The Tories, who were a minor force in the previous election, drew over a quarter of the 1975 electorate.

At the onset of the campaign, Saskatchewan was facing court challenges and a capital strike from multinational resource extraction companies.

The potash industry was opposed to the new provincial reserve tax that Blakeney's government had introduced on that mineral the previous year.

[1] Under these circumstances, the opposition Liberal and PC parties proposed lower natural resource royalty payments to ease the companies' concerns and bring investments back to the province.

The platform promised to increase royalties, and more direct government participation in the natural resources sector, especially for the development and exploration of energy resources like oil, gas, coal and uranium; and minerals like potash.