SASKATOON—Saskatoon Conservative candidate Kevin Waugh says his party is setting a simple and ambitious target for Saskatchewan come election day later this month: a clean sweep.

Waugh, who’s seeking re-election in Saskatoon-Grasswood, said palpable anger towards the Trudeau government, namely over energy policy and carbon pricing, could pave the way for a blue sweep in a province that already leans pretty heavily to the Conservatives.

And even though four of the province’s 14 seats weren’t won by the Conservatives in 2015, Waugh says the party’s major target remains the same — unseating veteran Liberal and current Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who has represented a Regina riding since 1993.

“Let’s face it: all eyes are on Goodale in this province. We all want to beat him,” he said in an interview at his campaign office in south Saskatoon.

“We have a chance to go for 14 for 14.”

While Goodale’s Regina-Wascana riding is the Tories’ major target in Waugh’s opinion, the race for the province’s expansive northern riding is the one he frames as the most interesting. Despite his partisan leanings, Waugh said all of the candidates from the three major parties in the riding are strong and the race will ultimately come down to turnout.

“It’s always one that’s decided by … who gets out who to vote,” he said of the race in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River.

Incumbent Georgina Jolibois, who won the riding for the NDP in a close three-way race in 2015, is seeking re-election, and will face off against Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson for the Liberals and former Meadow Lake mayor Gary Vidal for the Conservatives. Waugh says Cook-Searson is a “good Liberal candidate” but, unsurprisingly, saves his highest praise for Vidal, who he has campaigned with in the riding, which he notes is about the size of Germany.

“That’ll be an interesting (race) because you’ve got three candidates, three parties that want that riding really bad,” Waugh explained.

As for the two other ridings in the province won by rival parties four years ago, Waugh is far more bullish.

He said Sheri Benson, the NDP incumbent in Saskatoon West, is in “jeopardy” and thinks Regina Lewvan, which was also won by the NDP in 2015, will definitely come into the Conservative fold.

Jim Farney, an associate professor and head of the University of Regina’s politics and international studies, disagrees with Waugh’s assessment of Saskatoon West, arguing that Benson is “pretty safe.”

He said the Conservatives are favoured in Regina Lewvan, where the party is running former Saskatchewan Party MLA Warren Steinley, calling it “an interesting race,” but said that Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River is primarily an NDP-Liberal race.

However, Winter Fedyk, the Liberal candidate in Regina Lewvan, says the riding and the province’s capital city are far more progressive than it might appear on first blush. While Erin Weir won the riding in 2015 by only 132 votes over the Conservative candidate, the Liberals were a close third, only some 3,000 votes (or some 7.8 points) back from first place.

She believes that progressive voters in the riding will rally around the Liberals as the NDP continues to struggle in national polling, opening an opportunity to defeat the Conservatives.

“I think there’s gonna be a tipping point in the next couple of weeks where we’re folks start to realize that, especially those strategic voters…they’re going to need to make a choice. And I think they’re increasingly going to make the choice to come over to the Liberal Party, and make me work for them hard over the next four years to represent their interests,” she said in an interview at her downtown Regina campaign office.

Fedyk, in a claim echoed by Waugh, said the NDP has been hurt in the riding by barring Weir from running, after a third-party investigation launched by the party upheld three allegations of harassment and one accusation of sexual harassment against him. The probe found that Weir failed to read “non-verbal cues in social settings,” though when he was told his advances were unwanted, “he stopped.”

Both Fedyk and Waugh say the reaction is partly due to Weir’s personal popularity and criticism about the national party overriding the decision of the local riding association that wanted him to run again for the party.

Even though he gives the advantage to Steinley, Franey called Fedyk a “strong candidate,” though he wasn’t terribly familiar with the new NDP candidate Jigar Patel, a small business owner. Patel was unavailable for an interview last week.

He also noted that the province’s major cities of Regina and Saskatoon are far more diverse and liberal than the rest of the province.

READ MORE: Tories look to recover lost ground in Saskatchewan

In terms of her own path towards politics, Fedyk threw her hat in the ring for the Liberals after a long career in the civil service, which began with the federal government before she joined, most recently, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services. For a lifelong civil servant, she said it was the Liberals’ policy platform that convinced her to run for the party.

Asked about the major issues at the doorstops, Fedyk cited climate change and other Liberal standards, like the Canada Child Benefit payment and “middle-class tax cuts.” She also argued that despite criticism from the Conservatives, voters in the riding are supportive and understanding of the Trudeau government’s impact assessment legislation and broader push to “balance” support for the energy sector and improved environmental protection.

“So certainly, I hear a lot about the need to balance the economy with the environment. And people are, you know, think that the Liberals have a good plan for that,” she said.

Affordability was another big issue that voters in the riding are bringing up, she said, arguing that “people really like some of the policies that the Liberal government has enacted over the last four years,” and are pleased with the party’s pharmacare pledge.

Unsurprising given their partisan differences, Waugh says voters are telling him something different: the Liberals’ carbon tax is jacking up living costs and their new assessment rules, as well as a ban on oil tankers on B.C.’s North Coast, have stalled the western oil and gas industry.

“A Liberal majority would not be good out here. Bills C-69 and 48 have essentially shut down Western Canada,” he said, referring to the formal names of the pieces of legislation enacting the assessment rules and enshrining in law the moratorium on tanker traffic.

Waugh also said voters are greeting him on the doorsteps with power bills, complaining about soaring prices, pointing out for specific criticism the charging of GST on top of the carbon tax.

Benson says she’s also hearing complaints about the lack of affordability as she knocks door in her neighbouring Saskatoon riding, though the focus is more so on rising housing costs and dental and drug expenses.

But she also worries that the concerns of voters aren’t being reflected in reporting by national media, resulting in voters feeling a bit disengaged with the campaign so far.

“It sort of feels like people are disengaged. That would be different from 2015. They don’t feel they are hearing from their local MP. We have less local coverage. People are having a hard time (getting local coverage),” she said in a phone interview.

“People know me and they know my work. It’s very positive at the doorsteps (but) it feels more low key. People aren’t super engaged.”

She said the Liberal government’s decision to drop its electoral reform pledge that it campaigned on in 2015 helped to contribute to the lack of enthusiasm in voters, especially among younger voters and Indigenous peoples.

“It’s not a western alienation thing like the Conservatives (want to make it out be). People are disappointed,” she explained.

Asked about the effect of newish NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on the party’s popularity in the province, Benson noted that Singh has visited Saskatchewan twice recently, though acknowledged that “he’s still new to a lot of folks.”

However, she said many voters in the riding don’t particularly like Liberal leader Justin Trudeau or Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, even though the latter represents a riding in Regina.

Regardless of national or even provincial polling numbers, the race in Saskatoon West, Benson said, is between the NDP and Conservatives, despite a relatively strong showing by the Liberals in 2015 (the party only recently nominated a candidate in the riding for this year’s election).

“The Liberal vote in my riding appears to have gone away,” she argued.

According to Mainstreet Research’s daily tracking poll for iPolitics, the Conservatives have been comfortably leading in Manitoba and Saskatchewan throughout the campaign, with the Liberals and NDP in a close fight for second with both parties polling in the high-teens.

READ MORE: Liberals have room to breathe in latest national poll, while NDP tumble to fourth

As for Scheer, his face adorns several campaign signs of local Conservative candidates across the province, including several in Regina touting Steinley, who organized Scheer’s 2017 Conservative leadership campaign in Saskatchewan.

Waugh says this was a decision by the entire Saskatchewan Conservative caucus to help bolster Scheer’s presence in the province as he would be visiting the province rather infrequently because of the demands of the national campaign. Not all candidates, he said, are putting out signs with pictures of themselves and Scheer because of space constraints, namely in more dense urban ridings.

Voters in the province, according to Waugh, are very proud of Scheer’s national profile and would like to see another Saskatchewan prime minister, with many referencing late Progressive Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker, who of course represented the province in Ottawa for decades.

However, Fedyk argued that voters in her Regina riding aren’t “big fans” of Scheer and particularly don’t like his socially conservative leanings.

Franey, the professor, said Scheer is not a politician that draws strong enthusiasm in the province and isn’t seen as much of a resonant Saskatchewan champion like popular former premier Brad Wall.

“Scheer is seen very much as a federal politician. He’s not an embodiment of the province in the way Brad Wall is,” he explained.

Follow @Marco_Vigliotti