W. Ross Thatcher

Wilbert Ross Thatcher, PC (24 May 1917 – 22 July 1971) was the tenth premier of Saskatchewan, Canada, serving from 2 May 1964 to 30 June 1971.

Born in Neville, Saskatchewan, Thatcher was a Moose Jaw-based businessman who developed an interest in politics shortly after the birth of his son, Colin Thatcher, in 1938. He joined the Moose Jaw Young Liberal Association and was soon elected an alderman of the city. In 1941, he switched parties to the CCF and was elected to Parliament four years later. In 1955, he left the CCF and sat out his term as an Independent MP before running unsuccessfully for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1957 federal election. A seminal event in that year was his radio debate in the town of Mossbank with Saskatchewan's CCF premier, Tommy Douglas, widely known for his wit, intelligence and articulateness. When the debate ended in a tie, Thatcher's political stock rose sharply, not because he had won (he had not), but because he had managed to hold his own against the formidable Douglas. So important was that debate in provincial political history that local volunteeers have restaged it as a tourism and educational event. Having switched to provincial politics, he led the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan to victory in the 1964 provincial election, defeating the New Democratic Party (as the CCF had renamed itself), which had governed the province since the 1944 election. Thatcher was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and became Premier of the province. Despite the "Liberal" label, Thatcher's government was considered to be conservative for its time, and Thatcher often clashed with the federal Liberal governments of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau. Thatcher's government was defeated by the NDP in the June 1971 election. In 1971, Thatcher died in his sleep in Regina, Saskatchewan, apparently as a result of complications from diabetes and a heart condition. His death shocked the Saskatchewan public — many people found it impossible to believe that so vital a person was dead — and his daughter-in-law JoAnn Thatcher later claimed she suspected the death was a suicide. But it was widely known that Thatcher had largely refused to deal with his severe diabetes and a former aide told reporters that Thatcher's health had been so run down that his death from natural causes surprised few insiders. Thatcher's widow Peggy was persuaded to run for the federal parliament in support of Pierre Trudeau's Liberals. Peggy had been a political wife but had never articulated any independent views. Her campaign was widely derided as incompetent; friends and supporters generally grieved at her unnecessary humiliation at polls. Ross Thatcher was the father of Colin Thatcher, a Conservative minister in the Saskatchewan cabinet in the 1980s who was later charged and convicted of murdering his ex-wife JoAnn Wilson.

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