MOOSE JAW — Moose Jaw’s Conservative member of Parliament is reflecting on his recent election win and believes there are lessons he can learn from this campaign that he can apply in the future.
The former mayor of Moose Jaw recently spoke about his victory and offered other thoughts about the process.
Hard work pays off
Tolmie said he was “very, very happy” being re-elected since it validated the hard work and effort he and his team dedicated during the past four years. This included travelling around the riding — which is bigger than Switzerland — and visiting the more than 65 communities, something he also did during the 28-day election.
“… it’s a lot of territory for one person to cover. But that comes with the job and we’re up to the task,” he said.
During the 2021 federal election, Tolmie received roughly 23,000 votes and 61 per cent of the vote share, but those numbers increased by roughly 10,000 and 10 per cent, respectively, this year.
He believes several factors led to these increases, including having an excellent team, displaying a work ethic in Ottawa and during the campaign, having a popular party leader in Pierre Poilievre, and gaining more voters after Elections Canada enlarged the constituency boundaries.
“So there was a motivation for change. … people were motivated to vote,” Tolmie added.
Election differences
The election process for the second-term MP was significantly different this time compared to 2021. He noted that four years ago, the Liberals called an election a week after he won the Conservative nomination and his team was attempting to finish that process.
Furthermore, he didn’t have election signs in place immediately, prompting some voters to suggest he was being arrogant and “just mailing it in,” which he stressed was not the case since they didn’t have the money to buy signs.
“This time, we were prepared, and I think we were the first ones up and had the most signs up. So that was one factor,” Tolmie said.
Meanwhile, he and his team planned to debrief soon to review how the process went, discuss the lessons learned and any related successes and prepare for an election anytime in the next 18 to 48 months.
Lessons and takeaways
One successful takeaway for Tolmie was he and his team met with many small groups in communities in the riding, while they also put into place leaders who could focus on certain communities.
However, one lesson he’s learned for next time is to make a list of items to take, such as re-election stickers, since he was forced to drive to some northern communities to provide those. Furthermore, he’ll attempt to eat fewer doughnuts, while he’ll visit rural communities early and finish in Moose Jaw since it has the largest population.
Tolmie did enjoy meeting people during the campaign, including an 18-year-old girl who was voting for the first time since she was concerned about her future and a 55-year-old woman who had never voted before but was motivated for change.
Meanwhile, he pointed out that he’s away from home 26 weeks a year, which means his two children must make sacrifices so he can be in Ottawa to help create a better future for them and Canadians.
“So as a family, we’ve agreed that this sacrifice is worth it in order to help others in their lives. And that gives me fuel for (the) fire to continue on this fight and to bring positive change … ,” Tolmie said.
The party’s future
Nationally, Tolmie said he was surprised by the collapse of the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois doing worse than expected. Also, he was pleased with the Conservative Party acquiring more votes and seats. However, it will have to review what worked, what didn’t and what it must do to form government.
“This isn’t a competition between two parties to win. This is putting out a platform to govern and bring forward a better plan for Canada,” he said. “And dollars to doughnuts, the Conservative platform is the best platform out there.”
Asked if the party needs to shift more to the centre, Tolmie said his party’s platform was “very, very middle of the road” and appealed to many people. However, he believes the problem is that many people are traditional voters who vote just like their parents and grandparents did — brand loyalty, basically.
However, many people look at the Conservative’s platform and say it makes sense, especially after having “just dealt with 10 years of nonsensical policy,” especially with the carbon tax, he continued. Even though Prime Minister Mark Carney reduced the tax to zero, he still argued on the campaign trail that a similar tax is required, especially for industrial companies.
Asked if the Conservative leader needs to be fired, Tolmie said Poilievre is a popular person, brings many skills to the table and has a good vision for Canada. However, the party will go through the proper review processes before making any decisions about anyone’s future.
Tolmie added that he appreciated the four other candidates who ran in the Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan constituency since they bravely stood up for their values, while he was grateful that voters elected him again as their voice in Ottawa.
