Tories retain 3 Saskatoon seats despite close race in Saskatoon West

Two Saskatoon ridings had clear frontrunners early on in ballot-counting Monday night, but the Saskatoon West riding was a tug of war between the Conservatives and NDP.

Incumbent Brad Redekopp ended up pulling away late in the count to edge the NDP’s Robert Doucette.

Redekopp originally took the seat from the New Democrats in the 2019 election.

With 168 of 169 ridings reporting, Redekopp had 46.1 per cent of the vote, with Doucette second at 38.3.

Doucette is a familiar face in the region. He is the former president of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan and served as the executive director of the Saskatoon Indian-Métis Friendship Centre.

“If an Indigenous person like myself can run for MP, I think that will inspire a lot of people,” Doucette said outside his small election event.

“I think that people in this diverse riding have now seen that anything is possible.”

Redekopp was not available for comment Monday night.

The two other Saskatoon ridings stayed blue.

The Conservatives’ Corey Tochor came out the early leader in the Saskatoon-University riding. The NDP’s Claire Card was his closest competition, just like in the 2019 vote.

Tochor had 49.0 per cent of the vote with 170 of 171 polls reporting. Card was second with 34.5 per cent.

Saskatoon-Grasswood will continue to be represented by Conservative Kevin Waugh, who was first elected in 2015.

Waugh had recorded 50.5 per cent of the vote with 190 of 195 polls reporting, with the NDP’s Kyla Kitzul next at 29.7 per cent.

At his campaign office, Waugh said supporters seemed angry that this election was called.

He had some worlds of encouragement for voters.

“Stick by your values, go strong and let’s see if we (the Conservatives) can turn the corner in Canada and get a majority next time,” he said.

Waugh believes they should look back and focus on what went right.

“Let’s not take the knives out and dissect what went wrong — let’s talk about what went right,” he said.