NDP and Liberals still lagging behind with Sask. candidates as election looms

The election is expected to be called Wednesday morning, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits Gov. Gen. Julie Payette and asks her to dissolve Parliament.

Saskatchewan has 14 ridings, but not all parties have a full slate of candidates in our province.

The Liberals have 10 people running so far, and the NDP has just six. Joe Garcea, a professor of political studies at the University of Saskatchewan, says that can be an indication that parties are facing challenges in some areas of the country in terms of support.

“I think the point still remains, it’s not good for the NDP in particular to not field a full slate of candidates — particularly I would say in Saskatchewan, which is considered to be the cradle of the foundation for the NDP,” Garcea said Tuesday.

Garcea acknowledges that it can sometimes be difficult for parties to find good, quality candidates, but they need to be careful about the risks of not running someone in every riding.

“The fact that they’re late or they can’t get good candidates to run is a bad omen for a party in any part of the country. It’s bad for a couple of reasons. Number one, they run the risk of being accused of not caring about a particular province or particular constituency,” said Garcea.

Garcea says every vote in this coming election is important as the Conservatives and Liberals have been polling fairly close. He says the parties will be very strategic in their campaigning.

“It is going to be a much more focused campaign, and by focused I mean focused on specific regions or specific ridings or specific provinces,” he said.