[1] By the end of the 1910s, dissatisfied with responses from the Liberal and Conservative parties, farmers became increasingly resolved to enter the political arena themselves.
[3][4] The Saskatchewan Liberal government itself had throughout the first decades of the twentieth century many members who were farmers, and the Liberals made a habit of consulting the SGGA about farm policy and of appointing prominent farm activists to cabinet such as Charles Dunning and John Maharg.
Agriculture Minister John Maharg, a former SGGA president, resigned from the Cabinet in response to Martin's campaigning and crossed the floor to sit as an Independent and become Leader of the Opposition.
The SGGA did not sustain its commitment to independent political action, particularly after Premier Martin was replaced as Liberal leader and Premier by Charles Avery Dunning, a former SGGA activist and managing director of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Elevator Company.
For the first time, anti-government forces coordinated in the 1929 election, with Progressive and Conservatives generally opting not to run candidates in the same districts.
[7] However, after running a distinctly nativist campaign buoyed by the support of the Ku Klux Klan, the Conservatives under leader James Anderson surged to second party status, winning 24 seats.
On September 6, 1929, the five Progressive members joined the Conservatives in defeating the Liberals through a motion of non-confidence, and subsequently in a coalition government, allowing Anderson to become premier.
[10] As a result of the Dust Bowl farm crisis during the Depression, the UFC became politicized and adopted a socialist platform.
[11] In 1930, in response to the Progressive-Conservative coalition, the UFC, under the leadership of George Hara Williams, decided to form a new political party.