There are few visible signs of the federal election campaign during a drive through a rural section of the Wascana riding southeast of Regina.
There are a handful of small Liberal red Ralph Goodale signs, and one large Conservative blue Brad Farquhar sign.
At one stop, a woman isn’t sure who all her candidates are. She said she talked to another voter who claimed he will simply vote for the first candidate to call.
At another place, a man looks perplexed when the election is mentioned.
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But at Montmartre near the riding’s eastern border, mixed farmer Clayton Kotylak said there isn’t much election talk but there are “Liberal signs all over the place.” He said Wascana is probably one of the safest Liberal seats.
“We’re pretty sure who’s going to take this one home,” said Kotylak.
Goodale is seeking his fifth consecutive victory and said his campaign is going as well as it did in 2004, when he won the largest Liberal majority in Saskatchewan in more than 50 years. He took 20,567 of the 35,975 votes, and was more than 12,000 ahead of his nearest opponent, the Conservative candidate.
“In the same order, we never take anything for granted,” he said.
His opponents this time are: Farquhar, a consultant who was executive assistant to then-Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson and also the party’s former executive director; Regina lawyer Helen Yum running for the NDP; and musician Nigel Taylor for the Green party.
Farquhar said the dismal state of agriculture overshadows most issues when he talks to rural voters, who account for only 15 percent of the riding’s electorate.
“They seem to feel kind of overlooked,” Farquhar said.
Goodale said farmers want concrete details on the issues of world trade agreements, stronger safety net programs and environmental issues like biofuels and water.
“There seems to be very broad knowledge about the spirit and the intent of the Easter report,” Goodale said. “They want to be assured that is a blueprint we intend to pursue.”
Farquhar needs to take a lot of votes away from Goodale to defeat him. He thinks he has a better chance than the 2004 candidate who wasn’t from the riding.
He said national events during the campaign are likely to win him some votes. People who weren’t concerned about income trusts are now starting to question what happened.
The RCMP confirmed in late December that it is investigating allegations that someone in Goodale’s department leaked information about taxation changes to income trusts in advance of the announcement. The NDP finance critic, Judy Wasylycia-Leis, called for Goodale to step down.
Goodale refused, and said he has been inundated with hundreds of supportive e-mails, phone calls and visitors.
In rural Montmartre, Kotylak said he hasn’t heard anyone talking about income trusts or Goodale involvement in a leak.
“Though I’m not a Liberal supporter, most people still have a fair degree of respect for Ralph Goodale,” he said.
