The 1944 Saskatchewan general election, the tenth in the history of the province, was held on June 15, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, under the leadership of Tommy Douglas, was elected to a majority government.

Summary

The 1944 election was held six years after the previous election in 1938. While there is normally a five-year limit on the lifespan of Parliaments and provincial assemblies in Canada, the emergency brought on by the Second World War allowed the government to delay the election temporarily, which William Patterson's governing Liberal Party opted to do. The 1944 election marked the first time a nominally socialist government was elected anywhere in Canada. With the victory, Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) leader Tommy Douglas became the premier of Saskatchewan. The CCF, which had spent two terms as the Official Opposition, won 47 of the 52 seats in the legislature, and over half the popular vote. The Liberals, led by Patterson, had run a negative campaign, accusing Douglas and the CCF of being communists. The Liberal popular vote fell by 10 percentage points, and the party won only five seats. This marked the worst defeat of a sitting government in Saskatchewan's history. The Social Credit Party, which had won 16% of the vote and two seats in the 1938 election, collapsed; the party had only one candidate, who received only 249 votes. The Communist Party-led Unity movement reverted to the name Labor-Progressive Party, and lost both of the seats it had won in 1938. The Conservative Party, renamed the Progressive Conservative Party and led by Rupert Ramsay, continued to see its share of the vote drop, taking only just over 10% of the vote, and won no seats. An at-large service vote was held for Saskatchewan residents in the Canadian armed services fighting during the war. This special vote elected three nonpartisan members to represent Saskatchewan soldiers, sailors and airmen stationed in Great Britain, the Mediterranean region, and Newfoundland and Canada outside the province. Alberta had a similar system during the war.

Results

Note: * Party did not nominate candidates in previous election.

Percentages

Ranking

Riding-by-riding results

Names in bold represent cabinet ministers and the Speaker. Party leaders are italicized. The symbol " ** " indicates MLAs who are not running again.

Northwestern Saskatchewan

57 626 De Laronde 9 Francis Xavier Poitras (Ind. Liberal) 5 2726 1820 2034 1805 362 2306 1285 662 1541 2199 473 3310 2177 2783 2426 446 2506 1766 399

Northeastern Saskatchewan

357 242 St. Denis 11 3587 2673 358 3132 1880 649 3055 1544 671 3396 1862 1450 6178 3617 655 5283 2269 703 2609 846 535

West Central Saskatchewan

2256 2343 1068 3633 2156 2272 1775 893 3236 2377 933 3168 1864 1046 3801 2312 749 3567 2527

East Central Saskatchewan

3538 2537 3803 2064 1281 4575 3614 821 3273 2544 (Labor-Progressive) 554 3461 2874 454 3337 1925 301 4162 1686 3887 2280 958

Southwest Saskatchewan

3771 1807 1013 2681 2586 3942 2200 1356 3656 2872 911 2763 2122 725 4176 2862 4756 3123 1021

Southeast Saskatchewan

3847 2473 3204 3210 687 2966 1887 1220 3302 2207 3324 3865 4339 3314 938 3933 2660 1259 5605 3489

Urban constituencies

6296 Dempster Henry Ratcliffe Heming 5894 2881 Harold Walpole Pope 2887 1271 Hugh Alexander Tiers 1036 William George Baker 9375 Arthur Thomas Stone 7792 5084 Robert Mitford Pinder 3924 5368 Henry Oswald Wright 3171 (Labor-Progressive) 797 Russell Hartney (Ind.) 200 John Harrison Hilton (Ind.) 121 James Wilfred Estey 14129 Charles Cromwell Williams 14784 10982 Bernard J. McDaniel 10551 3536 Claude Henry James Burrows 3114 Percy McCuaig Anderson**

By-elections

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1944 service elections

Active Service Voters, Saskatchewan members of the Canadian armed services on active duty outside of Saskatchewan, were polled between October 17 and October 30, 1944. One representative was elected from each of three areas. These candidates did not specify any party affiliation.

Area 1 (Great Britain)

Area 2 (Mediterranean Theatre)

Area 3 (Canada outside of Saskatchewan/Newfoundland)