The 2021 federal election didn’t bring much change on the national results, and it didn’t result in a change in the representation for Souris-Moose Mountain, either.
But based on the results for election night, local voters are all right with the lack of change locally.
Robert Kitchen of the Conservative Party was re-elected as the riding’s member of Parliament during Monday night’s federal election, and in landslide fashion.
With 215 of the 216 polling stations reporting as of Tuesday, Kitchen, who has been this riding’s MP since 2015, had 29,219 of the 37,418 votes cast, or 76.4 per cent of the popular vote.
Diane Neufeld of the People’s Party of Canada was second with 3,509 votes, or 9.2 per cent. Hannah Duerr with the New Democratic Party was third with 2,980 votes (7.8 per cent), Javin Ames-Sinclair of the Liberal Party was fourth with 1,567 votes (4.1 per cent) and Greg Douglas of the Maverick Party was fifth with 961 votes (2.5 per cent).
The voter turnout in Souris-Moose Mountain was 74.3 per cent, much higher than the national voter turnout of 58.6 per cent.
Kitchen grabbed a lopsided lead right off the hop as he had 84 per cent of the votes at the first polling station to report.
“It’s been a different election. This election was shorter in time frame than they have been in the past, but we said what we were going to do, which was to get out and be out and about the riding, and we put on 8,000-plus kilometres to get that done, to be in every community at least once.”
Federally, the Liberals returned to power with another minority government, with 158 of the 338 seats in Parliament. A party would need 170 to form a majority. The Conservatives won 119 to become the Official Opposition. The Bloc Quebecois won 34, the New Democratic Party 25 and the Green Party two.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau triggered the election on Aug. 22 amid accusations he was doing it to secure a majority government.
“We saw some positive things. We were up five seats in the Maritimes, which was something we were looking for,” said Kitchen.
During his travels throughout the vast constituency, people were asking him why the election was happening.
“He (Trudeau) called the election for his own vanity, and ultimately Canadians have spoken on it, and we need to make sure we do the right steps, and depending what position we’ll be in, how we’ll hold him accountable as we move forward.”
People in Souris-Moose Mountain told him Trudeau has to go. They also said they need to get the economy going, and have people back to work.
“As I drove around the riding, I had lots of people saying to me they can’t get people to work. It’s not just in tourism. It’s in the oilfield. It’s in potash. It’s in farming … they’re all asking for people, and they can’t get people to work, and that makes no sense when we have such a high unemployment rate.”
Kitchen said he would continue to push hard for the energy sector, including carbon capture and storage.
He is pleased that Erin O’Toole will remain the leader of the Conservatives, calling O’Toole a great leader.
“People need to get to know him, and unfortunately for Erin … he became the leader when the pandemic was on,” said Kitchen, who backed O’Toole in both of O’Toole’s Tory leadership bids. “Everything was by Zoom, and Canadians didn’t actually get the chance to see who he really is.”
Kitchen said he would like to get O’Toole into this riding so that he can see the different industries in Souris-Moose Mountain, and possibly attend the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn.
If a mistake is made, Kitchen said O’Toole would take responsibility.
“We have a prime minister who doesn’t do that. Doesn’t take responsibility. He blames somebody else. The … scandals are someone else’s fault,” said Kitchen.
Campaigning during a pandemic was a unique experience. He recalled his first election in 2015 spanned 2 1/2 months. The 2019 campaign was more conventional. This time, though, he was concerned they would have to do everything by Zoom.
“How do we get out and meet with people? I thanked so many people. I wanted to hear from the constituents, and they were very respectful. If they wanted me to wear a mask, I’d wear a mask. If they wanted me to keep distance I kept distance. It was a chance to hear from them.”
Kitchen was able to get out to some events in the constituency during the past five weeks.
In his victory speech, Kitchen thanked all those who had been part of his team, and helped him win the riding for a third time.
He believes Souris-Moose Mountain has a lot to offer.
“We are forward-thinking Canadians and we are caring Canadians, and we care about this country and we need to continue that,” he said.
