A reflective and well-documented political history by Dick Spencer, a long-time participant in Saskatchewan’s municipal, provincial, and federal Conservative movements. Spencer traces the trajectory of the provincial Conservative Party from its earliest incarnation under Frederick Haultain, through its first period in government under J. T. M. Anderson, the challenges of the Diefenbaker era, and the postwar rebuilding years led by Alvin Hamilton. The account continues through the party’s turbulent 1960s under Martin Pedersen, the ambitions and controversies of the 1970s under Dick Collver, the renewed electoral success of the 1980s under Grant Devine, and finally the effective mothballing of the Progressive Conservative organization in 1997.
Written by an insider with decades of involvement, the book offers a thoughtful and detailed chronicle of the party’s rise, struggles, and eventual collapse — from inception to demise.
