Canadian provincial election
The 1944 Saskatchewan general election, the tenth in the history of the province, was held on June 15, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, under the leadership of Tommy Douglas, was elected to a majority government.
Summary.
The 1944 election was held six years after the previous election in 1938. While there is normally a five-year limit on the lifespan of Parliaments and provincial assemblies in Canada, the emergency brought on by the Second World War allowed the government to delay the election temporarily, which William Patterson's governing Liberal Party opted to do.
The 1944 election marked the first time a nominally socialist government was elected anywhere in Canada. With the victory, Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) leader Tommy Douglas became the premier of Saskatchewan. The CCF, which had spent two terms as the Official Opposition, won 47 of the 52 seats in the legislature, and over half the popular vote.
The Liberals, led by Patterson, had run a negative campaign, accusing Douglas and the CCF of being communists. The Liberal popular vote fell by 10 percentage points, and the party won only five seats. This marked the worst defeat of a sitting government in Saskatchewan's history.
The Social Credit Party, which had won 16% of the vote and two seats in the 1938 election, collapsed; the party had only one candidate, who received only 249 votes.
The Communist Party-led Unity movement reverted to the name Labor-Progressive Party, and lost both of the seats it had won in 1938.
The Conservative Party, renamed the Progressive Conservative Party and led by Rupert Ramsay, continued to see its share of the vote drop, taking only just over 10% of the vote, and won no seats.
An at-large service vote was held for Saskatchewan residents in the Canadian armed services fighting during the war. This special vote elected three nonpartisan members to represent Saskatchewan soldiers, sailors and airmen stationed in Great Britain, the Mediterranean region, and Newfoundland and Canada outside the province. Alberta had a similar system during the war.
Results.
Note: * Party did not nominate candidates in previous election.
Riding-by-riding results.
Names in bold represent cabinet ministers and the Speaker. "Party leaders" are "italicized". The symbol " ** " indicates MLAs who are not running again.
References.
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