Territorial premier Frederick Haultain had advocated for the creation of one large western province, which he wanted to call Buffalo.

Anderson ran a largely nativist campaign, and was known to have been closely associated with the provincial branch of the Ku Klux Klan, which supported his election.

[11] In 1935, the On-to-Ottawa Trek, an attempted convoy of unemployed workers making their way from western Canada to Ottawa, was violently stopped by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Regina.

[12] The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation emerged that decade as a populist socialist alternative, which was well-positioned to critique a political and economic system in crisis.

The CCF promised a more interventionist government that would help direct the province's economic development while building the foundation of a robust welfare state that could ensure a universal standard of public services to residents.

This development laid the foundation for the 1966 Medical Care Act, which expanded medicare nationwide—by then, Douglas had become the leader of the federal New Democratic Party, which held the balance of power in Lester Pearson's minority Liberal governments.

[16] The postwar era brought about an increasing rate of urbanization in Saskatchewan as farms—the foundational unit of the province since its inception—continually became larger and more capital-intensive, and many farmers sold their land and moved to cities.

After five straight electoral victories and a drawn out, bitter dispute over the implementation of medicare, the CCF, now under the leadership of Woodrow Lloyd, lost the 1964 election to Ross Thatcher's Liberals.

Although Thatcher, who had started his own political career with the CCF, railed against socialism—frequently equating it with communism—his Liberals proved unable to overturn medicare, although they did introduce limited user fees.

[21] The NDP would win three consecutive elections under Blakeney in an era that was marked by the 1970s energy crisis and a resurgence of western alienation.

[22] Blakeney also played a key role alongside Alberta's Progressive Conservative premier Peter Lougheed in challenging federal encroachment on provincial resource rights, which was epitomized by the 1980 National Energy Program, instituted by Pierre Trudeau's Liberals.

The PCs surged to power in 1982 under the leadership of Grant Devine, whose campaign focused largely on rural issues, exposing a rapidly growing divide between city and country.

[24] For more than a generation, the province appeared to be ideologically divided between proponents of democratic socialism and free-enterprise capitalism—these are the lines along which political campaigns were waged.

[25] Devine participated in this approach too, proclaiming that Saskatchewan was "open for business", but his time in office—and his fixation on championing agriculture at all costs—marked a shift towards another divide: that between urban and rural.

[27] Devine's government determined to cater to rural interests, and it spent lavishly in building infrastructure and new programs for farmers especially.

It achieved this in part through drawing on a relationship with Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives, which formed a majority government in Ottawa in 1984.

The PCs also wracked up large deficits, and, particularly after securing a second majority in 1986—despite losing the popular vote to the NDP—embarked on a privatization campaign, targeting crown corporations like PotashCorp and SaskOil, eliminating significant sources of government revenue.

[28][31] An RCMP investigation ultimately led to 16 fraud convictions, including several MLAs and former cabinet ministers, many of them serving jail time.

The party, now under the leadership of Bill Boyd, lost nearly half of its vote share in the 1995 election compared to 1991, and was reduced to five MLAs.

Boyd and three other PC MLAs joined a coalition with four Liberal MLAs—all representing rural districts—to form the Saskatchewan Party, which was envisioned as a united alternative to the governing NDP.

Brad Wall became premier at a time of soaring commodity prices, which correspondingly raised revenues, and Wall and his party staked out a position as staunch promoters of the province's resource-based industries, especially potash and oil and gas; however, this promotion prioritized the private sector, a key distinction from past NDP governments.

Wall rose to national prominence in 2010 when he successfully opposed a hostile takeover of Saskatoon-based PotashCorp by Australian mining giant BHP.

Another outcome of the Saskatchewan Party's approach to resource development—especially fossil fuel development—has been persistent clashes with the federal government, particularly since the election of the Liberals under Justin Trudeau in 2015.

Saskatchewan has emerged as a vocal opponent to federal efforts to address climate change and regulate environmental impacts.

[50][51] Moe has been adamant that this opposition represents a new wave of western alienation, and Saskatchewan Party rhetoric consequently focuses largely on national politics.

[56][57] In 2021, former SP MLA Nadine Wilson resigned from the caucus, and in 2022 became the leader of the new Saskatchewan United Party, which focused largely on opposing pandemic-related public health measures.

Diefenbaker was considered an unabashed champion of western Canada, and his populist style and moderate conservatism helped to shift Saskatchewan towards supporting the PCs nationally at a time when the CCF still dominated provincial politics.

This reflects the success of the Conservatives and the Saskatchewan Party in framing the federal government as hostile to the province's economic interests.

[61] Aside from Coldwell, Douglas, and Diefenbaker, the only other Saskatchewan politician to lead a federal party was Regina's Andrew Scheer, who led the Conservative Party—and the Official Opposition—from 2017 to 2020.

[64] King gave prominent cabinet roles to two former Saskatchewan Liberal premiers in Charles Dunning and Jimmy Gardiner.