Prairie voters cut the Liberal presence in half Oct. 14, re-electing Ralph Goodale in Saskatchewan but returning just one of three MPs in Manitoba.
Anita Neville was re-elected in the safe Winnipeg South Centre seat, but Tina Keeper and Raymond Simard were defeated in Churchill and Saint Boniface, respectively.
Goodale is the lone Liberal in Saskatchewan; the 13 other seats went Conservative. In Manitoba, nine of the other 13 seats went to the Conservatives and four to the NDP. All of Alberta voted Tory blue, with the exception of Edmonton-Strathcona where Linda Duncan of the NDP toppled Conservative incumbent Rahim Jaffer.
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Goodale said the entire Liberal party has a lot of work to do to change that kind of result. He agreed much of the effort would fall on his shoulders but said prairie Liberals can’t do it on their own.
“We have to be present in the region, and not just those of us who are sort of homegrown but others engaged at the national level with the party have to be involved here as well,” Goodale told reporters at his campaign headquarters.
He said the party has to demonstrate its willingness to connect with Western Canada.
“It’s going to take a big commitment of time and effort and, quite frankly, party resources to make that connection,” he said.
Goodale’s connection with Wascana voters remained solid, although his margin of victory was reduced from the nearly 9,000 he enjoyed in 2006.
With all 187 polls reporting, unofficial results show he took 17,028 votes, or 46 percent of the popular vote. 
Early returns showed a close race shaping up between him and Conservative candidate Michelle Hunter, but in the end she earned 12,719 votes, or 34.4 percent.
The NDP candidate, Stephen Moore, was a distant third with 5,507 votes, and the Green Party’s George-Richard Wooldridge picked up 1,706.
Voter turnout in the riding was nearly 65 percent.
Goodale said it is too early to say whether the Green Shift environmental plan was responsible for the party’s poor showing on the Prairies and across Canada.
The former agriculture, natural resources, public works and finance minister said the Liberals will be a responsible official opposition while the party rebuilds.
“We’ll go to school on these results. We’ll learn the lessons of what Canadians were telling us in all parts of the country,” he said.
He said that doesn’t mean a leadership change is necessary.
“The Liberal Party stands statistically as the most successful political institution of the western world and I’m sure that we will draw the right lessons,” he said. “We’ll make the adjustments that are necessary.”
For now, Goodale said Liberal MPs would concentrate on being a responsible, effective opposition, particularly with the world economic situation the way it is.
