News Analysis
Despite suggestions that votes cast in Western Canada don’t influence the result of general elections, an analysis of results from past elections challenges this notion.
The perception about the irrelevance of Western votes may have become popularized by the statement “Screw the west, we’ll take the rest” by Liberal political organizer Keith Davey in the 1980 federal election. It turned out to be a winning strategy for the Pierre Trudeau Liberals, who prevailed with a majority win against the Progressive Conservatives led by Alberta MP Joe Clark.
This idea may have gained further acceptance when the Reform Party won 52 seats in 1993 under the slogan, “The West wants in.” Reform won one seat east of Manitoba and the Bloc Québécois won 54 in Quebec. The Bloc became the opposition to a majority Liberal government with minimal Western support….