1938 Saskatchewan general election

The 1938 Saskatchewan general election was held on June 8, 1938, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

1938 Saskatchewan general election

← 1934 June 8, 1938 (1938-06-08) 1944 →
← outgoing members members →
52 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 27 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   SC Leader William John Patterson George Hara Williams Joseph Needham Party Liberal Co-operative Commonwealth Social Credit Leader since 1935 July 17, 1936 1935 Leader's seat Cannington Wadena Did not run Last election 50 5 pre-creation Seats won 38 10 2 Seat change 12 5 2 Popular vote 200,334 82,529 70,084 Percentage 45.45% 18.73% 15.90% Swing 2.55pp 5.26pp 15.90pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Unity Leader — John Diefenbaker Party Unity Conservative Leader since — October 28, 1936 Leader's seat — Ran in Arm River (lost) Last election 0 0 Seats won 2 0 Seat change 2 ±0 Popular vote 9,848 52,315 Percentage 2.24% 11.87% Swing 2.00pp 14.88pp
Premier before election William John Patterson Liberal Premier after election William John Patterson Liberal

The Liberal Party was returned to power under its new leader, William John Patterson, but it lost twelve of the seats it had held in the previous legislature. The Liberals faced several new forces in this election.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a democratic socialist party led by George Hara Williams, became the official opposition winning over 18% of the vote and ten seats in its first election. The party previously had five seats after the Farmer-Labour Group became the Saskatchewan CCF following the previous election.

The Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan, which promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform, rode a wave of popularity from the 1935 electoral success of its Alberta counterpart and collected almost 16% of the votes, but won only two seats.

Six "Unity" candidates also ran in an attempt to create a popular front of the Communists, CCF supporters and various populists. Although two were elected, they received only a very small fraction of the overall vote.^[1]

The Conservative Party – under its new leader, John Diefenbaker – continued its decline as their share of the popular vote fell from 25% to under 12%. The party won no seats. Diefenbaker later had considerably more success in the federal Conservative Party, eventually becoming leader and sweeping the party to power in the 1958 election with a huge majority.