The Provincial Rights Party was a Canadian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

founded and led by

Frederick W. A. G. Haultain Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain (November 25, 1857 – January 30, 1942) was a lawyer and a long-serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades. He served ...

in 1905 to contest elections in the new

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. It was the successor to the eastern branch of the Northwest Territories Conservative Party. Haultain had been

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

of the

North-West Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

prior to the province's creation. He hoped to lead a government in the place of the

Saskatchewan Liberal Party The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The party was the provincial affiliate of the Liberal Party of Canada until 2009. It was previously one of the two largest parties in the provin ...

, which was backed by the federal government of

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...

. In the 1905 election, the Provincial Rights Party won nine seats and 47% of the vote, and the Liberals won 16 seats and 52% of the vote. In the 1908 election, to an expanded 41 seat legislature, the Provincial Rights Party won 14 seats with 47% of the vote, losing again to the Liberals. Haultain was appointed to the

Saskatchewan Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan (SKCA) is a Canadian appellate court. Jurisdiction and structure The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal is the highest court in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. There are 8 official judicial positions, inc ...

by Prime Minister

Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden (June 26, 1854 – June 10, 1937) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I. Borde ...

in 1912, and the Provincial Rights Party became the Saskatchewan Conservative Party. The Provincial Rights Party advocated greater provincial control over land, resources and development, and saw the Liberal Party as being too close to the Laurier federal government.

See also