Saskatchewan Progress Party

The Saskatchewan Progress Party (SPP) is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was founded in 1905 as the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan, and retained that name until members voted to change it in 2023. Until 2009, the party was affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada.

The Liberals were a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics during the first half of the twentieth century, forming government for all but five years between 1905 and 1944. With the emergence of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) under Tommy Douglas' leadership, the Liberals spent the following two decades in Opposition before forming two more majority governments from 1964 to 1971. However, the party lost influence in the latter stages of the twentieth century. Although it reached Opposition status again in the mid-1990s, even that term was disrupted when much of the caucus abandoned the party to form the new Saskatchewan Party in 1997. The 1999 election marked the last time any Liberals were elected to the Legislature.

Political dominance (1905–1929)
The Liberal Party dominated Saskatchewan politics from the province's earliest days. Saskatchewan entered Confederation in September 1905 alongside neighbouring Alberta. Both provinces were carved out of the Northwest Territories; territorial premier Frederick Haultain had advocated for the creation of one large western province called Buffalo, but Wilfrid Laurier's federal Liberal government opted to create two provinces instead, wary of the potential strength of a province the size of Buffalo. Haultain responded by seeking the premiership of Saskatchewan under the banner of his Provincial Rights Party, but Saskatchewan voters opted in 1905 for the provincial Liberal Party under the leadership of Walter Scott. This marked the beginning of a long Liberal dynasty in the new Prairie province—the party provided six of the province's first seven premiers.

With the Liberals a strong force at the federal level, Saskatchewan voters appear to have preferred a provincial government that had influence at the national level, and there was crossover with Liberal premiers like Charles Dunning and Jimmy Gardiner moving on to key federal cabinet positions. As a consequence, the provincial Liberals presided over the province at a time of tremendous growth as a rapidly expanding population driven by immigration—the province became the third most populous in the country after Ontario and Quebec—established a large agricultural economy.

One of the keys to Liberal success was their close relationship with immigrant communities and especially with the largest farmers' lobby in the province, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association. While United Farmer governments took power in both Alberta and Manitoba during the 1920s, and while the agrarian Progressive Party performed well in Saskatchewan at the federal level, the direct entry of farmers into provincial politics was fended off for longer in Saskatchewan by Liberal leadership attuned to farmers' organizations. Early Liberal premiers were even known to invite key agrarian organizers to the cabinet table.

The Liberals also stood against a rising tide of nativist sentiment in the province in the 1920s. While the Ku Klux Klan gained a foothold in the province—the organization had 25,000 members in Saskatchewan by 1929—and fomented discriminatory attitudes towards French, Catholic, and Eastern European settlers, Premier Gardiner defended his government's immigration policies and called the Klan both a foreign entity and a tool of the provincial Conservative Party. The Conservatives were reported to have aided Klan organization by supplying it with membership lists, and the party itself developed a nativist platform in the late 1920s, promising to protect British, Anglo-Saxon values. The Liberals were also heavily criticized for years of blatant patronage, which helped to move farmers closer to greater political participation and, more immediately, solidified a strong anti-Liberal bloc in the province. In the 1929 election, although the Liberals managed to win the most seats with 28, they fell short of a majority for the first time. They proved unable to gain the confidence of the Legislature, resulting in a coalition government under Conservative premier James T.M. Anderson—his party won 24 seats, and gained the support of the handful of Progressive and Independent members to form a coalition that they termed the "Co-operative" government.

Opposition and return to power (1929–1944)
Anderson's government took power at the outset of the Great Depression, which proved to be especially severe for the Prairie provinces and which provided the Liberals with ample opportunity to criticize the government's inability to contend with the crisis. In 1932, Anderson even invited Gardiner's Liberals into his coalition, but Gardiner refused. At the same time, a new political party was gaining momentum in the province. In 1932, farmers with United Farmers of Canada voted to formally enter politics, and after a merger with the Independent Labour Party did so under the banner of Farmer-Labour; the new party became a founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) that same year. The party was explicitly socialist, rapidly changing the dynamics of provincial politics.

Gardiner and the Liberals were able to return to power in 1934; the Conservatives failed to return a single member, and Farmer-Labour became the Official Opposition with five members to the Liberals' fifty. After the election, Farmer-Labour officially adopted the CCF party name. Almost immediately, Gardiner had to contend with the passage through Saskatchewan of the On-to-Ottawa Trek, a 1935 convoy meant to take the concerns of unemployed workers directly to the federal government. Prime Minister R.B. Bennett declared that the trekkers would not proceed past Regina, which acted as the headquarters to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Gardiner protested, predicting a riot. He was proven correct on July 1 1935, when the Regina Riot led to two deaths and hundreds of injuries.

The Liberals held on to their majority in the 1938 election, but they lost twelve seats as the Depression continued and the CCF gained further momentum. Although the Second World War began to relieve Depression conditions, by 1944 the CCF, under new leader Tommy Douglas, appeared poised to take power.

Opposition to the CCF (1944–1964)
In the 1944 election, Saskatchewan elected the first democratic socialist government in North America under Douglas' CCF. The Liberals were soundly beaten, dropping to only five seats. CCF organizing had effectively captured the Liberals' traditional base, with farmers and immigrant settlers largely moving to the new party. The CCF's 1944 win marked the beginning of twenty years in government over five successive majorities. In Opposition, the Liberals became a vehemently anti-socialist party, persistently railing against the CCF government's interventions in the economy and presenting themselves as a free-market alternative. The Liberals staked the 1948 election on the slogan "Tucker or tyranny", referencing leader Walter Tucker. The CCF was re-elected to a reduced majority. In 1957, future party leader Ross Thatcher famously held a televised debate against Douglas in Mossbank on the topic of the province's crown corporations. Accounts tended to label the debate a draw, which was considered an achievement against the formidable Douglas. All the while, the CCF focused intently on building a modern welfare state.

The biggest battle between the two parties occurred over the introduction of universal health care in the early 1960s. The CCF effectively pitched the 1960 election as a referendum on the issue, and were re-elected to their fifth majority. However, the Liberals under Thatcher came firmly to the support of the province's organized medical profession, which was adamantly opposed to the scheme. Douglas resigned his post in the middle of this battle in 1961 to take on the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP), and a 1962 doctors' strike threatened to put an end to the plan. However, the strike was resolved and medicare was introduced in 1962, soon to be expanded nationwide.

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 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 negotiated a minimum price and production cap with American producers. Although Thatcher had opposed the implementation of medicare, with the program being rolled out across the country his government proved unable to reverse it; Thatcher's government did, however, controversially introduce limited user fees for medical services.

Another focus of Thatcher's was 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".

Thatcher called an early election in 1967 and won another majority. However, after the election Thatcher embraced a program of austerity, reducing spending and introducing medicare fees. A downturn in the provincial economy further eroded the government's popularity. In a 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. 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 Conservatives (PCs)—won multiple seats.

Political wilderness (1978–1995)
The resurgence of the PCs under Dick Collver's leadership sapped support from the Liberals, and in the 1978 election, for the first time in their history, the Liberals failed to win a single seat, dropping to less than 15% support. The result was even worse in 1982; while the PCs surged to power under Grant Devine, Liberals won less than 5% of the vote. Leader Ralph Goodale was able to return the party to the Legislature with his single seat in the 1986 election, a feat repeated by new leader Lynda Haverstock in the 1991 election. But for the better part of two decades the Liberals were largely on the outside of provincial politics. In addition to the PCs staking out a position on the right side of the political spectrum, space the Liberals had taken up firmly since the 1940s, this was in part due to the growing unpopularity of the federal Liberal Party in the province; the party's unpopular resource policies in the 1970s and early 1980s gave rise to a wave of powerful western alienation sentiment and damaged the Liberal brand. Moreover, Saskatchewan politics had become increasingly divided between perceived urban and rural issues, and the Liberal brand was particularly unpopular in rural areas.

Ahead of the 1995 election, the Liberals appeared poised to take advantage of a scandal-ridden Progressive Conservative Party badly damaged by an expense fraud scandal. For the first time since the 1970s, the Liberals returned to Official Opposition status. However, the party's eleven seats to the NDP's forty two were seen as a disappointment.

Dissent and decline (1995–2003)
Dissatisfaction within the Liberal caucus led to Haverstock's resignation as party leader shortly after the election. Jim Melenchuk was selected to replace Haverstock, but internal strife continued. Several of the more conservative members of the Liberal caucus were in discussion with PC members about joining forces and forming a new party. Then, in August 1997, four Liberal members—Bob Bjornerud, June Draude, Rod Gantefoer, and Ken Krawetz—joined four PC members in announcing the founding of the Saskatchewan Party. With eight members, the new party took Official Opposition status away from the Liberals.

In the wake of the defections, remaining Liberals tended to put into question how much the new party was a Liberal-Conservative coalition, suggesting that the Liberals who joined the new party were right-wingers resisting a move towards the centre that much of the Liberal Party felt was necessary. Like the NDP under leader Roy Romanow, the Liberals characterized the Saskatchewan Party as merely a re-branded PC Party.

In the 1999 election, the NDP were reduced to 29 seats, one shy of a majority, while the Saskatchewan Party surged to 25 seats, almost exclusively rural. The Liberals' four seats gave them the balance of power, and Melenchuk agreed to enter into a coalition government with Romanow along with fellow Liberals Ron Osika and Jack Hillson. While Melenchuk hoped that the move would allow the Liberals to regain some influence, he found the Romanow government itself was quite centrist. The coalition also divided the party again; Melenchuk was removed as leader—he and coalition partner Osika would contest the 2003 election as NDP members—and was replaced by David Karwacki when he defeated Hillson, who himself had withdrawn from the coalition. Karwacki ordered Melenchuk and Osika to withdraw the coalition, but they refused.

Recent history (2003–present)
Karwacki saw an opportunity to become the more left-wing alternative to the Saskatchewan Party. However, he took over a party that had lost much of its membership and financial backing. The party was shut out of the Legislature in both the 2003 and 2007 elections as the province returned to a two-party system now dominated by the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP; Liberal support dropped from over 20% in 1999 to below 10% in 2007. The losses sparked discussion of Karwacki's future as leader. He resigned before the end of 2007, with party president Frank Proto taking over on an interim basis. This marked the beginning of an accelerated period of decline in which the party continued to lose support at the polls. Ryan Bater was introduced as the new Liberal leader in February 2009; at the same time, the party voted to disaffiliate itself from the federal Liberal Party, ending an affiliation that dated back more than a century. This did not change the party's fortunes; in the 2011 election, the Liberals ran only nine candidates and support fell to below 1%, with the Green Party surpassing the Liberals in popular support. Bater resigned as leader on January 31, 2012, and Greg Gallager was appointed interim leader. In 2013, Reid Hill was set to be acclaimed the party's new leader as the only declared candidate. However, he decided not to take the position, stating that he had hoped for a competitive race to revive public interest in the party, rather than simply being handed the leadership due to lack of interest. Darrin Lamoureux was appointed interim leader on December 16, 2013, and was acclaimed the leader on August 21, 2014, when no other candidates ran for the position.

The party managed to field a full slate of 61 candidates for the 2016 general election, and they finished third among party's with 3.6% support. However, they were once again shut out of the Legislature. Lamoureux resigned as party leader on September 9, 2017, and Tara Jijian was appointed interim leader. Former NDP candidate Naveed Anwar was acclaimed as party leader on May 5, 2018. However, Anwar resigned as leader on September 9, 2020, just weeks before the 2020 election. The party had again been set back by in-fighting, with Anwar and the executive at odds over election candidates and the state of the party. Robert Rudachyk was appointed as the party's interim leader for the election. Running only three candidates, the party received just 355 votes, marking the worst performance in party history.

Following the 2020 provincial election, the party set about looking for a new permanent leader. In 2021, members unanimously acclaimed University of Regina lecturer Jeff Walters as the new leader. Walters emphasized the need in the province for a centrist alternative to the main parties, as well as the distinction of his 'prairie Liberalism' from that of the federal Liberals. Walters worked to increase his party's visibility in challenging the Saskatchewan Party on its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On February 5 2022, Walters organized a rally in front of the Legislature to oppose the end of COVID-19 mandates. Walters also launched "Accountability Saskatchewan", collecting signatures to trigger a plebiscite on a public inquiry into the government's handling of the pandemic. The petition was initially available only online, provoking an official ruling from Elections Saskatchewan affirming the validity of electronic signatures for this purpose in Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan Progress Party (2023–present)
In March 2023, party members voted to change the party name in order to distance themselves from the non-affiliated federal Liberals. In July 2023, the party announced its rebranding as the Saskatchewan Progress Party. Walters stated that the new name was intended to "portray ourselves as visionaries", and that the party hoped to be a "post-partisan or post-ideological party". He stated an intention to focus on finance reform, government accountability, and 'green' energy.

In September 2023, Walters announced his resignation as leader and his intent to step away from politics. He remained on as interim leader of the party until the scheduled leadership election in November 2023. After the scheduled election failed to produce a new party leader, Nathan Bruce was listed as the interim leader in December 2023. In January 2024, Teunis Peters was listed as the party's new interim leader.

Ideology
The Saskatchewan Progress Party has undergone a number of ideological shifts over its history, often responding to political developments around it. For the first several decades of the party's existence, the Saskatchewan Liberals were relatively closely aligned with the Canadian liberalism espoused by the federal Liberal Party. Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King even successfully represented the Saskatchewan district of Prince Albert in Parliament from 1926 to 1946. However, the emergence of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation as a political force in the province led to a rightward shift for the Liberals, as they began fighting elections as an explicitly free-enterprise and anti-socialist party.

The re-emergence of the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1970s forced another re-evaluation for the Liberals. By the 1990s, the party was attempting a more centrist approach between those of the PCs and the NDP; however, the Liberal caucus itself proved divided between left- and right-leaning members, leading to a split that helped create the Saskatchewan Party. However, another major factor in Liberal party fortunes has been a continued association with the federal Liberals, even after they disaffiliated in 2009. This has been seen as a particularly difficult for the party since the 1970s, when federal Liberal policies inflamed expressions of western alienation.

In recent years, the party has emphasized itself as a centrist party. However, political observers have noted that early in the twenty-first century, Saskatchewan parties had "crowded towards... the ideological centre", while more recent years have been marked by political polarization. The party's most recent permanent leader, Jeff Walters, suggested that the re-branded Saskatchewan Progress Party strove to become "post-ideological", emphasizing the need to pursue policy that "gives the greatest good to the greatest number of people".

Party leaders
† Denotes vacant or acting/interim leader