1960 Saskatchewan General Election
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The 1960 Saskatchewan general election was held on June 8, 1960, to elect members of the
14th Saskatchewan Legislature The 14th Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan was elected in the Saskatchewan general election held in June 1960. The assembly sat from February 9, 1961, to March 18, 1964. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) led by Tommy Douglas formed ...
. The
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...
of Thomas C. Douglas was re-elected to majority government. The
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...
of Thomas C. Douglas campaigned promising Medicare, a public medical insurance and delivery plan for all of Saskatchewan, and it was re-elected with a slightly increased majority. The CCF won despite organized opposition from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which told voters that Medicare would take freedom of choice away from patients and would cause doctors to leave the province. A year later, Douglas passed legislation making Saskatchewan the first province in Canada to have Medicare. The same year, Douglas resigned as leader of the CCF to become leader of the federal
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
, handing over the premiership to
Woodrow Lloyd Woodrow Stanley Lloyd (July 16, 1913 – April 7, 1972) was a Canadian politician and educator who served as the 8th premier of Saskatchewan from 1961 to 1964. Born in Saskatchewan in 1913, he became a teacher in the early 1930s. He worked as ...
. The Saskatchewan CCF kept its old name through the 1964 election then switched to being the NDP.


Campaigns

In addition to the elections campaigns led by the four main
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
, the College of Physicians and Surgeons launched a full-scale campaign against Medicare.


CCF

The Saskatchewan CCF, led by Douglas, proposed "a province-wide medical care program." Douglas assured voters that the only thing that would change about the medical system would be that the doctor would bill the medical care plan instead of billing the patient. The CCF won the election, with 37 seats, one more than in the previous election in 1956.


Progressive Conservatives

The
Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan is a conservative political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Founded in 1905 by former Northwest Territories Premier Frederick Haultain, the party was first known as the Provincial ...
, led by Martin Pederson, a 38-year-old farmer, won considerable support in the cities ( Regina and
Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
), but they were not able to win any seats in the legislature. The 15 federal Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament from Saskatchewan campaigned for the provincial party. The main issue for the party was not Medicare but farm prosperity. It promised farmers grant of a $1 per acre ($247/km2) from the province, with a maximum of $100. It claimed that this program would be made possible by assistance from the federal government of
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...
, from Saskatchewan himself and a former leader of the Saskatchewan PCs. On Medicare, it only proposed a
Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...
.


Liberals

The
Liberal Party of Saskatchewan 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 20 ...
, led by Ross Thatcher of
Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the List of cities in Saskatchewan, fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Re ...
, claimed that Pederson's promise of land payments was tantamount to bribery. It won 17 seats, and formed the
official opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...
. Thatcher, a former member of the CCF, was concerned about the economic problems in the province. He was neutral on Medicare and stated that it would be up to the people of Saskatchewan to decide whether or not the province would implement it. The party was also in favour of pre-paid medical insurance. The Liberals were concerned that the economic development of Saskatchewan had lagged behind the rest of Canada during the Douglas era. They were also concerned about the proposed merger of the CCF and the
Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC ( or ), is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian trade union, labour unions are affiliated. History Formation The CLC was founded on April 23, 1956, thro ...
, which later led to the formation of the
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
.


Social Credit

The Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan was led by the 38-year-old Martin Kelln, who had strong views about monetary reform and the
social credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...
movement, and was viewed by many as a serious threat to the ruling CCF government. However, the party was unable to win any seats. It was the only party openly opposed to Medicare.


College of Physicians and Surgeons

The College of Physisicans and Surgeons ran a campaign against Medicare. Almost all doctors in Saskatchewan were against it, and many had pamphlets available in their offices. The college paid for anti-Medicare ads in newspapers and on television. The college used scare tactics to frighten the public by claiming, for example, that patients would just be numbers and that patients would be assigned new doctors based on their names or that the government would be able to pass on medical secrets of patients.


Electoral system

In this election, Saskatchewan used a mixture of single-member districts, electing through
First past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...
, and multiple-member districts, electing through
Plurality block voting Plurality block voting is a type of block voting method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The candidates with the most votes are elected. The usual result when the candidates div ...
.Parliamentary Guide


Results

Notes:
1Compared to
Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (LPP; ) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada and its provincial wings from 1943 to 1959. It was established amid World War II after a number of prominent Communist Party members w ...
in
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
.
2One seat declared void.


Percentages


See also

* List of political parties in Saskatchewan *
List of Saskatchewan provincial electoral districts This is a list of provincial electoral districts in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Current electoral districts * Athabasca (Saskatchewan provincial electoral district), Athabasca (1934) * Arm River (electoral district), Arm River (201 ...


References


Further reading

*


External links


Saskatchewan Archives Board – Election Results By Electoral Division
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saskatchewan general election, 1960 1960 elections in Canada
General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...
June 1960 in Canada