Doyle Vermette and Buckley Belanger pictured in 2012. Photo courtesy Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, Facebook.
Northern Saskatchewan’s NDP candidates were two of the few NDP candidates to taste success in the provincial election on Monday night.
Despite some expectations for a tight election race between the NDP incumbent and an up-and-coming politician in the Cumberland constituency, Doyle Vermette won handily on Monday night.
Vermette spoke to MBC soon after multiple media agencies declared his win over Sask. Party candidate – and La Ronge mayor – Thomas Sierzycki.
“Honestly it’s very humbling,” Vermette said. “I want to put a big thank you to everyone who trusted me.”
This is Vermette’s third time winning the seat in north-eastern Saskatchewan, but he said he didn’t take anything for granted this time around.
Vermette is one of the few NDP candidates to taste success on Monday evening. The NDP took a few seats from the Saskatchewan Party, but more notable were losses like that of NDP leader Cam Broten in Saskatoon.
Vermette acknowledged his victory was bittersweet, saying the Sask. Party needs a strong opposition.
He says a Sask. Party majority needs to focus on all of its people, not just the province’s south.
“You can brag about and say all the numbers, you can talk about all the stuff that’s great for the province and we want the province to do well but every constituency is a part of the province and should be governed that way by government to take care all of the needs whether it’s healthcare, long-term care, roads, you name it, whatever. The government should govern all,” Vermette said.
Vermette garnered 3,337 votes while Sierzycki received 1,577. Liberal candidate George Morin had 347 votes and the Green Party’s Mick Lessard had 74.
Sierzycki says he tried to offer real solutions to northern issues in a way that the NDP couldn’t, during his 22 months of campaigning.
“Perhaps we didn’t do a good enough job of getting our message out in terms of why people should perhaps take a chance on a different party and a different candidate. As we know it’s been traditionally NDP,” he said.
La Ronge’s mayor may have not moved up into the provincial political ranks, but he’s still putting his full support behind the Sask Party.
“I think the province is blessed to have strong leadership in Brad Wall and a strong – not only my colleagues who were candidates but now MLAs – as well as many ministers. They’re going to have strong leadership in the province and the thing is and we’ve looked at the NDP numbers – even the leadership aspect of their party has been in trouble,” he said.
Sierzycki says it’s clear the NDP will have some rebuilding to do.
The NDP’s Buckley Belanger was elected to his sixth term in office in Athabasca.
He finished with almost three times the number of votes as his nearest rival, the Saskatchewan Party’s Phil Elliott.
Belanger says the NDP sweep across the north will send a powerful message to the Wall government.
“Your government has had over $100 billion to work with the last eight years in their budget,” he says. “And what do they invest in the north? Absolutely nothing. Our people are still travelling on piss poor highways — excuse my language — but that’s what they are travelling on. Dangerous highways. We have overcrowding in our homes.”
Belanger says First Nations, Metis and other groups in the province’s north are talking about getting organized to stop the extraction of resources without getting their fair share.