1971 Saskatchewan election
Broadcast Date: June 13, 1971
With the 1971 election ten days away, Liberal Premier Ross Thatcher and NDP leader Allan Blakeney criss-cross the province in a mad rush to drum up support. In this CBC Radio clip, Sunday Magazine takes to the streets to find out what issues are foremost on the minds of Saskatchewan voters. Though it has been a quiet campaign thus far, reporter Bill Cameron says it won't be long before it degenerates into a "a real good ol' knockdown, drag-out, Pier-Sixer, Saskatchewan style."1971 Saskatchewan election
• Allan Blakeney and the NDP went on to topple Ross Thatcher and the Liberals in the 1971 election. The NDP nearly doubled its representation, taking 45 of the 60 seats in the Legislature to form a majority government. The Liberals lost 20 seats and held 15. Both the NDP and the Liberals ran a candidate in each of the 60 ridings up for grabs, while the Tories had a mere 16 candidates in the race.• Blakeney campaigned on the platform of a "New Deal for People." In the area of health care, he promised to remove medical deterrent fees, eliminate medical care insurance premiums for senior citizens and drastically reduce the cost of essential drugs, eyeglasses and wheelchairs. Blakeney also promised to establish a bank commission that would enable retiring farmers to pass their farms on to the next generation of young farmers.
• The NDP swept into office thanks in large part to the support of Saskatchewan's large labour unions. The majority of the unions campaigned for the NDP in response to the Liberals' attempt to establish labour-management courts. The Liberals also promised to pass the Essential Services Emergency Act that would have prohibited strikes in the majority of labour fields.
• "We thumped them." — Allan Blakeney, June 23, 1971, after defeating the Liberals in the election.
• Born Sept. 7, 1925 in Bridgewater, N.S., Allan Blakeney attended Dalhousie University in Halifax and was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University. First elected to the Legislature in 1960, Blakeney served as treasurer and minister of health in the CCF administrations of Tommy Douglas and Woodrow Lloyd. Blakeney was elected NDP leader in July 1970 following Lloyd's resignation. Blakeney served three terms as premier, winning re-election in 1975 and again in 1978.
1971 Saskatchewan election
Medium: Radio
Program: Sunday Magazine
Broadcast Date: June 13, 1971
Host: Rex Loring, Bruce Rogers
Reporter: Bill Cameron
Duration: 11:14
Last updated:
July 23, 2009
Television
27:23
Tommy Douglas' medicare plan dominates the 1960 election campaign.
Showdown on the Prairies: A History of Saskatchewan Elections
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- Who is the rightful heir to Tommy Douglas?
- A new player in Saskatchewan politics
Blakeney goes for two in a row in '75- On the campaign trail in '67
- Blakeney's NDP obliterates the Liberals in '78
1971 Saskatchewan election.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 23, 2009.
[Page consulted on Feb. 13, 2012.]