How soon would we see something either the wheat board or the gun registry.

He’s not sure. “I know I’m very anxious, I’m very eager to proceed on those issues and I hope that the rest of my colleagues share the same thing.”

The lone bitter pill in a night of triumph for the Tories on the Prairies was Edmonton-Strathcona.

NDP incumbent Linda Duncan, who took the riding from the Tories and candidate Rahim Jaffer in 2008, won it again Monday.

“Man, are we going to need a big meeting room for our caucus,” Duncan told a room of cheering supporters. Her party soared past 100 seats to form official opposition.

“You are all invited to Stornoway,” she added, referring to the home of the Opposition leader.

“We didn’t quite make it to Sussex Drive, but next time.”

It was a tough campaign for both sides in Edmonton-Strathcona, with allegations of dirty tricks and sign vandalism.

The Tories put all their Alberta muscle behind Ryan Hastman, a small-business owner.

But Hastman stumbled out of the gate when it was revealed that a Tory staffer under RCMP investigation for interfering with Ottawa access to information requests was working on his campaign. The worker was quickly dismissed.

Hastman focused his message on the hot-button oilsands issue. He argued NDP policies on the environment, specifically the capping and trading of carbon emissions, would curtail development.

She urged supporters disappointed in the Tory stampede on the Prairies to be patient.

“It just wasn’t time yet to have the orange crush in Alberta. We did it in Quebec; we’ll do it in Alberta next time.”