Harris Turner

Saskatchewan Legislature building, c. 1920

In 1917, Saskatchewan held a wartime provincial election. Prior to the election, the Legislature enacted The Soldiers' Representation Act, which provided that Saskatchewan soldiers overseas would have the right to vote for their own representatives in the Legislative Assembly. Three special soldier seats were created: a single-member constituency for Saskatchewan soldiers in Britain at the time of the election, and a two-member constituency for Saskatchewan soldiers in France and Belgium. Only Saskatchewan soldiers who had served overseas were eligible to be candidates. These three seats were in addition to the normal fifty-nine seats in the Legislative Assembly.[7][8]

Although he was now blind, Turner stood for election as one of the two members to be elected from the Saskatchewan soldiers in France and Belgium. He won by a resounding vote, coming in first, with almost half the total votes cast. The second member elected from France and Belgium was Captain Frederick Bagshaw, a lawyer from Regina, while Lieutenant Colonel James Albert Cross, another Regina lawyer, was elected to represent soldiers in Great Britain.[9][10]

Prime Minister Borden, whom Turner supported in the conscription crisis

Turner had returned to Saskatchewan by the time of the bitterly contested federal election of 1917.[11] Turner was active in the federal campaign, which was fought over the conscription crisis. The Unionist party, led by Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden as a coalition of the federal Conservative party and some members of the federal Liberal party, supported conscripting troops for the war effort. Another wing of the Liberal party, led by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, opposed conscription. The conscription issue split the country, with most English-Canadians supporting conscription, and most French-Canadians opposing it, particularly in Quebec.[11] Turner campaigned throughout Saskatchewan in support of the Unionist party and conscription.[12] In December 1917, the Unionist party won a strong majority in the federal Parliament, including sweeping all sixteen of Saskatchewan's seats, with four acclamations.[13]

Premier Martin, who defeated Turner's motion calling for more public servants to be released for military duty

The Saskatchewan Legislature met in November 1917. Although the soldiers' vote had been held as a non-partisan vote, when Turner was introduced in the Assembly it was to cheers from the Conservative opposition, which some took as an indication that he supported that party.[14] Turner participated in the debate on the throne speech, but his main activity in the session was to introduce a motion calling on the Liberal provincial government to release all able-bodied men in the provincial public service for military service. Premier William Martin replied that while over two hundred men in the public service had already joined the military, the government had granted exemptions from military service for a number of men deemed necessary to the public service. Martin moved an amendment to Turner's motion, approving the government's policy. The amended motion passed, with only Turner voting against it.[15]

In 1920, the Assembly faced the issue of alcohol prohibition, which had originally been introduced during the war. The government introduced a bill which would continue prohibition, with greater restrictions on the ability of pharmacists to issue prescriptions for alcohol, along with a provision for a plebiscite on the issue. Turner spoke against the bill, arguing that it would be better to end prohibition. The bill nonetheless passed by a vote of 40 to 6, with Turner voting against the bill.[16]

John Maharg, whom Turner succeeded as leader of the opposition

The next provincial general election was in 1921. Turner stood for re-election, this time as one of the two members from the city of Saskatoon.[17] In preparing for the election, he was the chair of a loosely organised central committee for independent members. At an organising convention in Saskatoon prior to the election, Turner spoke against the need for a party system at all:

So far as I know, these candidates have only one thing in common and that is that they believe that the time has come when party government is no longer necessary in this province. They hold that the men or women sitting in the legislature should have only one interest before them and that is the best interest of the province as a whole; they cannot see why it should be necessary for a candidate to recognize a duty to a party as well as to his province. They believe that the time has come when the party system is a detriment to good government, if it were ever anything else.[18]

The 1921 election had one of the most confusing set of party labels in the province's history. The Liberals had sixty candidates, for an Assembly with sixty-three seats. There were fifty-nine other candidates representing a variety of positions: thirty-five Independents, seven Progressives, four Conservatives, three Independent Conservatives, three Labour, three Nonpartisan, one Independent Labour, one Government, one Independent Nonpartisan, and one Independent Pro-government.[19] It is not clear how many of the Independent candidates were affiliated to some degree with the co-ordinating committee chaired by Turner.[20]

In the Saskatoon City riding, Turner again topped the poll, coming in first of the five candidates, with 26% of the total votes cast.[17] However, the Liberals won a landslide overall, taking forty-six of the sixty-three seats in the Assembly. The remaining seats were divided between seven Independents (including Turner), six Progressives, two Conservatives, one Independent Conservative, and one Independent Pro-Government.[19] Because they disavowed the concept of party politics, the Independents and Progressives had no party leaders. That meant there was initially no leader of the opposition for the sessions of 1921 and 1922.[20][21] However, by 1924 Turner was the leader of the opposition, the result of a complicated political falling-out between Premier Martin and the Minister of Agriculture, John Maharg.[21][22][23]

Maharg had been a Progressive member in the federal House of Commons. In the run-up to the 1921 Saskatchewan election, Premier Martin recruited him to provincial politics, bringing with him his strong farm support. Maharg did not run as a Liberal in the provincial election, but rather as the sole Independent Pro-Government candidate. Following the election, Martin appointed Maharg as Minister of Agriculture, with a seat in the Cabinet. It was a short-lived arrangement, because in the fall of 1921, Premier Martin supported a Liberal candidate in the federal election, and criticised the policies of the federal Progressives. Angered by Martin's position, Maharg resigned from Cabinet in December 1921, and crossed the floor. In 1923, he became the leader of the opposition.[21][22][23][24]

Speaking in the Assembly, Turner argued that the episode showed the need for the complete abolition of the party system. He suggested that the entire principle of confidence votes should be eliminated and that each member should have complete freedom to bring matters forward in the Assembly.[25]

Premier Dunning, Martin's successor, whom Turner considered the spokesperson for a "menacing machine"

The episode had ongoing ramifications, resulting in Martin's resignation as premier in 1922, to be replaced as Liberal leader and premier by Charles Dunning.[22][26] Speaking at a political meeting in 1923, Turner again stated that the episode showed the major defects in the party system. He acknowledged that Dunning was an admirable man, but stated that every time Dunning rose to speak in the Assembly, one could "visualize behind him the cogs, wheels, pistons and pinions of a menacing machine".[27]

The Martin-Maharg episode continued to reverberate in Saskatchewan politics. In 1923, Maharg in turn left politics and resigned his position as leader of the opposition.[23] In this unusual political situation, there was no clear party leader to be the leader of the opposition. The members of the opposition unanimously chose Turner to be the leader of the opposition, accepting his condition that he would only be the opposition house leader, not the leader of the opposition members as a group.[3][28] He served in that position for the sessions in 1924 and 1925, until the Assembly was dissolved for the next general election in 1925.[21]

In the session of the Assembly held in the fall of 1924, the government introduced new amendments to expand access to liquor, following the plebiscite which had favoured reduction in prohibition. Turner spoke against the bill, stating that it still was based on the policy which had caused prohibition in the first place. He argued that beer, at least, should be readily available in licensed premises, but was unsuccessful in seeking changes to the bill.[29]

Overall, Turner appeared to have been the strongest critic of the Liberal government during the last two years before the 1925 election.[30]

James Thomas Milton Anderson, the Conservative candidate who defeated Turner in the 1925 election

The Martin-Maharg split had created a break in farm support for the Liberal government. The result was the creation of the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan, in time for the 1925 general election. In spite of his personal distrust of the party system, Turner participated in the formation of the new party, and when he stood for election again in 1925, it was as a member of the Progressive Party. One of his campaign planks was against the Liberal party "machine", arguing that it was wrong that civil servants had to belong to the Liberal party, and that those seeking government contracts had to be Liberal supporters. He also denied suggestions from the Liberals that the Progressives had reached an agreement with the Conservatives not to nominate candidates in certain ridings, to avoid three-cornered contests between the Liberals, the Progressives, and the Conservatives.[31]

Again campaigning in Saskatoon in a field of five candidates for two seats, this time he came in last, only earning 17% of the vote. Five of his fellow Independents in the Assembly were also defeated, likely a symptom of the lack of a strong party organisation. His successor in the Assembly was James Anderson, who went on to become premier of the province in 1929.[17][32]

E Elected.

E Elected
X Incumbent

E Elected
X Incumbent
¹ Rounding error.

Turner stood for election in a by-election in 1929 to fill a vacancy on the city council. He was elected by acclamation.[39]

E Elected