Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan

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Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan
Active Provincial Party
Founded 1912
Leader Richard Swenson (Interim)
President Lori Isinger
Headquarters #134, 2002 Quebec Avenue, Saskatoon, S7K 1W4
Political ideology Conservatism
International alignment
Colours Blue
Website

The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan is a right-of-centre political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Prior to 1942, it was known as the Conservative Party of Saskatchewan. Members are commonly known as Tories.

It nominated candidates for the first time in the 1912 election, seven years after the province of Saskatchewan was formed. The party emerged from the Provincial Rights Party after the retirement of that party's leader, Frederick W. A. G. Haultain.

The Conservative Party's best performance in the first half of the twentieth century was in 1929 election, when it won 36% of the popular vote and 24 out of 63 seats. Despite having fewer seats than the Liberals, the Conservatives were able to form a coalition government with Progressive Party 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.

The "Co-operative government", as it was called, was defeated in the 1934 election, and the Conservative Party lost all of its seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. This loss can be attributed to several factors:

  • the controversy over the government's School Act;
  • the government's inability to deal with the Great Depression dust bowl which wiped out the province's agrarian economy; and
  • the unpopularity of the federal Conservative government of R.B. Bennett.

With the rise of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, politics in the province became polarized between the Liberals and the CCF. The CCF became the "New Democratic Party" in 1961. The Conservatives were frozen out of the provincial legislature for decades.

No Conservative was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) until thirty years later when the party won a single seat in 1964 election. It lost that foothold three years later in the 1967 election.

The Tories returned to the legislature in the 1975 election. The Progressive Conservatives won 7 seats to the Liberals' 15 and the NDP's 39.

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

In 1982 election, the Progressive Conservatives under Grant Devine formed a majority government for the first time. They were re-elected in 1986 election, but defeated in the 1991 election, due to unsuccessful economic policies, large budgetary deficits, an unpopular imposition of harmonized sales taxes, and a very unpopular scheme entitled "Fair Share Saskatchewan" to decentralize civil service functions from Regina.

In the years following their defeat, 14 Conservative members of the legislature, one NDP member 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.

Although most former members and supporters joined the Saskatchewan Party in 1997, the Tories are believed to retain a substantial amount of money, which the party would forfeit to the provincial government if it ever became de-registered. Because the party needed to run at least 10 candidates in each general election to keep its registration, a hand-picked group kept the party technically alive and have run paper candidates in each of the last two provincial elections to ensure that the party remains registered. The party had not had a leader since 1997.

In the September 16, 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.

In June 2005, the party announced that it is now taking applications for new members, and that it would hold a meeting of members top decide the future of the party.[1] Should the party remain dormant, changes to provincial electoral laws have been proposed in the Legislature that would decrease the number of candidates the party needs to run in general elections from ten to two.

On May 27 2006, the party held a weekend convention. In total, 42 delegates attended the convention in Saskatoon and voted to resurrect the Progressive Conservative Party. Delegates elected Lori Isinger as Party President, and picked Rick Swenson to serve as interim Leader.

[edit] Party leaders

[edit] See also

[edit] External link

Major national, provincial, and territorial conservative parties in Canada (edit):
Forming the government:
Canada - Alberta - Prince Edward Island - Newfoundland and Labrador - Nova Scotia - Yukon
Forming the official opposition:
Manitoba - New Brunswick - Ontario - Saskatchewan Party - Action démocratique du Québec
Third parties represented in legislatures:
Alberta Alliance
Historical conservative parties:
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada - Canadian Alliance - Social Credit Party of Canada - British Columbia Conservative Party - British Columbia Social Credit Party - Social Credit Party of Alberta - Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan - Conservative Party of Quebec - Northwest Territories Liberal-Conservative Party
v • d • e
Politics of Saskatchewan
Lieutenant-Governor Gordon L. Barnhart • Former lieutenant-governors
Premier Lorne Calvert • Former premiers
Opposition Leader Brad Wall • Former Opposition Leaders
Speaker of the Assembly Myron Kowalsky
Legislature Current assembly • Former legislatures • Cabinet • electoral districts
Political parties Saskatchewan Party • New Democrats • Liberals
Progressive Conservatives • Social Credit • Greens
Elections 2003 general election • Past elections • Electoral districts
Current issues Equalization payments
Other Canadian politics Federal • BC • AB • SK • MB • ON • QC • NB • NS • PEI • NL • YU • NT • NU
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