Singing the Blues: The Conservatives in Saskatchewan.

Michael Payne is head of the reasearch and publications program,
Historic Sites and Archives Service, Alberta Community Development, and
co-author of A Narrative History of Fort Dunvegan.

Conservatives initially campaigned in Saskatchewan under Frederick Haultain as members of the Provincial Rights Party, losing every provincial election until 1929. That year, the Conservatives finally succeeded in leading a coalition of supporters to power, ousting the Liberals. Their timing could not have been worse. The ensuing economic depression and the perceived failures of the federal Conservative government meant a swift return to opposition in 1934.

In the 1930s, the rise of the Social Credit Party and Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) compounded the Conservatives’ political problems. By the time the Saskatchewan CCF formed its first government in 1944, the now-renamed Progressive Conservatives had been reduced to a poor third-party status. The party languished in the political wilderness, despite a brief flurry of interest raised by John Diefenbaker’s successes at the federal level, until the mid-1970s. Only the collapse of Ross Thatcher’s Liberals gave the Progressive Conservatives a chance to become the political alternative to the now-renamed New Democratic Party. In 1982 Grant Devine defeated the New Democrats and formed the second Conservative government in Saskatchewan’s history. Devine won re-election—barely—in 1986 before losing the 1991 election in a spectacular fall from grace. Subsequent scandals further undermined the party, and in 1997 four of five of the party’s MLAs joined with disaffected Liberals to form the Saskatchewan Party.

In 2007 the Saskatchewan Party swept the New Democrats from office. As Spencer notes, time will tell if this foretells a new, stable, two-party system composed of a left of centre New Democratic Party and a right of centre Saskatchewan Party.

Spencer offers real insight into the political leaders and considerations that shaped the contribution of Saskatchewan Conservatives to this complex political history. This is very much an insider’s look at the story. It is written by someone who spent more than four decades as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan. It is, however, a balanced and reasonably non-partisan account of Saskatchewan politics and represents an engaging combination of political history and personal memoir.