Saskatchewan general election, 1956

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Saskatchewan general election, 1956
Canadian Red Ensign 1921-1957.svg
  1952 June 20, 1956 (1956-06-20) 1960  

53 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
27 seats needed for a majority

  First party Second party Third party
  Tommy Douglas crop.jpg
LIB
SC
Leader Tommy Douglas Alexander McDonald
Party Co-operative Commonwealth Liberal Social Credit
Leader since July 17, 1942 November 26, 1954
Leader's seat Weyburn Moosomin
Last election 42 11 0
Seats won 36 14 3
Seat changeDecrease2.svg6Increase2.svg3Increase2.svg3
Popular vote 249,634 167,427 118,491
Percentage 45.3% 30.3% 21.5%
SwingDecrease2.svg8.8pp Decrease2.svg8.9ppIncrease2.svg17.6pp

Premier before election

Tommy Douglas
Co-operative Commonwealth

Premier-designate

Tommy Douglas
Co-operative Commonwealth

The Saskatchewan general election of 1956 was the thirteenth provincial election held in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on June 20, 1956, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

Provinces and territories of Canada Top-level subdivisions of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada are the sub-national governments within the geographical areas of Canada under the authority of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North America—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada —were united to form a federated colony, becoming a sovereign nation in the next century. Over its history, Canada's international borders have changed several times, and the country has grown from the original four provinces to the current ten provinces and three territories. Together, the provinces and territories make up the world's second-largest country by area.

Saskatchewan Province of Canada

Saskatchewan is a prairie and boreal province in western Canada, the only province without natural borders. It has an area of 651,900 square kilometres (251,700 sq mi), nearly 10 percent of which is fresh water, composed mostly of rivers, reservoirs, and the province's 100,000 lakes.

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan

The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is one of two components of the Legislature of Saskatchewan, the other being the Queen of Canada in Right of Saskatchewan,. The legislature has been unicameral since its establishment; there has never been a provincial upper house.

Contents

The campaign

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation government of Tommy Douglas lost a significant share of the popular vote, and 6 of the seats it had won in the 1952 election; but retained its majority in the legislature, winning a fourth term in office.

Tommy Douglas 7th Premier of Saskatchewan

Thomas Clement Douglas was a Canadian politician who served as Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961 and Leader of the New Democratic Party from 1961 to 1971. A Baptist minister, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). He left federal politics to become Leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan. His cabinet was the first social democrat government in North America and it introduced the continent's first single-payer, universal health care program.

The Liberal Party of Alexander H. McDonald also lost votes, but picked up an additional three seats.

The Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan rebounded from its poor results in previous elections to win over 21% of the popular vote. Because this was spread out across the province, however, the party won only 3 seats in the legislature under the British parliamentary first-past-the-post system.

The Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan was a political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan that promoted social credit economic theories from the mid-1930s to the mid-1970s.

Westminster system democratic parliamentary system of government

The Westminster system is a parliamentary system of government developed in the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British Parliament. The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature. It is used, or was once used, in the national legislatures and subnational legislatures of most former British Empire colonies upon gaining responsible government, beginning with the first of the Canadian provinces in 1848 and the six Australian colonies between 1855 and 1890. However, some former colonies have since adopted either the presidential system or a hybrid system as their form of government.

First-past-the-post voting voting system in which voters select one candidate, and the candidate who receives more votes than any other candidate wins

A first-past-the-post electoral system is one in which voters indicate on a ballot the candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins. This is sometimes described as winner takes all. First-past-the-post voting is a plurality voting method. FPTP is a common, but not universal, feature of electoral systems with single-member electoral divisions, and is practiced in close to one third of countries. Notable examples include Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as most of their current or former colonies and protectorates.

Results

PartyParty Leader# of
candidates
SeatsPopular Vote
1952 Elected% Change#%% Change
Co-operative Commonwealth Tommy Douglas 534236-14.3%249,63445.25%-8.81%
Liberal Alexander McDonald 521114+27.3%167,42730.34%-8.93%
Social Credit 533 118,49121.48%+17.58%
Progressive Conservative Alvin Hamilton 910,9211.98%+0.01%
 Independent 24,7140.85%+0.57%
Labor–Progressive 25360.10%-0.11%
Total1715353551,723100% 
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

See also

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