The 1938 Saskatchewan general election was held on June 8, 1938, to elect members of the

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, in the na ...

. The

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

was returned to power under its new leader,

William John Patterson William John Patterson (May 13, 1886 – June 10, 1976) was a Liberal politician and the sixth premier of Saskatchewan from 1935 to 1944. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the 1921 election. He succeeded Jame ...

, but 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 Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...

party led by

George Hara Williams George Hara Williams (November 17, 1894 – September 12, 1945) was a Canadian farmer activist and politician.Dale-Burnett, LisaWilliams, George (1894–1945), ''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, accessed February 12, 2008 Biography Born in Binsca ...

, 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 Group There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Pa ...

became the Saskatchewan CCF following the previous election. The

Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan The Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan (originally known as the Social Credit League of Saskatchewan) was a political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan that promoted social credit economic theories from the mid-1930s to the mid-1970s. ...

, which promoted the

social credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

theories of monetary reform, rode a wave of popularity from the 1935 electoral success of its Alberta counterpart and collected almost 16% of the votes, but won only two seats. Six "

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...

" candidates also ran in an attempt to create a

popular front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

of the

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, CCF supporters and various populists. Although two were elected, they received only a very small fraction of the overall vote. The Conservative Party – under its new leader,

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 leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electi ...

– continued its decline as their share of the popular vote fell from 25% to under 12%. The party won no seats. Diefenbaker later had considerably 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

, - bgcolor=CCCCCC !rowspan=2 colspan=2 align=center, Party !rowspan=2 align=center, Party leader !rowspan=2, Candidates !colspan=4 align=center, Seats !colspan=3 align=center, Popular vote , - bgcolor=CCCCCC , align="center",

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

, align="center", Dissol. , align="center", Elected , align="center", % Change , align="center", # , align="center", % , align="center", % Change , align="center", William Patterson , align="right", 53 , align="right", 50 , align="right", 50 , align="right", 38 , align="right", -24% , align="right", 200,334 , align="right", 45.45% , align="right", -2.55% , align="center", George Williams , align="right", 31 , align="right", 5 , align="right", 5 , align="right", 10 , align="right", +100% , align="right", 82,529 , align="right", 18.73% , align="right", -5.26% , align="center", Joseph Needham
(default) , align="right", 40 , align="right", * , align="right", – , align="right", 2 , align="right", * , align="right", 70,084 , align="right", 15.90% , align="right", * , align=left,

, align="center", , align="right", 3 , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", 2 , align="right", – , align="right", 9,848 , align="right", 2.24% , align="right", +2.00% , align=left,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, align="center",

, align="right", 24 , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", 52,315 , align="right", 11.87% , align="right", -14.88% , colspan=2 align=left, Independent Labour , align="right", 3 , align="right", * , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", * , align="right", 12,039 , align="right", 2.73% , align="right", +2.40% , align=left, Labour Progressive , align="center", , align="right", 2 , align="right", * , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", * , align="right", 8,514 , align="right", 1.93% , align="right", * , colspan=2 align=left, Independent , align="right", 2 , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", 4,023 , align="right", 0.91% , align="right", +0.22% , colspan=2 align=left, Independent

, align="right", 1 , align="right", * , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", * , align="right", 828 , align="right", 0.19% , align="right", * , - , bgcolor="ACDEAD", , colspan=2 align=left, Independent

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

, align="right", 1 , align="right", * , align="right", – , align="right", – , align="right", * , align="right", 228 , align="right", 0.05% , align="right", * , - , colspan=3, Total , align="right", 160 , align="right", 55 , align="right", 55 , align="right", 52 , align="right", -5.5% , align="right", 440,742 , align="right", 100% , align="right", , - , align="center" colspan=11, Source:''
Elections Saskatchewan
, - Note: * Party did not nominate candidates in previous election.

Percentages

Ranking

Riding results

Names in bold represent cabinet ministers and the Speaker. ''Party leaders'' are ''italicized''. The symbol " ** " indicates MLAs who are not running again.

Northwestern Saskatchewan

, style="width: 130px",

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Paul Prince Paul Prince (February 23, 1897 – December 17, 1949) was a merchant and political figure in Saskatchewan. He represented The Battlefords from 1940 to 1944 and from 1948 to 1949 in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan as a Liberal. He ...

, align="right", 3,289 , align="right", 61.76% , align="right", +13.71% , CCF , Max Campbell , align="right", 2,036 , align="right", 38.24% , align="right", +18.41% , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 5,325 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , style="width: 130px",

, Hubert Staines , align="right", Acclaimed , align="right", 100.00% , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", Acclamation !align="right",

Northeastern Saskatchewan

, - , style="width: 130px", CCF , Joe Burton , align="right", 3,909 , align="right", 50.90% , align="right", +4.75% ,

, Charles Dunn , align="right", 3,771 , align="right", 49.10% , align="right", +0.41% , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 7,680 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right", , style="width: 130px",

, Harry Fraser , align="right", Acclaimed , align="right", 100.00% , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", Acclamation !align="right",

West Central Saskatchewan

East Central Saskatchewan

Southwest Saskatchewan

Southeast Saskatchewan

Urban constituencies

, style="width: 130px",

, (x) Bernard J. McDaniel , align="right", 10,197 , align="right", 49.52% , align="right", – ,

, Reginald M. Balfour , align="right", 5,809 , align="right", 28.21% , align="right", – , CCF , Charles Cromwell Williams , align="right", 4,298 , align="right", 20.87% , align="right", – ,

–

Farmer-Labour There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Pa ...

, J.B. McLeod , align="right", 156 , align="right", 0.76% , align="right", – ,

, Cornelius Rink , align="right", 133 , align="right", 0.64% , align="right", – , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 20,593 !align="right", 100.00% !align="right",

Notes

References

*Brown, Lorne A. "The Early CCF in Saskatchewan." In ''The Prairie Agrarian Movement Revisited'', edited by Murray Knuttila and Bob Stirling, 169-185. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2007.
Saskatchewan Archives Board - Election Results By Electoral DivisionElections Saskatchewan - Provincial Vote Summaries