Kram keeps Goodale's old riding blue for a second time

After managing to flip Regina— Wascana from red to blue in the last election, Michael Kram was eager to prove that result had not just been a fluke.

As the results rolled in Monday night naming him the victor, Kram declared the riding was now firmly in the Conservatives' grasp, despite having been a Liberal stronghold under Ralph Goodale for 26 years until his 2019 defeat.

THE RESULTS

Kram took an early lead and held it throughout the night, taking 49.7 per cent of the votes. With just one poll left to report by Tuesday afternoon, Kram had accumulated 16,152 votes. The riding 's 3,383 issued mail-in ballots had also not yet been counted.

Not only did Kram secure a second blue victory, he also appeared to slightly grow his lead over his second-place Liberal opponent. He was beating out Liberal candidate Sean Mceachern by nearly 1,000 votes more than he had beaten Goodale in 2019 as of Tuesday afternoon.

Mceachern took second place with 8,498 votes. The NDP'S Erin Hidlebaugh had 6,047 votes, the PPC'S Mario Milanovski received 1,212 votes and the Greens' Victor Lau had 562 votes.

The riding is home to 60,858 registered voters and a little more than 53 per cent — or 32,471 people — turned out to cast their ballot, according to Elections Canada data. This number does not include those who registered on election day.

REACTION FROM CANDIDATES

Kram called the national win for the Liberals “unfortunate,” especially since the outcome brought little change to Parliament.

“What was the point of this election? If the point was to get Justin Trudeau his majority, well that didn't work out the way Justin Trudeau had planned it ... If the purpose of this election was to waste five weeks of our lives and to make us all $600 million poorer, than I would have to say mission accomplished,” he said.

Mceachern told reporters Monday night that he was on the doorsteps telling residents if they wanted a Saskatchewan voice in what was likely to be another Liberal government, they needed to vote Liberal locally.

“Wascana is the riding in Saskatchewan accustomed to being in that position of having someone who would have that strong voice. That's what we were working towards. Unfortunately, that didn't work out for us tonight,” he said.