The Liberals were a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics during the first half of the twentieth century, forming government for all but five years between 1905 and 1944.

With the emergence of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) under Tommy Douglas' leadership, the Liberals spent the following two decades in Opposition before forming two more majority governments from 1964 to 1971.

[5] One of the keys to Liberal success was their close relationship with immigrant communities and especially with the largest farmers' lobby in the province, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association.

While the Ku Klux Klan gained a foothold in the province—the organization had 25,000 members in Saskatchewan by 1929—and fomented discriminatory attitudes towards French, Catholic, and Eastern European settlers, Premier Gardiner defended his government's immigration policies and called the Klan both a foreign entity and a tool of the provincial Conservative Party.

[7][8] The Conservatives were reported to have aided Klan organization by supplying it with membership lists, and the party itself developed a nativist platform in the late 1920s, promising to protect British, Anglo-Saxon values.

[9] The Liberals were also heavily criticized for years of blatant patronage, which helped to move farmers closer to greater political participation and, more immediately, solidified a strong anti-Liberal bloc in the province.

They proved unable to gain the confidence of the Legislature, resulting in a coalition government under Conservative premier James T.M.

Anderson—his party won 24 seats, and gained the support of the handful of Progressive and Independent members to form a coalition that they termed the "Co-operative" government.

Almost immediately, Gardiner had to contend with the passage through Saskatchewan of the On-to-Ottawa Trek, a 1935 convoy meant to take the concerns of unemployed workers directly to the federal government.

Bennett declared that the trekkers would not proceed past Regina, which acted as the headquarters to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

[13] The Liberals held on to their majority in the 1938 election, but they lost twelve seats as the Depression continued and the CCF gained further momentum.

Although the Second World War began to relieve Depression conditions, by 1944 the CCF, under new leader Tommy Douglas, appeared poised to take power.

CCF organizing had effectively captured the Liberals' traditional base, with farmers and immigrant settlers largely moving to the new party.

In Opposition, the Liberals became a vehemently anti-socialist party, persistently railing against the CCF government's interventions in the economy and presenting themselves as a free-market alternative.

In 1957, future party leader Ross Thatcher famously held a televised debate against Douglas in Mossbank on the topic of the province's crown corporations.

However, the Liberals under Thatcher came firmly to the support of the province's organized medical profession, which was adamantly opposed to the scheme.

Douglas resigned his post in the middle of this battle in 1961 to take on the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP), and a 1962 doctors' strike threatened to put an end to the plan.

[17] With the province divided over the bitter medicare debate, Thatcher was able to lead the Liberals back to a majority government in the 1964 election, although the popular vote was a virtual tie.

Thatcher—who had begun his own career as a member of the CCF—promised to open Saskatchewan for business and to dramatically scale back the government's involvement in the economy.

His biggest success came in the potash sector; while the industry got off the ground under the CCF, it expanded rapidly in the latter half of the 1960s, so much so that Thatcher ultimately negotiated a minimum price and production cap with American producers.

[22] The result was even worse in 1982; while the PCs surged to power under Grant Devine, Liberals won less than five percent of the vote.

[23] Ahead of the 1995 election, the Liberals appeared poised to take advantage of a scandal-ridden Progressive Conservative Party badly damaged by an expense fraud scandal.

Then, in August 1997, four Liberal members—Bob Bjornerud, June Draude, Rod Gantefoer, and Ken Krawetz—joined four PC members in announcing the founding of the Saskatchewan Party.

[41] Walters also launched "Accountability Saskatchewan", collecting signatures to trigger a plebiscite on a public inquiry into the government's handling of the pandemic.

[52] The Saskatchewan Progress Party has undergone a number of ideological shifts over its history, often responding to political developments around it.

[53] Liberal Prime Minister Mackenzie King even successfully represented the Saskatchewan district of Prince Albert in Parliament from 1926 to 1946.

However, the emergence of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation as a political force in the province led to a rightward shift for the Liberals, as they began fighting elections as an explicitly free-enterprise and anti-socialist party.