What does Sask.'s political history tell us about the growing popularity of the People's Party of Canada?

Maxime Bernier's People's Party of Canada may have failed to win any seats in Monday's federal election, but it has gained supporters and votes throughout the election, including here in Saskatchewan. 

According to data from Elections Canada, the PPC garnered 1.8 per cent of the vote in Saskatchewan during the 2019 federal election — the first election for the relatively new right-wing party.

The PPC's total percentage of the Saskatchewan vote for the 2021 federal election is not yet known, due to mail-in ballots that are still being counted and those who registered to vote on the day of the election.

However, Elections Canada says the PPC got 3.8 per cent of the vote in Regina-Lewvan, 3.7 per cent in Regina-Wascana, 6.4 per cent in Saskatoon West, and 4.9 per cent in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River. Those four ridings were the province's most hotly contested on Monday.

Those numbers show that the PPC came nowhere close to gaining a federal seat in Saskatchewan, or even threatening to split the conservative vote. 

But the party's growing popularity in the Prairie province is evident not only from the purple signs scattered across lawns, but Bernier's decision to host the PPC rally in Saskatoon on the night of the federal election, rather than in Beauce, the Quebec riding where he ran.

"I thought it was quite significant that he's from Quebec and he was running in a riding in Quebec. But yet he wound up having the rally last night in Saskatchewan," said Howard Leeson, professor emeritus at the University of Regina's department of politics and international studies.