On today’s date in 1952, Tommy Douglas’s Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) won its third consecutive majority government in that year’s Saskatchewan general election.
In 2012, a 19-piece set of medals, awards, military insignia, photographs and letters that formerly belonged to Douglas were auctioned off in Hamilton, Ont., by Jeffrey Hoare Auctions.
“It’s very interesting as to who the person was and his position in shaping Canada,” said Wendy Hoare, of Jeffrey Hoare Auctions, in an interview with Sun Media prior to the 2012 auction.
The 19-piece set included a 1937 Coronation medal engraved to Douglas when he was a Member of Parliament for Weyburn, Sask.; a 1953 Coronation medal engraved while he was Premier of Saskatchewan; a 1937 Coronation medal engraved to his wife Irma; as well as the military medals from the Boer War and First World War awarded to Douglas’ father, Thomas Douglas Sr.
1952 SASKATCHEWAN ELECTION
The 1952 Saskatchewan election, held June 11, 1952, elected members of the province’s legislative assembly.
The CCF government of Premier Douglas was re-elected for a third term with an increased majority; meanwhile, the Liberal Party of Walter Tucker increased its share of the popular vote to almost 40 per cent.
Despite the Liberal’s surge, the party lost nine of the seats it held in the previous legislature. The Social Credit and Progressive Conservative parties also continued to lose support.
The CCF was the predecessor of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP), which currently forms the official opposition and has remained a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s, when it formed the first social-democratic government in North America after it was elected to form the provincial government of Saskatchewan.
The CCF was succeeded by the NDP in 1961 and continues to be affiliated with the federal NDP.