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Partido Progresista de Saskatchewan

El Partido Progresista de Saskatchewan fue una sección provincial del Partido Progresista de Canadá y estuvo activo desde principios de la década de 1920 hasta mediados de la de...

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El Partido Progresista de Saskatchewan fue una sección provincial del Partido Progresista de Canadá y estuvo activo desde principios de la década de 1920 hasta mediados de la de 1930. Los progresistas fueron un movimiento político socialdemócrata agrario . Dedicado a la reforma política y económica, el movimiento progresista cuestionó las políticas económicas que favorecían los intereses financieros e industriales del centro de Canadá por encima de los intereses agrarios y, en menor medida, laborales. Al igual que su contraparte federal, defendía el libre comercio frente al proteccionismo . Este movimiento puede considerarse la primera expresión partidista del descontento del oeste canadiense.

En Saskatchewan, el Partido Progresista participó en tres elecciones generales. En sus últimas elecciones, en 1929, el partido obtuvo cinco escaños, que se unieron a un gobierno de coalición con el Partido Conservador de JTM Anderson . A mediados de la década de 1930, la Federación Cooperativa de la Commonwealth , a la que se unieron muchos progresistas, asumió el liderazgo del partido socialdemócrata agrario .

El movimiento progresista

El movimiento progresista surgió de la agitación de los agricultores de las praderas en busca de un mayor control económico y mejores condiciones económicas, incluyendo el libre comercio y la nacionalización de los ferrocarriles. Los agricultores organizados publicaron "Plataformas Agrarias" antes de las elecciones federales de 1911 y 1917 , y cada vez más, las declaraciones agrarias se animaron con principios anticapitalistas y de evangelización social. [ 1 ] A finales de la década de 1910, insatisfechos con las respuestas de los partidos Liberal y Conservador , los agricultores se mostraron cada vez más decididos a entrar ellos mismos en la arena política.

Despite the dominance of agriculture in Saskatchewan, the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan was never able to match the success it and the United Farmers movement had in other provinces such as Alberta, where the United Farmers of Alberta governed from 1921 to 1935, Manitoba, where the Progressive Party of Manitoba was able to form government, or even Ontario, where the United Farmers of Ontario took power in 1919.[2] This was largely because while in other provinces farmers organizations were increasingly alienated from mainline political parties, in Saskatchewan the ruling provincial Liberal Party made extra effort to ally itself with farmers' interests and worked closely with the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association (SGGA) in particular, which, in turn, resisted efforts to create a farmers' party in the province.[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. Even so, a Saskatchewan Progressive Party was established, and throughout the 1920s its presence would prove consequential in provincial politics.

Electoral participation

The Progressives ran seven candidates for the first time in the 1921 general election, and had six members elected to the Saskatchewan legislature despite the absence of a strong provincial organization due to the reluctance of the SGGA to break with the Liberal Party. The Liberals were re-elected with a large majority of 46 of 63 seats.[5] However, local affinity for the Liberals did not extend to the federal arena, and Premier William Melville Martin created a political crisis when he explicitly campaigned against the federal Progressive Party in support of the Liberals ahead of the 1921 federal election. Progressive candidates won 15 of 16 Saskatchewan seats in the election. 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. Martin himself was forced to step down in the aftermath.[6]

The SGGA subsequently authorized the creation of local political action committees across the province to assist Progressive organization, but Progressives were unable to build significantly on the 1921 breakthrough. 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.[6] Dunning was able to regain the confidence of the official farmers movement and re-establish the Liberal Party's credentials as a farmer's party and in 1924 the SGGA decided again to withdrawal from electoral politics.[3] Moreover, farming proved prosperous in the 1920s, blunting demands for extensive reform.[3] The Progressives fielded just six candidates in the 1925 provincial election; however, all were elected and managed to capture nearly a quarter of the popular vote, earning Official Opposition status.[5]

Coalition government

By 1929, Saskatchewan had seen more than two decades of continuous Liberal rule, the only governing party in provincial history. 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. One group of "more militant Progressives" ran three candidates under the banner of the "Economic Group", borrowing elements from both the Progressive and Conservative platforms; none of the three candidates were elected.[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.[8][9] The Liberals won 28 seats, leaving them short of a majority. 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. One Progressive, Reginald Stipe, was appointed to Anderson's cabinet.[3] The government, termed the "Co-operative government", was almost immediately faced with the onset of the Great Depression, which was particularly severe on the Canadian prairies.

Collapse of the Progressives

While the Progressives moved to the right in supporting the Conservatives, farmers once again became radicalized and moved to the left due to the Depression. The SGGA had amalgamated with the Farmers' Union of Canada to form the United Farmers of Canada (Saskatchewan Section) in 1926.[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. The decision signaled the demise of the Progressives.

In 1932, Williams' party joined with the Independent Labour Party to form the Farmer-Labour Group. Progressive MLA Jacob Benson joined the new party, while Charles Agar joined the opposition Liberals. Other Progressive MLAs either joined the Conservative Party or left politics. In the 1934 provincial election, the FLG had five MLAs elected to the legislature and became the Official Opposition, subsequently becoming the Saskatchewan section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation—FLG had been a founding component of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in 1932.[12]

Election results

The Saskatchewan Progressives contested three provincial elections, twice attaining second party status, and in 1929 holding the balance of power in a coalition government with the Conservative Party.[5]

References

  1. ↑Conway, John F. (2014). The Rise of the New West: The History of a Region in Confederation. Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. pp. 56–62. ISBN 9781459406247.
  2. ↑Conway. Rise of the New West. pp. 62–63.
  3. 1234Coneghan, Damian, Progressive PartyArchived 2017-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
  4. ↑Waiser, Bill (2005). Saskatchewan: A New History. Calgary: Fifth House. p. 223. ISBN 9781894856492.
  5. 123Leeson, Howard A., ed. (2001). Saskatchewan Politics: Into the Twenty-First Century. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre. pp. 407–08. ISBN 0-88977-131-6.
  6. 12Waiser. Saskatchewan. pp. 237–38.
  7. ↑Kyba, John Patrick (1964). "Appendix B 3-6". The Saskatchewan General Election of 1929 (MA thesis). University of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  8. ↑Waiser. Saskatchewan. pp. 249–252.
  9. ↑Latimer, Kendall (2017-08-18). "KKK history challenges idea Sask. always welcomed newcomers: expert". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  10. ↑Warnock, John W. (2004). Saskatchewan: The Roots of Discontent and Protest. Montreal: Black Rose Books. p. 340. ISBN 1-55164-244-1.
  11. ↑Conway. Rise of the New West. p. 116.
  12. ↑Praud, Jocelyne; McQuarrie, Sarah (2001). "The Saskatchewan CCF-NDP from the Regina Manifesto to the Romanow years". In Leeson, Howard A. (ed.). Saskatchewan Politics: Into the Twenty-First Century. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre. pp. 143–45. ISBN 0-88977-131-6.