Editing Saskatchewan Progress Party (section)

=== Early history (1905–1944) ===

==== Political dominance (1905–1929) ====
The Liberal Party dominated Saskatchewan politics from the province's earliest days. Saskatchewan entered Confederation in September 1905 alongside neighbouring [[Alberta]]. Both provinces were carved out of the [[Northwest Territories]]; territorial premier [[Frederick Haultain]] had advocated for the creation of one large western province called [[Province of Buffalo|Buffalo]], but [[Wilfrid Laurier]]'s federal [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] government opted to create two provinces instead, wary of the potential strength of a province the size of Buffalo.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Eneas |first=Bryan |date=2019-09-20 |title=Disenfranchisement and disappointment: Idea of western Canadian separation has deep roots in Prairies |work=[[CBC News]] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-western-alienation-1.5289839 |url-status=live |access-date=2023-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922161452/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-western-alienation-1.5289839 |archive-date=2019-09-22}}</ref> Haultain responded by seeking the premiership of Saskatchewan under the banner of his [[Provincial Rights Party]], but Saskatchewan voters opted in [[1905 Saskatchewan general election|1905]] for the provincial Liberal Party under the leadership of [[Walter Scott (Canadian politician)|Walter Scott]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waiser |first=Bill |url=https://archive.org/details/saskatchewannewh0000wais |title=Saskatchewan: A New History |publisher=Fifth House |year=2005 |isbn=9781894856492 |location=Calgary |pages=83-84 |language=en-CA |url-access=registration}}</ref> This marked the beginning of a long Liberal dynasty in the new Prairie province—the party provided six of the province's first seven [[List of premiers of Saskatchewan|premiers]].

With the Liberals a strong force at the federal level, Saskatchewan voters appear to have preferred a provincial government that had influence at the national level, and there was crossover with Liberal premiers like [[Charles Dunning]] and [[James Garfield Gardiner|Jimmy Gardiner]] moving on to key federal cabinet positions.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-11-07 |title=A list of Saskatchewan premiers |work=[[Global News]] |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/174964/a-list-of-saskatchewan-premiers/ |url-status=live |access-date=2023-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107022207/https://globalnews.ca/news/174964/a-list-of-saskatchewan-premiers/ |archive-date=2023-11-07}}</ref> As a consequence, the provincial Liberals presided over the province at a time of tremendous growth as a rapidly expanding population driven by immigration—the province became the third most populous in the country after Ontario and Quebec—established a large agricultural economy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haverstock |first=Lynda |url=https://archive.org/details/saskatchewanpoli0000unse |title=Saskatchewan Politics: Into the Twenty-First Century |publisher=Canadian Plains Research Centre |year=2001 |isbn=0-88977-131-6 |editor-last=Leeson |editor-first=Howard A. |location=Regina |pages=201 |language=en-CA |chapter=The Saskatchewan Liberal Party |url-access=registration}}</ref>

One of the keys to Liberal success was their close relationship with immigrant communities and especially with the largest farmers' lobby in the province, the [[Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Conway |first=John F. |url=https://archive.org/details/riseofnewwesthis0000conw |title=The Rise of the New West: The History of a Region in Confederation |publisher=James Lorimer & Co |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4594-0624-7 |edition=4th |location=Toronto |pages=113 |language=en-CA |url-access=registration}}</ref> While United Farmer governments took power in both Alberta and [[Manitoba]] during the 1920s, and while the agrarian [[Progressive Party of Canada|Progressive Party]] performed well in Saskatchewan at the federal level, the direct entry of farmers into provincial politics was fended off for longer in Saskatchewan by Liberal leadership attuned to farmers' organizations. Early Liberal premiers were even known to invite key agrarian organizers to the cabinet table.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Waiser |title=Saskatchewan |pages=252}}</ref>

The Liberals also stood against a rising tide of [[Nativist movement|nativist]] sentiment in the province in the 1920s. While the [[Ku Klux Klan in Canada|Ku Klux Klan]] gained a foothold in the province—the organization had 25,000 members in Saskatchewan by 1929—and fomented discriminatory attitudes towards French, Catholic, and Eastern European settlers, Premier Gardiner defended his government's immigration policies and called the Klan both a foreign entity and a tool of the provincial [[Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan|Conservative Party]].<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kyba |first=Patrick |title=Ku Klux Klan |url=http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/ku_klux_klan.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119170545/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/ku_klux_klan.html |archive-date=2016-01-19 |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan}}</ref> The Conservatives were reported to have aided Klan organization by supplying it with membership lists, and the party itself developed a nativist platform in the late 1920s, promising to protect British, Anglo-Saxon values.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Conway |title=Rise of the New West |pages=116}}</ref> The Liberals were also heavily criticized for years of blatant [[patronage]], which helped to move farmers closer to greater political participation and, more immediately, solidified a strong anti-Liberal bloc in the province. In the [[1929 Saskatchewan general election|1929 election]], although the Liberals managed to win the most seats with 28, they fell short of a majority for the first time. They proved unable to gain the confidence of the [[Saskatchewan Legislature|Legislature]], resulting in a coalition government under Conservative premier [[James T.M. Anderson]]—his party won 24 seats, and gained the support of the handful of [[Progressive Party of Saskatchewan|Progressive]] and Independent members to form a [[Coalition government|coalition]] that they termed the "Co-operative" government.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:Jimmy Gardiner.jpg|thumb|Jimmy Gardiner served two stints as Premier.]]

==== Opposition and return to power (1929–1944) ====
Anderson's government took power at the outset of the [[Great Depression in Canada|Great Depression]], which proved to be especially severe for the Prairie provinces and which provided the Liberals with ample opportunity to criticize the government's inability to contend with the crisis. In 1932, Anderson even invited Gardiner's Liberals into his coalition, but Gardiner refused.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waiser |title=Saskatchewan |pages=306}}</ref> At the same time, a new political party was gaining momentum in the province. In 1932, farmers with [[United Farmers of Canada]] voted to formally enter politics, and after a merger with the Independent Labour Party did so under the banner of [[Farmer-Labour Group|Farmer-Labour]]; the new party became a founding member of the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] (CCF) that same year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warnock |first=John W. |url=https://archive.org/details/saskatchewanroot0000warn |title=Saskatchewan: The Roots of Discontent and Protest |publisher=Black Rose Books |year=2004 |isbn=1-55164-244-1 |location=Montreal |pages=340-341 |language=en-CA |url-access=registration}}</ref> The party was explicitly socialist, rapidly changing the dynamics of provincial politics.

Gardiner and the Liberals were able to return to power in [[1934 Saskatchewan general election|1934]]; the Conservatives failed to return a single member, and Farmer-Labour became the Official Opposition with five members to the Liberals' fifty. After the election, Farmer-Labour officially adopted the CCF party name. Almost immediately, Gardiner had to contend with the passage through Saskatchewan of the [[On-to-Ottawa Trek]], a 1935 convoy meant to take the concerns of unemployed workers directly to the federal government. Prime Minister [[R.B. Bennett]] declared that the trekkers would not proceed past [[Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina]], which acted as the headquarters to the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]]. Gardiner protested, predicting a riot.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waiser |first=Bill |url=https://archive.org/details/allhellcantstopu0000wais |title=All Hell Can't Stop Us: The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot |publisher=Fifth House |year=2003 |isbn=1-894004-88-4 |location=Calgary |pages=81 |language=en-CA |url-access=registration}}</ref> He was proven correct on July 1 1935, when the Regina Riot led to two deaths and hundreds of injuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waiser |title=All Hell Can't Stop Us |pages=206-212}}</ref>

The Liberals held on to their majority in the [[1938 Saskatchewan general election|1938 election]], but they lost twelve seats as the Depression continued and the CCF gained further momentum. Although the [[Second World War]] began to relieve Depression conditions, by 1944 the CCF, under new leader [[Tommy Douglas]], appeared poised to take power.