Saskatchewan general election, 1938

Saskatchewan general election, 1938

June 8, 1938 (1938-06-08)

52 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 27 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   SC Leader William John Patterson George Hara Williams Joseph Needham Party Liberal Co-operative Commonwealth Social Credit Leader since 1935 July 17, 1936 1935 Leader's seat Cannington Wadena Did not run Last election 50 5 pre-creation Seats won 38 10 2 Seat change –12 +5 +2 Popular vote 200,334 82,529 70,084 Percentage 45.45% 18.73% 15.90% Swing –2.55pp –5.26pp +15.90pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Unity Leader — John Diefenbaker Party Unity Conservative Leader since — October 28, 1936 Leader's seat — Ran in Arm River (lost) Last election 0 0 Seats won 2 0 Seat change +2 ±0 Popular vote 9,848 52,315 Percentage 2.24% 11.87% Swing +2.00pp –14.88pp

Premier before election William John Patterson Liberal Premier-designate William John Patterson Liberal

The Saskatchewan general election of 1938 was the ninth provincial election held in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on June 8, 1938, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

The Liberal Party was returned to power under its new leader, William John Patterson – although it lost twelve of the seats it had held in the previous legislature. The Liberals faced several new forces in this election.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation – a democratic socialist party led by George Williams – became the official opposition, winning over 18% of the vote and ten seats in its first election. The party previously had five seats after the Farmer-Labour Group became the Saskatchewan CCF following the previous election.

The Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan – which promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform – rode a wave of popularity due to the 1935 electoral success of its Alberta counterpart and collected almost 16% of the votes, but won only two seats.

Six "unity" candidates also ran who had backing from more than one of the other established political parties. Although two were elected, they only received a very small fraction of the overall vote.^[1]

The Conservative Party under its new leader – John Diefenbaker – continued their decline, as their share of the popular vote fell from 25% to under 12%. The party won no seats. Diefenbaker later had considerably more success in the federal Conservative Party, eventually becoming leader and sweeping the party to power in the 1958 election with a huge majority.

Results

Note: * Party did not nominate candidates in previous election.

Riding results

Names in bold represent cabinet ministers and the Speaker. Party leaders are italicized. The symbol " ** " indicates MLAs who are not running again.

Northwestern Saskatchewan

Northeastern Saskatchewan

West Central Saskatchewan

East Central Saskatchewan

Southwest Saskatchewan

Southeast Saskatchewan

Urban constituencies

Notes

1. ↑ Brown, Lorne A. (2007). The Early CCF in Saskatchewan. p. 183. 

See also

• List of Saskatchewan political parties
• List of Saskatchewan provincial electoral districts

References

• Brown, Lorne A. "The Early CCF in Saskatchewan." In The Prairie Agrarian Movement Revisited, edited by Murray Knuttila and Bob Stirling, 169-185. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2007.
• Elections Saskatchewan - Provincial Vote Summaries
• Saskatchewan Archives Board - Election Results By Electoral Division

Elections in Saskatchewan General elections 1905 1908 1912 1917 1921 1925 1929 1934 1938 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1967 1971 1975 1978 1982 1986 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 By-elections List of Saskatchewan by-elections