James T.M. Anderson
James Thomas Milton Anderson (1878-1946) was Saskatchewan's fifth Premier and the first Conservative to hold the office. He was chosen leader of the Conservatives in 1924 and was one of three Tory MLAs elected in the 1925 election. In 1929 the Tories were able to exploit patronage scandals surrounding the Liberal government of Premier Jimmy Gardiner to achieve a major breakthrough winning 24 seats to 28 for the Liberals, 5 Progressives and 4 independents. The Liberals tried to form a minority government but were defeated in a Motion of No Confidence allowing Anderson to form a Co-operative government, a coalition between the Tories, Progressives and Independents.
Anderson was accused of working closely with the Ku Klux Klan which was a major force in the province in the late 1920s and early 1930s with an estimated 25,000 members. Pat Emmonds, a senior Klan defector, alleged that Anderson and Klan officials would regularly meet while the Liberals accused the Tories of being a front for the Klan. With few Blacks in the province, the focus of the KKK was against immigration, Catholics and French-Canadians and opposing the Gardiner Liberals which were seen as supporting all three. While Anderson denied the allegations on winning power he took the portfolio of Minister of Education as well as Premier and moved amendments to the Schools Act banning the instruction of French in public schools and outlawing the display of religious symbols in all schools, including the Catholic Separate School system. The KKK supported these changes and worked hard to elect and defend the Conservative dominated government.
The Anderson government also had to face the onset of the Great Depression and dust bowl that destroyed the province's agrarian economy. The government formed the Saskatchewan Relief Commission to try to help those affected by the drought and massive unemployment. These efforts were insufficient and the 1934 elections resulted in the Tories losing every seat in the legislature and render them a minor party for forty years.
