The election was called on October 8 by Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan Lynda Haverstock, on the advice of Premier Lorne Calvert.

Voters in this agrarian province were disgruntled because of a mediocre harvest, a disastrous summer for cattle producers — the American border had been closed to Canadian beef due to fears of mad cow disease; and the actions of a member of the NDP Cabinet who was found to have misled the people of the province on the nature of the Saskatchewan Potato Utility Development Company ("SPUDCO") — a publicly owned potato company that was inappropriately characterized as a public-private partnership that went bust in 2000.

It depicted Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson directing persons labeled 'NDP sympathizers' onto railway boxcars.

The Saskatchewan Party cemented its grip on most of the rural seats, yet was unable to make further gains in urban areas.

Although speculation was high that they could form the balance of power in the case of a minority government, the Liberals lost their one seat, shutting them out of the legislature for the first time since 1982.