W. Ross Thatcher

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Ross Thatcher
9th Premier of Saskatchewan
In office May 2, 1964 – June 30, 1971
Preceded by	Woodrow S. Lloyd
Succeeded by	Allan Blakeney
Born	May 24, 1917 Neville, Saskatchewan
Died	July 22 1971 (aged 54) Regina, Saskatchewan
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Peggy Thatcher

Wilbert Ross Thatcher, PC (24 May 1917 – 22 July 1971) was the tenth premier of Saskatchewan, Canada, serving from 2 May 1964 to 30 June 1971.

Born in Neville, Saskatchewan, Thatcher was a Moose Jaw-based businessman who developed an interest in politics shortly after the birth of his son, Colin Thatcher, in 1938. Thatcher's father, Wilbur, had built a chain of hardware stores across the province with Ross helped manage.^[1]

Thatcher graduated high school at the age of 15 and attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario where he earned a commerce degree at the age of 18.^[1] Thatcher obtained a job as executive assistant to the vice-president of Canada Packers in Toronto but had to return to Saskatchewan to run the family business when his father became ill.^[1]

Believing, as a result of the Great Depression, that private business alone was unable to stimulate economic development in the province, he joined the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was elected to Moose Jaw city council on a labour-reform slate in 1942. In 1945 he was elected to Parliament representing Moose Jaw.^[1]

Due to his roots and belief in business, he was uncomfortable in the CCF and found himself on the right-wing of the party caucus.^[1] In 1955, he left the CCF over the issue of corporate taxation and sat out his term as an Independent MP before running unsuccessfully for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1957 federal election.^[1] During the campaign, he attacked the provincial CCF government's record on crown corporations, describing them as a dismal failure,^[2] upsetting Premier Tommy Douglas who challenged Thatcher to a radio debate which was held in the town of Mossbank and was broadcast across the province.^[1] The debate was largely regarded as a draw between the two politicians but raised Thatcher's stock as he was seen as able to hold his own against the formidable Douglas establishing Thatcher as the anti-CCF standard bearer.^[1][2]

Thatcher was defeated by Hazen Argue in the 1957 federal election and again in 1958 but Thatcher was nevertheless courted by the provincial Saskatchewan Liberal Party and became its leader in 1959 at the party's leadership convention^[1] defeating three rivals.^[2] He led the party into the 1960 provincial election which was fought over the issue of Medicare. The Liberals increased their level of public support but were unable to defeat the Saskatchewan CCF which had held power since the 1944 election.^[1]

The Liberals had gained momentum, however, and the anti-CCF opposition coalesced around the party, particularly in the face of events such as the Saskatchewan Doctors' Strike which hurt the CCF's popularity. The Thatcher Liberals won a string of by-elections and then swept to victory in the 1964 provincial election, defeating the CCF-NDP government^[3] which had governed the province for twenty years.^[1] Thatcher was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and became Premier of the province.

Thatcher's government sold several crown corporations and declared the province "open for business" encouraging private investment in the potash and other industries.^[1]

Despite the "Liberal" label, Thatcher's government was considered to be conservative for its time, and Thatcher often clashed with the federal Liberal governments of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau over agricultural policy, social welfare policies (which the federal party supported and Thatcher opposed) and constitutional reform^[2] as well as the federal party's attempts to form a federal political organization in the province separate from Thatcher's party.^[1]

Following his government's re-election in 1967, Thatcher introduced an austerity program which cut government services, increased taxed and introduced user fees on medical procedures. Reduced government investment hurt the potash industry as well as agriculture and the government became increasingly unpopular.^[1] Thatcher's government was defeated by the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (the new name of the CCF)^[3] in the June 1971 election and Allan Blakeney succeeded Thatcher as premier.^[1]

In 1971, Thatcher died in his sleep in Regina, Saskatchewan, apparently as a result of complications from diabetes and a heart condition. His death shocked the Saskatchewan public and his daughter-in-law JoAnn Thatcher later claimed she suspected the death was a suicide. But it was widely known that Thatcher had largely refused to deal with his severe diabetes and a former aide told reporters that Thatcher's health had been so run down that his death from natural causes surprised few insiders.

Thatcher's widow Peggy was persuaded to run for the federal parliament in support of Pierre Trudeau's Liberals in the 1972 federal election but fared poorly coming in a weak third in Regina East.^[4]

Ross Thatcher was the father of Colin Thatcher, a Conservative minister in the Saskatchewan cabinet in the 1980s who was later charged and convicted of murdering his ex-wife.

[edit] References

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by John Gordon Ross	Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw 1945–1953	Succeeded by The electoral district was abolished in 1952.
Preceded by The electoral district was created in 1952.	Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw—Lake Centre 1953–1957	Succeeded by Louis Harrington Lewry
Political offices
Preceded by Woodrow S. Lloyd	Premiers of Saskatchewan 1964-1971	Succeeded by Allan Blakeney

v • d • e Premiers of Saskatchewan Scott · Martin · Dunning · Gardiner · Anderson · Gardiner · Patterson · Douglas · Lloyd · Thatcher · Blakeney · Devine · Romanow · Calvert · Wall