The premier of Saskatchewan, Canada, is the province's head of government since 1905. Saskatchewan uses a unicameral Westminster-style parliamentary government, in which the premier is the leader of the party that has the support of a majority in the Legislative Assembly. The premier chooses a cabinet from the elected members to form the Executive Council of Saskatchewan, and presides over that body.
Members are first elected to the legislature during general elections. General elections must be conducted every five years from the date of the last election, but the premier may ask for early dissolution of the legislative assembly. An election may also happen if the governing party loses the confidence of the legislature, by the defeat of a supply bill or passage of a non-confidence motion.
Prior to 1905, Saskatchewan was part of the North-West Territories and was governed by the lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territories from 1870 until 1897, and the premier of the North-West Territories from 1897 to 1905.
No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Electoral mandates (Assembly) | Political party | Riding | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Premiers of the North-West Territories | |||||||||
1 | Frederick W. A. G. Haultain (1857–1942) | 7 October 1897 | 1 September 1905 | Title created (3rd N.W. Leg.) 1898 election (4th N.W. Leg.) | Non-partisan | MLA for Macleod | |||
Led negotiations for provincial status for Alberta and Saskatchewan. | |||||||||
Premiers of Saskatchewan | |||||||||
1 | Thomas Walter Scott (1867–1938) | 12 September 1905 | 20 October 1916 | Title created (caretaker government) | Liberal (Ldr. 1905) | MLA for Lumsden (1905–1908) MLA for Swift Current (1908–1916) | |||
2 | William Melville Martin (1876–1970) | 20 October 1916 | 5 April 1922 | Appointment (3rd Leg.) | Liberal (Ldr. 1916) | MLA for Regina City (1916–1921) MLA for Regina City #1 (1921–1922) | |||
Until 20 October 1917 was the only premier to not be the President of the Executive Council (he was the Minister of Education and J. A. Calder was President of the Executive Council) [1] | |||||||||
3 | Charles Avery Dunning (1885–1958) | 5 April 1922 | 26 February 1926 | Appointment (5th Leg.) | Liberal (Ldr. 1922) | MLA for Moose Jaw County | |||
4 (1 of 2) | James G. Gardiner (1883–1962) | 26 February 1926 | 9 September 1929 | Appointment (6th Leg.) | Liberal (Ldr. 1926) | MLA for North Qu'Appelle | |||
5 | James Thomas Milton Anderson (1878–1946) | 9 September 1929 | 19 July 1934 | Appointment (7th Leg.) | Conservative (Ldr. 1924) | MLA for Saskatoon City #1 | |||
— (2 of 2) | James Garfield Gardiner (1883–1962) | 19 July 1934 | 1 November 1935 | 1934 election (8th Leg.) | Liberal (Ldr. 1926) | MLA for Melville | |||
6 | William John Patterson (1886–1976) | 1 November 1935 | 10 July 1944 | Appointment (8th Leg.) | Liberal (Ldr. 1935) | MLA for Cannington | |||
First Premier born in Saskatchewan. [2] | |||||||||
7 | Tommy Douglas (1904–1986) | 10 July 1944 | 7 November 1961 | 1944 election (10th Leg.) | Co-operative Commonwealth (Ldr. 1942) | MLA for Weyburn | |||
8 | Woodrow Lloyd (1913–1972) | 7 November 1961 | 22 May 1964 | Appointment (14th Leg.) | Co-operative Commonwealth (Ldr. 1961) | MLA for Biggar | |||
9 | Ross Thatcher (1917–1971) | 22 May 1964 | 30 June 1971 | 1964 election (15th Leg.) | Liberal (Ldr. 1959) | MLA for Morse | |||
10 | Allan Blakeney (1925–2011) | 30 June 1971 | 8 May 1982 | 1971 election (17th Leg.) | New Democratic (Ldr. 1970) | MLA for Regina Centre (1971–1975) MLA for Regina Elphinstone (1975–1982) | |||
11 | Grant Devine (b. 1944) | 8 May 1982 | 1 November 1991 | 1982 election (20th Leg.) | Progressive Conservative (Ldr. 1979) | MLA for Estevan | |||
12 | Roy Romanow (b. 1939) | 1 November 1991 | 8 February 2001 | 1991 election (22nd Leg.) | New Democratic (Ldr. 1987) | MLA for Saskatoon Riversdale | |||
13 | Lorne Calvert (b. 1952) | 8 February 2001 | 21 November 2007 | Appointment (24th Leg.) | New Democratic (Ldr. 2001) | MLA for Saskatoon Riversdale | |||
14 | Brad Wall (b. 1965) | 21 November 2007 | 2 February 2018 | 2007 election (26th Leg.) | Saskatchewan (Ldr. 2004) | MLA for Swift Current | |||
15 | Scott Moe (b. 1973) | 2 February 2018 | incumbent | Appointment (28th Leg.) | Saskatchewan (Ldr. 2018) | MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook |
Walter Scott was the first premier of Saskatchewan from 1905 to 1916.
Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain was a lawyer and a long-serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades. He served as the first premier of the Northwest Territories from 1897 to 1905 as is recognized as having a significant contribution towards the creation of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. From 1905 on he served as Leader of the Official Opposition in Saskatchewan as well as Leader of the Provincial Rights Party. His legislative career ended when he was appointed to the judiciary in 1912.
James Thomas Milton Anderson was the fifth premier of Saskatchewan and the first Conservative to hold the office.
James Garfield Gardiner was a Canadian farmer, educator, and politician. He served as the fourth premier of Saskatchewan, and as a minister in the Canadian Cabinet.
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from single-member electoral districts. Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Alberta, as the viceregal representative of the King of Canada. The Legislative Assembly and the Lieutenant Governor together make up the unicameral Alberta Legislature.
The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories, is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a unicameral elected body that creates and amends law in the Northwest Territories. Permanently located in Yellowknife since 1993, the assembly was founded in 1870 and became active in 1872 with the first appointments from the Government of Canada.
The 1905 Alberta general election was the first general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on November 9, 1905, to elect twenty-five members of the Alberta legislature to the 1st Alberta Legislative Assembly, shortly after the province was created out of part of the Northwest Territories on September 1, 1905.
The 1909 Alberta general election was the second general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on March 22, 1909, to elect 41 members of the Alberta legislature to the 2nd Alberta Legislature.
The 1898 North-West Territories general election took place on 4 November 1898. This was the fourth general election in the history of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories.
The 1902 North-West Territories general election, occurred on 21 May 1902 and was the fifth general election in the history of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was held to elect 35 Members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories.
The 1891 North-West Territories general election was held on 7 November 1891 to elect 25 members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories, Canada. It was the second general election in the History of the North-West Territories. The legislature for the first time had no appointed members. It had 25 elected members, four more than in the 1888 election. The assembly had grown by one member -- the three appointed "at large" legal advisors who had sat in the assembly previously were no longer there.
The 1st Council of the North-West Territories, also known as the North-West Council in Canada, lasted from October 7, 1876, to 1888. It was created as a permanent replacement to the Temporary North-West Council which existed prior to 1876.
The North-West Territories Liberal-Conservative Party also known formally as the Liberal-Conservative Association prior to 1903 and the Territorial Conservative Association after 1903, was a short lived political party in the Northwest Territories, Canada. from 1897 to 1905. It was a branch of the federal Conservative Party of Canada.
Donald Hogarth McDonald was a Canadian politician.
The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan, in the name of the King in Right of Saskatchewan. The assembly meets at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina.
The Legislature of Saskatchewan is made of two elements: the lieutenant governor as representative of the King, and the unicameral assembly called the Legislative Assembly. The legislature has existed since Saskatchewan was formed out of part of the North-West Territories in 1905.