Editing Saskatchewan Progress Party (section)

==== Thatcher government (1964–1971) ====
With the province divided over the bitter medicare debate, Thatcher was able to lead the Liberals back to a majority government in the [[1964 Saskatchewan general election|1964 election]], although the popular vote was a virtual tie. Thatcher—who had begun his own career as a member of the CCF—promised to open Saskatchewan for business and to dramatically scale back the government's involvement in the economy. His biggest success came in the potash sector; while the industry got off the ground under the CCF, it expanded rapidly in the latter half of the 1960s, so much so that Thatcher ultimately negotiated a minimum price and production cap with American producers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waiser |title=Saskatchewan |pages=401}}</ref> Although Thatcher had opposed the implementation of medicare, his government proved unable to reverse it with the program being rolled out across the country; Thatcher's government did, however, controversially introduce limited user fees for medical services.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Quiring |first=Brett |title=Thatcher, Wilbur Ross |url=http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/thatcher_wilbert_ross_1917-71.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706195833/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/thatcher_wilbert_ross_1917-71.html |archive-date=2017-07-06 |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan}}</ref>

Thatcher focused on downsizing the civil service, which was greatly expanded by the CCF. During the Thatcher years, many veteran Saskatchewan civil servants found themselves migrating to other provinces or to Lester Pearson's federal government—which focused largely on expanding the federal welfare state—and these migrants became known in government circles as the "Saskatchewan Mafia".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Marchildon |first=Gregory P. |title=Saskatchewan Mafia |url=https://www.esask.uregina.ca/entry/saskatchewan_mafia.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706200309/https://www.esask.uregina.ca/entry/saskatchewan_mafia.html |archive-date=2017-07-06 |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pasolli |first=Lisa |date=2009 |title=Bureaucratizing the Atlantic Revolution: The 'Saskatchewan Mafia' in the New Brunswick Civil Service, 1960-1970 |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/view/12473 |journal=[[Acadiensis]] |volume=38 |issue=1 |via=University of New Brunswick}}</ref>

Thatcher called an early election in [[1967 Saskatchewan general election|1967]] and won another majority. However, after the election Thatcher embraced a program of [[austerity]], reducing spending and introducing medicare fees, which became derided as "deterrence fees".<ref name=":3" /> A downturn in the provincial economy further eroded the government's popularity. In a [[1971 Saskatchewan general election|1971 election]] that the Liberals framed as a choice between capitalism and socialism, the Liberals were soundly beaten by a resurgent CCF—now called the NDP—under the leadership of [[Allan Blakeney]], who promised a return to the CCF approach of economic planning. Thatcher died suddenly just three weeks after the election, leaving the Opposition leaderless for most of the rest of the year.<ref name=":3" /> In 1975, the Liberals were able to hold on to their fifteen seats and remain the Opposition, but for the first time in more than forty years, the Conservatives—now the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan|Progressive Conservatives]] (PCs)—won multiple seats.