There were bonfires behind the Saskatchewan Legislature on the night of June 15, 1944. Earlier that day, the upstart Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Party had stormed to victory in the provincial election, and the defeated Liberal government responded by destroying papers and files in burning barrels. Not a single government document – except for two pages missed in the commotion – survived the culling.
The extent of the document purge was not fully appreciated until the new CCF administration found empty filing cabinets in government offices. New premier Tommy Douglas was furious. The first few weeks after the election were chaotic, Mr. Douglas recalled, but what made it worse was not having access to government records “in order to pick up where somebody has left off.”
