The United Farmers movement was tied to the federal Progressive Party of Canada and formed provincial governments in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba.
The origins of the Progressive Party can be traced to the politics of compromise under Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
The National Policy implemented by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald in the 1890s forced farmers to pay higher prices for equipment and to sell their produce for less.
At the turn of the century, voters in Western Canada began to consider an influx of radical political ideas.
This mix of ideology and discontent led to discussion of forming an independent party, especially in the "Grain Growers' Guide", a magazine of the day.
It was not just western opposition to the tariff and eastern economic power, It was an occupational or class movement with a realistic chance at federal political influence.
Saskatchewan farmer leader and independent MP John Archibald Maharg withdrew his support from the government and joined Crerar, as did eight other Unionist MPs from the west.
Owing to the movement's outgrowth from a variety of provincial farmers' organizations, agrarian leaders were divided on an appropriate federal political strategy.
His political experience in the U.S., rooted in observation of the Populists of the 1890s, led him to believe that the social friction caused by such a third party would lead to the destruction, through splintering of the farmers movements in general.
Wood argued the Canadian farmers' movement should remain a grassroots democratic organization, or "economic solidarity group".
[3] The struggle between Wood's "group government" faction, and agrarian leaders including Crerar who advocated a more traditional party-centric approach to federal politics, troubled the party throughout its existence.
Owing to the anti-party character of the Progressives, individual candidates' campaigns were strictly independent of the national organization, and no financial, organizational, or strategic support was provided under a policy of "constituency autonomy".
Despite finishing second in seat count, there were not enough Progressive and farmer MPs to safely secure the balance of power against the narrow Liberal minority government.
In addition to their power in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, farmers' parties were significant presences in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but this failed to translate into seats in the House of Commons.
This was resisted by Montreal interests in the Liberal Party[further explanation needed] and by radical Progressives, including the UFA MPs.
These followers of Wood wished to remain a decentralized party with each individual member simply representing his constituents, supporting the Liberal government in what it did in their mind right and opposing it in what it did wrong.
In the 1925 election, the Progressives lost almost all of their Ontario members, but were still moderately successful in the west, holding many of their seats in Alberta.
Forke and most of the Manitoba Progressives made a deal with the Liberal Party and ran as Liberal-Progressives in the 1926 election prompted by the fall of the interim Conservative government of Arthur Meighen.
A great number of more recently published works on western politics cite only Morton's book in their discussion of the Progressive Party.
Aligning with the Independent Labour Party they formed the official opposition with 11 MLAs (elected with a 30.9% of the popular vote).
[13] The party began to lose its momentum in the fall when one of its founders, Major Hugh Dickson, was defeated in the Colchester by-election.
In the 1934 provincial election the remaining Progressive MLAs under Harry Nixon ran as Liberal-Progressives in an alliance with the Ontario Liberal Party led by former UFO member Mitch Hepburn.
The Progressive Party of Canada, however, refused to disband, and ran its own candidates in the subsequent federal election against Bracken's Tories.
Agriculture Minister Maharg, a former SGGA president, resigned from the Cabinet in protest and crossed the floor to sit as an Independent and become Leader of the Opposition.
The SGGA subsequently authorized the creation of local political action committees across the province but were unable to build on the 1921 federal breakthrough and only ran 6 of a possible 63 candidates in the next two provincial elections.
As a result of the Dust Bowl farm crisis during the Great Depression the UFC (SS) became politicised and adopted a socialist platform.
In 1930, in response to the Progressive-Conservative coalition, the UFC (SS) under the leadership of George Hara Williams decided to form a new political party.
In the 1934 provincial election, the FLG returned five MLAs to the legislature and subsequently became the Saskatchewan section of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation.