Unionest Party

The Unionest Party was a provincial political party in Saskatchewan, Canada, in the early 1980s, that advocated union between the four western provinces of Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) and the United States.

The party’s name was a contraction of ‘best union’.

The party was founded in March 1980 by Dick Collver, a former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, who resigned from the PC caucus when he announced the formation of his new party.

A few days later, another PC member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (MLA), Dennis Ham, also left the PC caucus to join Collver. (Ham was the brother of Lynda Haverstock, who later became the leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party and later Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan.)

The Unionest Party was formed at a time when several western separatist parties (such as the Western Canada Concept) were being formed and attracting considerable attention and support because of dissatisfaction with the federal Liberal government.

Collver and Ham formed the legislative caucus of the Unionest Party. The Unionests then qualified as the official third party under the legislative act then in existence. This entitled the Unionests to special perquisites: Collver was to receive an additional $27,000 for office staff expense and an additional $11,000 in extra allowance as Leader of the Third Party. Ham was to receive an additional $16,000 for office expenses and $2,700 in an extra allowance.

Collver and Ham’s new party was met with derision, and there was great concern that two “crack pots” were able to obtain funding from the legislative assembly’s budget for their "folly".

The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party government of the day introduced and passed retroactive legislation entitled to restrict third party status to a party with at least two sitting members affiliated with a political party that was registered under the Election Act on the day of the last general election.

Collver claimed this law discriminated against the Unionests on the basis of their political beliefs and took the government to court, but the provincial Court of Appeal disagreed.

The Unionest Party soon fizzled, and did not field candidates in the next general election. Collver retired to his ranch in Arizona.