Saskatchewan general election, 1938

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 Party became the Saskatchewan CCF after the last election.

The Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan, which promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform, collected almost 16% of the votes, but won only two seats.

Unity, a popular front movement led by the Communist Party of Canada (Saskatchewan), won two of the three seats it contested, with only a small share of the popular vote across the province. Two additional candidates who ran as straight Communists failed in their bids for office.

The Conservative Party under its new leader, John Diefenbaker, continued its decline, as its share of the popular vote fell from 25% to under 12%. The party won no seats. Diefenbaker later had considerbly 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.

Source: [http://www.elections.sk.ca/history.php#provincialvotesummaries Elections Saskatchewan]

ee also

*List of Saskatchewan political parties