Politics of Saskatchewan

The Politics of Saskatchewan are part of the Canadian federal political system along with the other Canadian provinces. Saskatchewan has a Lieutenant-Governor, Vaughn Solomon Schofield, who is the representative of the Crown in Right of Saskatchewan, an elected premier, Brad Wall, leading the Cabinet, and a unicameral legislature.

From the birth of the province to the CCF 1
Recent history (1964 to present) 2
Contemporary politics 3
Federal politics 4
Aboriginal politics 5
Municipal politics 6
See also 7
References 8
External links 9

From the birth of the province to the CCF

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (1905-1960) - seats won by party
Party		1905	1908	1912	1917	1921	1925	1929	1934	1938	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960
Government		Liberal						Co-operative	Liberal		CCF
	Liberal	16	27	45	51	45	50	28	50	38	5	19	11	14	17
	Provincial Rights Party	9	14
	Conservative			8	7	2	3	24
	Progressive					6	6	5
	Labour					1
	Liberal-Labour						1
	Farmer-Labour								5
	Cooperative Commonwealth Federation									10	47	31	42	36	37
	Social Credit									2				3
	Unity									2
	Conservative Liberal											1
	Independent Conservative					1
	Independent Liberal						1
	Independent Pro-Government					1
	Independent				1	7	2	6				1
	Soldiers' vote (Province at large)				3
Total		25	41	53	62	63	63	63	55	52	52	52	53	53	54

The Saskatchewan Liberal Party was the province's main centrist party for several decades early in Saskatchewan's existence, ruling from 1905–29 and from 1934–44. James T.M. Anderson formed a Conservative government (which ruled from 1930–34) by an alliance with the Progressives in the provincial legislature.

In 1935, under the watch of Liberal Premier James Garfield Gardiner, the On-to-Ottawa Trekkers, and citizens of Regina clashed with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) during the Regina Riot.require('Module:No globals')

local p = {}

-- articles in which traditional Chinese preceeds simplified Chinese local t1st = { ["228 Incident"] = true, ["Chinese calendar"] = true, ["Lippo Centre, Hong Kong"] = true, ["Republic of China"] = true, ["Republic of China at the 1924 Summer Olympics"] = true, ["Taiwan"] = true, ["Taiwan (island)"] = true, ["Taiwan Province"] = true, ["Wei Boyang"] = true, }

-- the labels for each part local labels = { ["c"] = "Chinese", ["s"] = "simplified Chinese", ["t"] = "traditional Chinese", ["p"] = "pinyin", ["tp"] = "Tongyong Pinyin", ["w"] = "Wade–Giles", ["j"] = "Jyutping", ["cy"] = "Cantonese Yale", ["poj"] = "Pe̍h-ōe-jī", ["zhu"] = "Zhuyin Fuhao", ["l"] = "literally", }

-- article titles for wikilinks for each part local wlinks = { ["c"] = "Chinese language", ["s"] = "simplified Chinese characters", ["t"] = "traditional Chinese characters", ["p"] = "pinyin", ["tp"] = "Tongyong Pinyin", ["w"] = "Wade–Giles", ["j"] = "Jyutping", ["cy"] = "Yale romanization of Cantonese", ["poj"] = "Pe̍h-ōe-jī", ["zhu"] = "Bopomofo", }

-- for those parts which are to be treated as languages their ISO code local ISOlang = { ["c"] = "zh", ["t"] = "zh-Hant", ["s"] = "zh-Hans", ["p"] = "zh-Latn-pinyin", ["tp"] = "zh-Latn", ["w"] = "zh-Latn-wadegile", ["j"] = "yue-jyutping", ["cy"] = "yue", ["poj"] = "hak", ["zhu"] = "zh-Bopo", }

local italic = { ["p"] = true, ["tp"] = true, ["w"] = true, ["j"] = true, ["cy"] = true, ["poj"] = true, } -- Categories for different kinds of Chinese text local cats = { ["c"] = "", ["s"] = "", ["t"] = "", }

function p.Zh(frame) -- load arguments module to simplify handling of args local getArgs = require('Module:Arguments').getArgs local args = getArgs(frame) return p._Zh(args) end function p._Zh(args) local uselinks = not (args["links"] == "no") -- whether to add links local uselabels = not (args["labels"] == "no") -- whether to have labels local capfirst = args["scase"] ~= nil

        local t1 = false -- whether traditional Chinese characters go first
        local j1 = false -- whether Cantonese Romanisations go first
        local testChar
        if (args["first"]) then
                 for testChar in mw.ustring.gmatch(args["first"], "%a+") do
          if (testChar == "t") then
           t1 = true
           end
          if (testChar == "j") then
           j1 = true
           end
         end
        end
        if (t1 == false) then
         local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle()
         t1 = t1st[title.text] == true
        end

-- based on setting/preference specify order local orderlist = {"c", "s", "t", "p", "tp", "w", "j", "cy", "poj", "zhu", "l"} if (t1) then orderlist[2] = "t" orderlist[3] = "s" end if (j1) then orderlist[4] = "j" orderlist[5] = "cy" orderlist[6] = "p" orderlist[7] = "tp" orderlist[8] = "w" end -- rename rules. Rules to change parameters and labels based on other parameters if args["hp"] then -- hp an alias for p ([hanyu] pinyin) args["p"] = args["hp"] end if args["tp"] then -- if also Tongyu pinyin use full name for Hanyu pinyin labels["p"] = "Hanyu Pinyin" end if (args["s"] and args["s"] == args["t"]) then -- Treat simplified + traditional as Chinese if they're the same args["c"] = args["s"] args["s"] = nil args["t"] = nil elseif (not (args["s"] and args["t"])) then -- use short label if only one of simplified and traditional labels["s"] = labels["c"] labels["t"] = labels["c"] end local body = "" -- the output string local params -- for creating HTML spans local label -- the label, i.e. the bit preceeding the supplied text local val -- the supplied text -- go through all possible fields in loop, adding them to the output for i, part in ipairs(orderlist) do if (args[part]) then -- build label label = "" if (uselabels) then label = labels[part] if (capfirst) then label = mw.language.getContentLanguage():ucfirst(

In 1944, Tommy Douglas became premier of the first avowedly socialist regional government in North America.require('Module:No globals')

local p = {}

        local t1 = false -- whether traditional Chinese characters go first
        local j1 = false -- whether Cantonese Romanisations go first
        local testChar
        if (args["first"]) then
                 for testChar in mw.ustring.gmatch(args["first"], "%a+") do
          if (testChar == "t") then
           t1 = true
           end
          if (testChar == "j") then
           j1 = true
           end
         end
        end
        if (t1 == false) then
         local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle()
         t1 = t1st[title.text] == true
        end

local p = {}

        local t1 = false -- whether traditional Chinese characters go first
        local j1 = false -- whether Cantonese Romanisations go first
        local testChar
        if (args["first"]) then
                 for testChar in mw.ustring.gmatch(args["first"], "%a+") do
          if (testChar == "t") then
           t1 = true
           end
          if (testChar == "j") then
           j1 = true
           end
         end
        end
        if (t1 == false) then
         local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle()
         t1 = t1st[title.text] == true
        end

local p = {}

        local t1 = false -- whether traditional Chinese characters go first
        local j1 = false -- whether Cantonese Romanisations go first
        local testChar
        if (args["first"]) then
                 for testChar in mw.ustring.gmatch(args["first"], "%a+") do
          if (testChar == "t") then
           t1 = true
           end
          if (testChar == "j") then
           j1 = true
           end
         end
        end
        if (t1 == false) then
         local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle()
         t1 = t1st[title.text] == true
        end

local p = {}

        local t1 = false -- whether traditional Chinese characters go first
        local j1 = false -- whether Cantonese Romanisations go first
        local testChar
        if (args["first"]) then
                 for testChar in mw.ustring.gmatch(args["first"], "%a+") do
          if (testChar == "t") then
           t1 = true
           end
          if (testChar == "j") then
           j1 = true
           end
         end
        end
        if (t1 == false) then
         local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle()
         t1 = t1st[title.text] == true
        end

local p = {}

        local t1 = false -- whether traditional Chinese characters go first
        local j1 = false -- whether Cantonese Romanisations go first
        local testChar
        if (args["first"]) then
                 for testChar in mw.ustring.gmatch(args["first"], "%a+") do
          if (testChar == "t") then
           t1 = true
           end
          if (testChar == "j") then
           j1 = true
           end
         end
        end
        if (t1 == false) then
         local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle()
         t1 = t1st[title.text] == true
        end

Recent history (1964 to present)

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (1964-2011) - seats won by party
Party		1964	1967	1971	1975	1978	1982	1986	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011
Government		Liberal		NDP			PC		NDP				Saskatchewan
	Liberal	32	35	15	15			1	1	11	4
	Cooperative Commonwealth Federation	26
	New Democratic Party		24	45	39	44	9	25	55	42	29	30	20	9
	Progressive Conservative	1			7	17	55	38	10	5
	Saskatchewan										25	28	38	49
Total		59	59	60	61	61	64	64	66	58	57	58	58	58

During most of the postwar period, the CCF and its successor, the New Democratic Party have dominated provincial politics with Douglas, Allan Blakeney, and Roy Romanow all serving long periods as premier and becoming national figures. Urbanization since the Second World War has altered the provincial economy away from its agricultural basis, and there has been a steady migration from farms to cities and towns. There was a corresponding shift in the NDP's focus from rural to urban concerns, so that the NDP gradually represented voters in cities and towns.

The Saskatchewan Liberal Party regained power in 1964. The Progressive Conservatives led by Grant Devine gradually replaced the Liberals as the NDP's main rival and soundly defeated the New Democrats in 1982. But the Conservatives' popularity plummeted after running up large deficits and being closely aligned with the Brian Mulroney-led federal PC government; Devine was defeated in 1991. Several PC MLAs, including some cabinet ministers, were convicted for misappropriation of public funds, and the PC Party itself went into suspension, running only paper candidates from 1999 to 2007.

Contemporary politics

In the 1990s the centre-right Saskatchewan Party was formed, with four Progressive Conservatives and four Liberals joining together. It served as the official opposition for most of that decade, and was elected to form the government in the 2007 election.

Today, the official opposition in the province is the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party. The current premier of Saskatchewan is Brad Wall of the Saskatchewan Party.

In recent years, Saskatchewan has been characterized by an extreme urban-rural split. This was evident as early as the 1986 election, when the NDP won a majority of the popular vote but was consigned to opposition for another term due to winning only nine seats outside of Regina and Saskatoon. Ironically, the NDP had begun as the voice of rural discontent. Today, however, rural Saskatchewan is considered one of the most conservative areas of Canada, particularly on social issues. Some areas are as conservative as areas in neighboring Alberta. The NDP and Liberals draw most of their support from Regina, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw. The Saskatchewan Party has swept all of the rural ridings in southern and central Saskatchewan since its first election in 1999, but was unable to win government until Wall softened its image to appeal more to voters in the cities.

Federal politics

Nationally notable federal politicians from Saskatchewan include Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and CCF/NDP leaders Major Coldwell and Tommy Douglas.

Of the 14 federal constituencies in Saskatchewan, 13 are currently occupied by members of the Conservative Party of Canada and one by the Liberal Party of Canada. While the province has a large provincial New Democratic Party opposition, the federal NDP hasn't won a seat in Saskatchewan since 2004. While Regina and Saskatoon have roughly double the population of an urban riding in Canada, the ridings based in those cities also include large blocks of rural territory. However, a redistribution in 2013, to take effect at the next election, will result in the Regina and Saskatoon ridings losing most of their rural areas.^[1] Instead, Regina and Saskatoon will each be split between three ridings located almost entirely within the city limits.

The province's only Liberal Member of Parliament is former Finance Minister and current Deputy Opposition Leader Ralph Goodale.

Aboriginal politics

Saskatchewan, when compared to other provinces, has a large Aboriginal population. As of the 2006 Canadian census, residents identifying as First Nations, Métis, or Inuit comprised 14.8% a of the overall population.^[2] Unlike neighbouring Alberta, Saskatchewan does not have land set aside as Métis Settlements (see Métis in Alberta).

Saskatchewan also has a rich history of Aboriginal political leaders of national prominence. First Nations leaders include Walter Dieter, Noel Starblanket, and the highly controversial David Ahenakew. First Nations are represented in the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. In addition, each First Nation has its own government band structure. The majority of Saskatchewan First Nations are Cree although Saulteaux, Assiniboine, Dakota, and Dene bands predominate in some areas.

Métis leaders of national importance include Malcolm Norris, Jim Sinclair and Clément Chartier. Métis people in the province take part in the Métis Nation - Saskatchewan. The Métis nation is represented on the community level by Métis Locals, structured similarly to trade union locals.

In 1982 the Aboriginal People's Party ran ten electoral candidates for the provincial legislature but received little support.

Municipal politics

On the municipal level, non-Indian Reserve, or non-Crown Land, in Saskatchewan is divided into rural municipalities and urban municipalities. Rural Municipalities have a corporate structure for dealing with larger governments known as SARM: the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. Unlike neighbouring Alberta, Saskatchewan does not have Municipal Districts.

References

-- Module:Hatnote -- -- -- -- This module produces hatnote links and links to related articles. It -- -- implements the and meta-templates and includes -- -- helper functions for other Lua hatnote modules. --

local libraryUtil = require('libraryUtil') local checkType = libraryUtil.checkType local mArguments -- lazily initialise Module:Arguments local yesno -- lazily initialise Module:Yesno

local p = {}

-- Helper functions

local function getArgs(frame) -- Fetches the arguments from the parent frame. Whitespace is trimmed and -- blanks are removed. mArguments = require('Module:Arguments') return mArguments.getArgs(frame, {parentOnly = true}) end

local function removeInitialColon(s) -- Removes the initial colon from a string, if present. return s:match('^:?(.*)') end

function p.findNamespaceId(link, removeColon) -- Finds the namespace id (namespace number) of a link or a pagename. This -- function will not work if the link is enclosed in double brackets. Colons -- are trimmed from the start of the link by default. To skip colon -- trimming, set the removeColon parameter to true. checkType('findNamespaceId', 1, link, 'string') checkType('findNamespaceId', 2, removeColon, 'boolean', true) if removeColon ~= false then link = removeInitialColon(link) end local namespace = link:match('^(.-):') if namespace then local nsTable = mw.site.namespaces[namespace] if nsTable then return nsTable.id end end return 0 end

function p.formatPages(...) -- Formats a list of pages using formatLink and returns it as an array. Nil -- values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local ret = {} for i, page in ipairs(pages) do ret[i] = p._formatLink(page) end return ret end

function p.formatPageTables(...) -- Takes a list of page/display tables and returns it as a list of -- formatted links. Nil values are not allowed. local pages = {...} local links = {} for i, t in ipairs(pages) do checkType('formatPageTables', i, t, 'table') local link = t[1] local display = t[2] links[i] = p._formatLink(link, display) end return links end

function p.makeWikitextError(msg, helpLink, addTrackingCategory) -- Formats an error message to be returned to wikitext. If -- addTrackingCategory is not false after being returned from -- Module:Yesno, and if we are not on a talk page, a tracking category -- is added. checkType('makeWikitextError', 1, msg, 'string') checkType('makeWikitextError', 2, helpLink, 'string', true) yesno = require('Module:Yesno') local title = mw.title.getCurrentTitle() -- Make the help link text. local helpText if helpLink then helpText = ' (help)' else helpText = end -- Make the category text. local category if not title.isTalkPage and yesno(addTrackingCategory) ~= false then category = 'Hatnote templates with errors' category = string.format( '%s:%s', mw.site.namespaces[14].name, category ) else category = end return string.format( '%s', msg, helpText, category ) end

-- Format link -- -- Makes a wikilink from the given link and display values. Links are escaped -- with colons if necessary, and links to sections are detected and displayed -- with " § " as a separator rather than the standard MediaWiki "#". Used in -- the template.

function p.formatLink(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local link = args[1] local display = args[2] if not link then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no link specified', 'Template:Format hatnote link#Errors', args.category ) end return p._formatLink(link, display) end

function p._formatLink(link, display) -- Find whether we need to use the colon trick or not. We need to use the -- colon trick for categories and files, as otherwise category links -- categorise the page and file links display the file. checkType('_formatLink', 1, link, 'string') checkType('_formatLink', 2, display, 'string', true) link = removeInitialColon(link) local namespace = p.findNamespaceId(link, false) local colon if namespace == 6 or namespace == 14 then colon = ':' else colon = end -- Find whether a faux display value has been added with the | magic -- word. if not display then local prePipe, postPipe = link:match('^(.-)|(.*)$') link = prePipe or link display = postPipe end -- Find the display value. if not display then local page, section = link:match('^(.-)#(.*)$') if page then display = page .. ' § ' .. section end end -- Assemble the link. if display then return string.format('%s', colon, link, display) else return string.format('%s%s', colon, link) end end

-- Hatnote -- -- Produces standard hatnote text. Implements the template.

function p.hatnote(frame) local args = getArgs(frame) local s = args[1] local options = {} if not s then return p.makeWikitextError( 'no text specified', 'Template:Hatnote#Errors', args.category ) end options.extraclasses = args.extraclasses options.selfref = args.selfref return p._hatnote(s, options) end

function p._hatnote(s, options) checkType('_hatnote', 1, s, 'string') checkType('_hatnote', 2, options, 'table', true) local classes = {'hatnote'} local extraclasses = options.extraclasses local selfref = options.selfref if type(extraclasses) == 'string' then classes[#classes + 1] = extraclasses end if selfref then classes[#classes + 1] = 'selfref' end return string.format( '

', table.concat(classes, ' '), s )

end

return p-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Module:Hatnote -- -- -- -- This module produces hatnote links and links to related articles. It -- -- implements the and meta-templates and includes -- -- helper functions for other Lua hatnote modules. --

local libraryUtil = require('libraryUtil') local checkType = libraryUtil.checkType local mArguments -- lazily initialise Module:Arguments local yesno -- lazily initialise Module:Yesno

local p = {}

-- Helper functions

local function removeInitialColon(s) -- Removes the initial colon from a string, if present. return s:match('^:?(.*)') end

-- Hatnote -- -- Produces standard hatnote text. Implements the template.

', table.concat(classes, ' '), s )

end

return p

External links

Government of Saskatchewan

Politics of Canada (by province or territory)

Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Northwest Territories Nunavut Yukon

Book Category Portal

Politics of the provinces and territories of Canada

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Canada

Executive (The Crown)

Sovereign in the provinces	BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL

Lieutenant Governors	BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL

Commissioners	YU NT NU

Premiers	BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL YU NT NU

Legislative

Legislatures	BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL YU NT NU

Elections	BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL YU NT NU

Politics of Saskatchewan

Lieutenant Governor (List)	Vaughn Solomon Schofield

Premier (List - Premiers by time in office)	Brad Wall

Opposition Leader (List)	Cam Broten

Speaker of the Assembly	Dan D'Autremont

Legislature	Current assembly Former legislatures Cabinet Electoral districts

Political parties	Greens Progressive Conservatives Liberals New Democrats Saskatchewan Party

Historic parties	Aboriginal People's Party Alliance Communist - Labour-Progressive - "Unity" Economic Group First Nations Party Marijuana Party Non-Partisan League Progressives Saskatchewan Democratic Action Social Credit Unionest Western Canada Concept

Elections	2011 general election Past elections Electoral districts

Other Canadian politics	Federal BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PEI NL YU NT NU

Saskatchewan provincial electoral districts

North	Athabasca Batoche Biggar Canora-Pelly Carrot River Valley Cumberland Cut Knife-Turtleford Humboldt Kelvington-Wadena Lloydminster Martensville Meadow Lake Melfort Prince Albert Carlton Prince Albert Northcote Rosthern-Shellbrook Saskatchewan Rivers The Battlefords

Saskatoon	Saskatoon Centre Saskatoon Eastview Saskatoon Fairview Saskatoon Greystone Saskatoon Massey Place Saskatoon Meewasin Saskatoon Northwest Saskatoon Nutana Saskatoon Riversdale Saskatoon Silver Springs Saskatoon Southeast Saskatoon Sutherland

Regina	Regina Coronation Park Regina Dewdney Regina Douglas Park Regina Elphinstone-Centre Regina Lakeview Regina Northeast Regina Qu'Appelle Valley Regina Rosemont Regina South Regina Walsh Acres Regina Wascana Plains

South	Arm River-Watrous Cannington Cypress Hills Estevan Indian Head-Milestone Kindersley Last Mountain-Touchwood Melville-Saltcoats Moose Jaw North Moose Jaw Wakamow Moosomin Rosetown-Elrose Swift Current Thunder Creek Weyburn-Big Muddy Wood River Yorkton

See also: 2011 election List of elections Politics of Saskatchewan

Topics on Saskatchewan

History	Archaeology Territorial evolution of Canada North-West Rebellion History Father of medicare National Historic Sites of Canada

Politics	Political parties Elections The Saskatchewan Act Monarchy in Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor Cabinet Premiers Leaders of the Opposition Legislature Electoral districts

Geography	National Parks Provincial parks Rivers Natural History Geography Demographics Climate change

Law	Court of Appeal Queen's Bench Provincial Court Courts Law Enforcement

Economy	Agriculture Tourism Transportation Roads Highways Railways Airports Buildings and Structures

Culture of Saskatchewan	Culture People School Divisions Colleges, Universities Education Museums Sports in Saskatchewan First Nations Fransaskois Music Media Organizations Symbols

Communities	Census Divisions SARM Divisions Rural Municipalities Cities

General outline Category Portal

Politics of Saskatchewan