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It's just seconds before 11 o'clock on election night. I can hear a countdown in my ear piece from associate director Gina Paron. "Say goodnight in 10 seconds.....nine, eight, seven.... By the one second mark, I am required to say goodnight and conclude an incredibly exciting and tense-filled three hours of a live election broadcast. two...one..."Good night!." I say. Whew. We are now off the air. The show was a success. I turn to my colleague David Common — the always amiable, talented and hard-working CBC-News national reporter who co-hosted our election show. "Now there's a way to lose 18 pounds," he says. We laughed. A little comic relief was just what the doctor ordered after a broadcast like that. People in Saskatchewan and hundreds of thousands of Canadians who watched us across the country on CBC Newsworld had just witnessed a race that, for much of the night, was too close to call. That's a rarity in Canadian politics. Most elections are called within a half hour after the polls close. It took nearly two hours before we could confidently declare an NDP majority government. Making the 'Call,' as we say in the business, doesn't happen on a hunch. We need to look at votes from all of the regions in the province
before we can confidently say what will happen. Fifteen minutes into our broadcast and the NDP jump to a 14-seat
lead. It looks like a romp for the incumbents. "The NDP has jumped into an early lead," I say excitedly.
"Who would have thought this would be the case." In politics as in sports, however, one should never jump to conclusions
too early. Common quickly put things into perspective. "Let's keep in mind Costa, only 341 votes have been counted
so far." "That's right David," I responded thinking to myself,
'calm down Costa...this thing ain't over yet!'. "More than 400,000 votes are expected to be cast tonight," I add. Immediately we turn to the first result from Rosetown-Elrose
where Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson is running. Wouldn't you know it? He's trailing to a university student after
one poll "Obviously this is an early result," pipes in Common. In other words, Common says, no need to get excited here. Finally, the Saskatchewan Party appears on the board and the fight was on. The NDP is still gaining. Fifteen to three, seventeen to five, eighteen to ten...At one point it was 33-25 for the NDP. The mood at NDP headquarters is bouyant. "Excitement and optimism at NDP headquarters," I say. At that point I receive a not-so-subtle reminder from the producer of our election broadcast Mark Davy. He was in another part of the CBC building, in the control room,
with others watching the numbers come in. "Everyone hold on here," he yells to the behind the
scenes crew, "I've got something important to say to Costa." "Costa, listen up. This race isn't over yet!" he firmly
states in my earpiece. "We still have a race on!" He is right. It's too easy at times to get caught up in the heat of the moment. As the results pour in I take every opportunity to swallow more of my bottled water. I go through three bottles of water that night. The NDP's lead narrows. The election is to be decided in either Saskatoon Meewasin or Saskatchewan Rivers. The NDP takes both constituencies and it has its majority by the slimmest of margins. But one of the most memorable moments in the evening is still to come. Let's face it, it's usually more interesting hearing from the loser than the winner. Elwin Hermanson agrees to be interviewed from Rosetown. Mr. Hermanson pauses for a second. "Well, we've not considered that at all.."begins Hermanson. I jump in. "Not WE sir. YOU sir. Personally. Forget the
we. Let's talk about Elwin here. What's your gut feeling?" "I've not given any consideration until I meet with my caucus and leaders of the party. We'll see what decisions that I have to make and the party has to make to accomplish the goal of forming a government," Hermanson says. That's as personal as he gets with us. Who can blame him. Any
leader who loses an election faces an uncertain future. What is certain is this election night won't be forgotten for
a long time.
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