NDP wins another byelection; Sask. Party still confident
Saskatchewan’s NDP won its third straight urban byelection Wednesday, with Regina Northeast voters choosing lawyer Yens Pedersen to be their new MLA.
Pedersen led his closest rival, Gary Grewal of the Saskatchewan Party, throughout the evening. In the end, Pedersen took home 54 per cent of the vote, beating Grewal by 731 votes.
Wednesday’s byelection is being seen as a partial litmus test on voter sentiments ahead of the 2019 general election.
Although the Sask. Party still holds rural Saskatchewan firmly— it won three rural byelection races with ease earlier this year — the party’s grasp on urban seats continues to falter.
Recent polling has suggested urban Sask. Party MLAS should fear their seats could be lost in 2019, and the NDP win Wednesday seems to warrant such fears.
NDP leader Ryan Meili admitted he felt the pressure to win the seat. This was the first opportunity his party had to realistically win a seat since he became leader last March.
“We’ve been steadily building our momentum. This really says that the people of Saskatchewan are looking at New Democrats, taking us seriously as a potential government,” Meili said.
A crowd of roughly 100 people celebrated the victory at the Doubletree hotel in downtown Regina.
“We worked really hard to make this happen and I’m so excited to be here with you tonight in this remarkable victory. Thank you for everything you’ve done,” Meili told the ecstatic crowd.
Across the street at the Ramada Plaza Regina, where Sask. Party members gathered, the mood was significantly less celebratory.
Premier Scott Moe, who travelled by plane with Meili to Regina following the Broncos game in Humboldt, admitted to reporters, “It’s not the outcome the Sask. Party or Gary was looking for.”
There was some sentiment throughout the campaign that Grewal was being hidden as a candidate by the Sask. Party, with the hope the party brand — and Moe — could propel him to victory.
That sentiment was reinforced Wednesday night, when Grewal was not made available to reporters after the results came in.
Despite the loss, Sask. Party members continue to remain confident their management of the economy and opposition to a federally imposed carbon tax will keep them in power come 2019.
A lawyer who twice has failed at becoming an MLA, Pedersen’s third try ended up being the charm.
“You know the decisions were cast by the time the votes come in, so watching the votes come in is really the entertaining part. The hard work was on the doorstep, and that was what put us over the edge,” Pedersen said shortly after giving a speech to NDP supporters.
Asked how it felt to finally win, he offered a simple, “This feels pretty good.”
In his victory speech, the newest MLA listed health care, education and keeping Crown corporations public as priorities.
Traditionally an NDP seat, Regina Northeast went to the Sask. Party on the back of former premier Brad Wall’s widespread popularity in the 2011 general election.
Although the byelection was not called until mid-august, candidates had been preparing for the race ever since March, when Sask. Party MLA and former finance minister Kevin Doherty stepped down from the seat.
For the entirety of the campaign, it was a two-party race despite there being four other candidates.
Ken Grey of the Progressive Conservatives had 142 votes (2.9 per cent); Jessica Schroeder of the Green Party had 1.9 per cent (96 votes); the Liberal Party’s Reid Hill had 65 votes (1.3 per cent); and Mark W. Regel of the Western Independence Party took 37 votes (0.7 per cent).