Foundations and the New Green Alliance In the mid-1990s, a number of environmental and social justice activists began to organize against the perceived
rightward drift of the governing New Democrats (NDP) under
Premier Roy Romanow, who were seen to have embraced
Third Way politics. In April 1998, organizers held a news conference, stating their intention "... to create a political party committed to protect the environment from corporate plunder and to advance a social justice agenda," before officially registering the New Green Alliance (NGA) with
Elections Saskatchewan in January 1999. Early on, the party debated focusing on
community activism over
electoralism—future party leader Victor Lau stated in 1998 that in his opinion, "... 20 per cent of the energy of the new party should be devoted to electoral politics and 80 per cent to promoting community projects like low-cost housing, new transit systems, or solar energy." The party's first leader was
anti-nuclear activist Neil Sinclair. In the
1999 provincial election, the NGA ran 16 candidates province-wide, earning 1% of the vote and approximately 4% of the vote on average where they ran. The NGA, whose platform was characterized as "counter-ideological" in contrast to the NDP and Saskatchewan Party, who were competing to form government, found it difficult to garner media attention during the campaign. In the
2003 election, under the leadership of Ben Webster, the party ran 27 candidates but actually lost support compared to 1999, earning only 0.6% of the vote province-wide.
Saskatchewan Green Party In 2005, the NGA changed its name to come in line with the federal Greens, becoming the Green Party of Saskatchewan; however, the party maintained that it was only loosely affiliated with the
Green Party of Canada. The party had several short-term leaders between 2005 and 2006, when
antiwar and
anti-vaccination activist Sandra Finley became leader ahead of the
2007 provincial election. The Greens ran a much larger campaign in 2007, fielding candidates in 48 out of 58 ridings. The party was able to capture 2.0% of the vote; Harold Johnson, running in the
Cumberland riding, received 6.2% of the vote and secured the first third-place finish for the Greens. On 6 September, 2011—the unofficial kickoff for the
2011 provincial election campaign—Green leader Larissa Shasko resigned her position to join the campaign of
Regina South NDP candidate
Yens Pedersen. Upon her resignation, Shasko cited frustrations with the "inner workings" of the party and concerns about a potential candidate. Lau and the party ran a full slate of 58 candidates—a first for the party—43% of which were women. Although no Green candidates were elected, the party increased its vote share and emerged from the election as the third largest party in the province, surpassing the Liberals for the first time. After the 2011 election, the party began an effort to organize on a constituency basis across the province. In March 2015, the party was rebranded as the Saskatchewan Green Party and ran a nearly full slate again in the
2016 provincial election under Lau, though fell back in vote share across the province, finishing in fourth place. In March 2020, former federal Green candidate Naomi Hunter was named leader of the Greens ahead of the
2020 provincial election. In the election, the party increased its vote share, finishing with its second highest total after 2011, but again finished fourth, this time finishing behind the fledgling
Buffalo Party. The party saw its vote share decline in the
2024 election, although it again finished in fourth place overall. == Election results ==