It’s more than 10 years since the federal NDP held any seats in Saskatchewan.
The party was shut out in the province in the 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011 elections.
This includes the northern seat of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River which the NDP has not held since 2000.
However, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, who was in Saskatchewan last week, says he is optimistic about the party’s chances in the province in the next federal election.
He says newly redrawn boundaries in Saskatchewan could see the party pull off a few victories in the province including in the north.
“In the province, we would get well over 35 per cent of the vote and we would end up with no seats,” he says. “So, the riding changes will make sure that areas where we have a concentration of votes we’ll be able to be put into the win column for the NDP and we’re quite satisfied that the commission did a very good job of understanding the unfairness of the former boundaries.”
Mulcair also says people have tired of the Harper government’s arrogance and this includes Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River Conservative MP Rob Clarke.
“The type of arrogance we saw from Rob Clarke, you know when he said he didn’t want the riding boundaries changed because he didn’t want too many First Nations, I think that’s the type of thing people are fed up with.”
The Conservatives currently hold 13 of 14 seats in the province.
The lone Liberal seat is held by Regina-Wascana Liberal MP Ralph Goodale.
The next federal election is expected to be held in the fall of 2015.