Federal NDP leader Jack Layton says the electoral system and the rural-urban design of ridings in Saskatchewan account for the party’s poor May 2 showing on the Prairies.
Canadians sent 103 NDP MPs to Ottawa and made the party the official opposition for the first time, but the Orange Crush that transformed the election campaign appeared to missed the Prairies.
The party lost one seat in Manitoba, elected three across the region and for the fourth consecutive election did not elect an MP in Saskatchewan, considered the birthplace of the party.
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Layton told a May 26 news conference the party is not giving up on the Prairies. Riding associations remain active and prairie views will form part of the policy making at the NDP convention in Vancouver June 17-19.
“We will work very closely with our candidates who have run before and with our team on the ground,” he said. “Our prairie roots are still very much present in who we are as a political party.”
Layton said part of the problem is the design of Saskatchewan ridings, which combine rural and urban communities. Eight of Saskatchewan’s 14 constituencies are rural-urban mixes, and although the NDP typically wins significant support in most of those ridings’ urban areas, strong Conservative support in the countryside cancels the advantage.
Layton said the party won almost one-third of the votes in Saskatchewan May 2 but did not win a seat.
“The lack of proportional representation was a big part of the problem,” Layton said.
“I’d also say the way the seats were carved up in certain parts of the country created some challenges for us.”
The NDP comes to the new Parliament this week with a record-sized caucus that is close to half rural. The party represents most rural Quebec seats and also holds rural seats in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia.
Layton did not include an MP responsible for rural affairs when he announced his shadow cabinet of critics for the new Parliament.
He did not answer directly when asked if he expected agriculture critic Malcolm Allen to handle rural issues, noting that he would make future announcements on deputy critic and Commons committee positions.
Layton said Allen’s southwestern Ontario riding is an urban-rural mix.
“I think he is going to be able to bridge some of the issues that need to be bridged there,” he said.
“There’s no question that issues around rural Canada will be a very significant priority.”
