Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan

The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan (prior to 1942 known as the Conservative Party of Saskatchewan) ran in its first election in 1912, seven years after the province of Saskatchewan was formed. The party emerged out of the Provincial Rights Party after the retirement of its leader, Frederick W. A. G. Haultain.

Their best performance in the first half of the twentieth century was in 1929 when they received 36% of the vote and 24 out of 63 seats. Despite having fewer seats than the Liberals, the Conservatives were able to form a coalition government with Progressives and independents. Conservative leader James T.M. Anderson became Premier.

The Tories were suspected of being in league with the Ku Klux Klan, which was a strong force in the province at the time and railed against Catholics and French-Canadians. The Anderson government introduced amendments to the Schools Act banning French as a language of instruction, as well as the display of religious symbols in Catholic schools. Due largely to the controversy over the government's School Act, as well as the government's inability to deal with the Great Depression dust bowl which wiped out the province's agrarian economy, the Co-operative government, as it was called, was defeated in the 1934 election. The Conservative Party was completely wiped out. A contributing factor to the party's showing was the unpopularity of the federal Conservative government of R.B. Bennett.

With the rise of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, politics in the province became polarized between the Liberals and the CCF (which became the NDP in 1961). The Conservatives were frozen out of the provincial legislature for decades.

The provincial Conservative party did not elect another MLA until thirty years later when it won a single seat in 1964. It lost that foothold three years later.

The Tories returned to the legislature in the 1975 election when the Liberal government of Ross Thatcher collapsed. The Progressive Conservatives won 7 seats to the Liberals' 15 and the NDP's 39.

In 1978, the Liberals were wiped out and the Tories became the Official Opposition with 17 seats to the governing NDP's 44.

In 1982, the Progressive Conservatives under Grant Devine formed a majority government for the first time. They were re-elected in 1987, but defeated in 1991 due to unsuccessful economic policies which generated large deficits as well as a growing corruption scandal.

In the years following their defeat, 14 Conservative members of the legislature and two caucus workers were convicted of fraud and breach of trust for illegally diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from government allowances in a phoney expense-claim scam. The party was destroyed by this scandal, winning only five seats in the 1995 election, behind both the NDP and the Liberals.

Most former members and supporters joined the Saskatchewan Party in 1997, although some continue to keep the party barely alive, running candidates in each provincial election to ensure that the party remains registered.

In the September 19, 1999 election, the party nominated 14 candidates, who collected 1,609 votes, 0.4% of the provincial total. In the November 5, 2003 provincial election, the party nominated 11 candidates, who received a total of 665 votes, which was 0.16% of the provincial total.

See also: List of Canadian political parties