Canadians may have been in the mood for change May 2, but Saskatchewan voters were not.
The status quo prevailed in all 14 ridings – 13 Conservatives and one Liberal.
There were some close races, however, suggesting the NDP wave that took hold in Eastern Canada did have some traction elsewhere.
Three ridings in particular stood out.
In Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Conservative incumbent Kelly Block and four-time NDP candidate Nettie Wiebe battled back and forth all night. At one point, just a single vote separated them.
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However, as more results came in Block moved ahead. At the last unofficial count available, with 149 of 150 polls reporting, she had 14,802 votes or 49.1 percent of the vote.
Wiebe had 14,013 or 46.5 percent. Further north, in Desnethe-Missinippi- Churchill River, the incumbent Conservative Rob Clarke and NDP candidate Lawrence Joseph had a similar battle.
Clarke edged out the former chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations by 789 votes. And in Palliser, Ray Boughen held on to defeat Noah Evanchuk by 766 votes.
All other Conservative incumbents comfortably held on to their seats.
In Wascana, Liberal Ralph Goodale was returned for a seventh consecutive term but by a reduced margin. He won 40.9 percent of the vote this time, compared to 46 percent in 2008.
He told reporters that compares to what his party experienced.
“To be able to survive against that wave is not an insignificant accomplishment,” he said.
“It’s never easy to win a political campaign, but when the tide is with you it’s a lot easier than when the tide is going the other way.”
The other Saskatchewan MPs returned to office are Gerry Ritz, Randy Hoback, Garry Breitkreuz, Brad Trost, Maurice Vellacott, Lynne Yelich, Andrew Scheer, Tom Lukiwski, Ed Komarnicki and David Anderson.
