Saskatchewan and British Columbia have already seen NDP leader Jack Layton and Conservative leader Stephen Harper twice so far in this election campaign and for good reason. The NDP, shut out in Saskatchewan in 2004 despite receiving roughly the same number of votes overall in that province as it did prior to 2004, thinks it can win some seats back in that province. (The Conservatives made almost a clean sweep of Saskatchewan, winning 13 of 14 seats there. Finance Minister Ralph Goodale is the only non-Conservative MP from that province right now.) Meanwhile in B.C., the NDP placed a close second in a handful of ridings and party strategists are hopeful of stealing a few.
In many of those close ridings in both B.C. and Saskatchewan, it was a Conservative candidate who narrowly edged out the NDP candidate. Here's a quick table of the ridings where the NDP candidate finished second in 2004 by less than a 1,000 votes.
| Riding | Prov. | Winner | Party | Winner's Vote pct. | Votes by which the NDP lost |
| Western Arctic | NW | Ethel Blondin-Andrew | LIB | 39.5 | 53 |
| New Westminster-Coquitlam | BC | Paul Forseth | CON | 32.9 | 113 |
| Palliser | SK | Dave Batters | CON | 35.9 | 124 |
| Saskatoon-Humboldt | SK | Brad Trost | CON | 26.8 | 417 |
| Oshawa | ON | Colin Carrie | CON | 33.2 | 463 |
| Vancouver Island North | BC | John Duncan | CON | 35.4 | 483 |
| British Columbia Southern Interior | BC | Jim Gouk | CON | 36.6 | 680 |
| Trinity-Spadina | ON | Tony Ianno | LIB | 43.6 | 805 |
| Regina Qu'Appelle | SK | Andrew Scheer | CON | 35.8 | 861 |
| Hamilton East-Stoney Creek | ON | Tony Valeri | LIB | 37.7 | 927 |
| Kenora | ON | Roger Valley | LIB | 36.2 | 986 |
| Hamilton Mountain | ON | Beth Phinney | LIB | 34.8 | 996 |