The Co-Operative Government in Saskatchewan, 1929 - 1934: Response to the Depression
Date
1970-10
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
The subject of this thesis is "The Co-operative
Government in Saskatchewan, 1929-1934: Response to the Depression".
It is composed of a brief introduction, five
chapters and a conclusion.
The first chapter provides a background to Saskatchewan
politics in the 1920s: the decline of the Progressive
party in the face of the ruling Liberal party and the
Conservative revival under Dr. J.T.M. Anderson. The overestimation
of the Ku Klux Klan's impact in the 1929 general
election and the formation of the Conservative-Progressive
coalition is corrected by giving consideration to other
factors, particularly the movement for civil service reform.
The second chapter outlines the personalities of
the Co-operative Government cabinet and its policies prior
to the depression. The government removed sectarianism and
instructional French from the public schools. A Cancer
Commission which provided free diagnosis and treatment, a
strong Public Service Commission, labor legislation and the
ambitious highway program of 1930-1931 were soon overshadowed
by the economic and social crisis of the 1930s.
The third and major chapter discusses government
responses to the depression's impact on Saskatchewan. After
attempting to meet wide-spread destitution by the traditional
policy of assisting municipal relief programs, the Co-operative
Government established the Saskatchewan Relief Commission
to co-ordinate and sustain all provincial projects. The
government also underwrote the Wheat Pool and the Co-op
Creamery to enable them to survive. Although the cabinet
initially attempted to use deficit financing to maintain
social services, dwindling revenues and the financial orthodoxy
of the business community and Ottawa, forced it into
a policy of retrenchment. Declining incomes -- a product
of drought and low grain prices -- disproportionately increased
the burden of debt on farmers and merchants. After
initial attempts to provide a mediation procedure between
creditors and debtors, the government required all creditors
to put their case to a Debt Adjustment Board which attempted
to ensure that the debt was "reasonable" and the debtor
was able to pay. Similarly the tax consolidation bills of
1933 and 1934 deferred payment of tax arrears, providing
a long term schedule for repayment. Both debt adjustment
and tax consolidation deferred present obligations to allow
the property owner to retain possession.
The Co-operative Government's experiments in
economic regulation were not successful. The Grain Marketing
Act, which attempted to establish a compulsory Wheat
Pool in Saskatchewan was vetoed by the courts as contravening
the British North America Act. The Gasoline Sales Discrimination
Bill failed to even pass, as both government and opposition
were divided on it. With the exception of the latter
bill, the government did everything constitutionally possible
for a provincial authority to meet the depression.
The fourth chapter deals with the internal
politics of the coalition. The formal groups of the Cooperative
Government -- Conservatives, Progressives and
Independents -- were not so much divided as were the
radical sections of each group, which together formed a
"government left wing". At the other end of the political
spectrum, a faction within the Conservative party, calling
itself the "true blues", attempted first to challenge
Premier Anderson's leadership and then to undermine his
entire government. Anderson's attempt to expand the coalition
by adding Liberal Charles McIntosh to his cabinet
failed with the defeat of that member in the 1933 Kinistino
by-election. In spite of many tensions, however, the Cooperative
Government had cohesive legislative support throughout
its five year term.
The fifth chapter describes the 1934 general
election. The government's defensive campaign, weakened
by attacks from Conservative renegades, was beaten by the
Liberal opposition's aggressive, partisan campaign. The
rising Farmer-Labor Group, a democratic socialist party,
replaced the Co-operative coalition as the chief opposition
to the Liberals.
The conclusion assesses the place of the Cooperative
Government in Saskatchewan's history. The removal
of sectarianism and instructional French from the
public school was the culmination of a long term trend
which encompassed Liberals, Conservatives and Progressives.
Within the limits of the social matrix and the Canadian
constitution the government did what it could in responding
to the depression. The similarity between the social
and public service policies of the Co-operative and C.C.F.
governments can be explained in terms of the ideological
affinities between conservatism and socialism. In breaking
the Liberal hegemony in Saskatchewan and struggling to
maintain and expand social services in the face of depression,
the Co-operative Government represented a major
turning point in Saskatchewan's political history.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
History
Program
Department of History