By Patrick Book

Goodale looks to future of Liberals after party’s crushing election defeat

May 4, 2011 | 6:51 AM

Saskatchewan's last remaining Liberal insists his party has a lot of thinking to do after losing more than 40 seats in Monday night's election.

Ralph Goodale is standing by his party's leader and its platform despite, a decisive defeat that also saw party leader Michael Ignatieff lose his own seat in Ontario. He officially resigned Tuesday morning.

Goodale insists the Liberals simply weren't able to respond effectively to two years of vicious attack ads by the Conservative Party.

“That created an atmosphere in which it was very difficult to introduce the leader and get a thorough policy message out,” Goodale told reporters after making a speech to supporters at his Regina campaign office Monday night. He insisted the platform the party pushed during the campaign was solid because it was formed on cues from people across Canada and that likely won't change much moving forward.

But he concedes a majority mandate for the Tories means the party will have several years to work towards refreshing itself and reconnecting with Canadians.

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“(We have to) go to work like never before to restore the party's position. We need to make sure that this experience is temporary…Not demand, not take for granted, not expect, but earn the loyalty and allegiance once again. That's going to take a lot of work.”

He explains the Liberals will take some time to analyze the election's outcome to ensure it fully understands what the vote really means. That process will likely begin after the party chooses a new leader.

Goodale laughed off a question Monday night when a reporter asked if he is considering putting his hat in the ring for leadership.

“I'm not going there tonight,” he insisted.

Explaining further Tuesday in a telephone interview, Goodale said he will be calling a caucus meeting next week at the behest of Ignatieff. Caucus members will discuss what will happen moving forward.

“There's no script for this kind of thing,” he admitted.

As for the way Ignatieff handled his resignation, Goodale was impressed.

“Typically classy and professional, not pointing fingers of blame, not crying over spilled milk.” said Goodale adding that it was sad to see Ignatieff resign.

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