The is a provincial
Political Party in
Alberta ,
Canada , that was founded on the
Social Credit monetary policy and conservative
Christian social values.
The
Canadian Social Credit Movement was largely an out-growth of the Alberta Social Credit Party. The
Social Credit Party Of Canada was originally strongest in Alberta, before developing a base in
Quebec when
Réal Caouette agreed to merge his
''Ralliement Créditiste'' Movement into the federal party. The
British Columbia Social Credit Party formed the government for many years in neighbouring
British Columbia , although this was effectively a coalition of right wing and centrist forces in the province that had no interest in social credit monetary policies.
The party was founded in 1935 in the depths of the
Great Depression by evangelist
William Aberhart . It shocked Canadian political observers by winning the
First Election it contested in Alberta only months after its formation.
Initially, the party attempted to implement its radical
Populist policies, such as the issuance of
Prosperity Certificates to Alberta residents (dubbed "funny money" by detractors) in accordance with social credit monetary theory. Three government bills were refused
Royal Assent by
Lieutenant-Governor John C. Bowen . The
Supreme Court Of Canada subsequently ruled the legislation unconstitutional because banking and fiscal policy is a responsibility of the federal government. Bowen also refused Royal Assent to the ''Accurate News and Information Act'', would have forced newspapers to print government rebuttals to stories the provincial
Cabinet objected to. The government also repealed legislation allowing for the recall of members of the
Legislative Assembly Of Alberta by petition when Aberhart himself became the target of recall efforts.
Thwarted in their attempt to gain complete control of Alberta's banks, Aberhart's government eventually succeeded in gaining a foothold in the province's financial sector by creating the
Alberta Treasury Branches in 1938. The government's relationship with Bowen became so acrimonious that the lieutenant-governor even threatened to use his
Reserve Powers to dismiss it. In the end Bowen chose not to take this extraordinary action, probably because Social Credit would likely have been re-elected in the ensuing
1940 General Election . ATB has become a lasting legacy of Social Credit Party policies in Alberta, operating
As Of 2004 as an orthodox
Financial Institution and
Crown Corporation .
"Bible Bill" Aberhart died in 1943 and was replaced by another evangelical preacher,
Ernest Manning . Manning's government was more pragmatic, and under his leadership, the party abandoned social credit monetary theories, and turned into a more traditional conservative party. After the war, Manning moved to purge the party of
Anti-Semitism , which had been an element of its Christian populist rhetoric until then. Several socially conservative laws remained in place, notably one restricting the serving of alcohol. Commercial passenger craft had to stop serving alcohol while flying over the province.
The discovery of significant reserves of oil in 1947 transformed Alberta from one of Canada's poorest provinces to one of the country's richest with resource revenues pouring into the government's treasury.
Manning led the Socreds to their ninth consecutive term majority government in
1967 . However, this election proved ominous for the party. Despite winning 55 of the 65 seats in the legislature, it won less than 45% of the popular vote. It previously won with more than half the popular vote. More importantly, the once-moribund
Progressive Conservatives , led by young lawyer
Peter Lougheed , won seven seats, mostly in
Calgary and
Edmonton . Social Credit was slow to adapt to the changes in Alberta as its two largest cities gained increasing influence.
Manning retired in 1968 and was replaced by
Harry Strom . But after over three decades in office, the Social Credit Party had become tired and complacent. The rural-based party was losing support in urban areas to the Progressive Conservatives, who bolstered their small caucus with two floor-crossings and two by-election wins, giving them significant momentum.
In the
1971 Election , Loughheed's PCs ended Social Credit's 36-year hold on power. The Socreds saw their share of the popular vote decrease slightly but lost a large number of seats, finishing with only 25.
Social Credit sank into near-paralysis in opposition. Its grassroots organization had atrophied over the years, and the party was ill-prepared for a role outside government after being the governing party for virtually all of its history prior to 1971. The party's support collapsed in the
1975 Election , when it fell to four seats -- just barely holding onto
Official Party Status --and lost half of its popular vote from 1971. It managed to hold onto those seats in the
1979 Election .
On March 31, 1982,
Raymond Speaker , the official opposition leader, announced that there would be no Social Credit candidates running in
That Year's Election . In his press release, he said it would be useless for Social Credit to fight the next election since there were not enough Social Credit voters left in the province.
The Social Credit council quickly distanced itself from Speaker's statement. This led to Social Credit Leader
Rod Sykes resigning. There was wide speculation at the time that Speaker would cross the floor to the
Western Canada Concept . Unable to attract a new leader, the Social Credit membership held an emergency meeting September 18, 1982. A resolution was put forward that would have dissolved the party. This was soundly rejected by the attending delegates and a new president was elected.
As soon as the
Writs Were Dropped in October,
Walt Buck and Raymond Speaker left the party to become independent candidates for the legislature.
Fred Manderville decided not to run. Social Credit went into the 1982 election without a full time leader, and for the first time since 1935, no incumbents. The party was shut out of the Legislative Assembly for the first time since 1935. It sat out the next two elections, and has never elected another MLA.
In 1986, Social Credit,
Western Canada Concept and the
Heritage Party Of Alberta joined together to form the Alberta Alliance Political Association. The Alliance fell apart when the WCC left, followed by Social Credit. The AAPA became the present day
Alberta Party . Most of the Social Credit supporters joined and ran for the
Representative Party lead by Ray Speaker.
Interim Leadership of the party was given to
Martin Hattersley , an Edmonton lawyer, and later to
Harvey Yuill of
Barrhead . Six candidates constituted the party's election effort in the
1989 Election . The party was rekindled under the leadership of
Robert Alford from 1990 to 1992. In 1991,
Randy Thorsteinson , a
Reform Party Of Canada activist, was elected as party president. In 1992, Thorsteinson was elected as leader, and Robert Alford as president. Social Credit improved its performance in the
1993 Election , but won no seats. In the
1997 Election , the party nominated 70 candidates, and won 64,667 votes, over 7% of the popular vote. It failed to have any of its members elected.
After the 1997 election, polling revealed that the Social Credit Party was poised for a break-through: an estimated 150,000 Albertans would have been ready to once again support Social Credit as an alternative. This would have meant up to eight seats or more in the legislature. In April 1999, Thorsteinson, a devout
Latter-day Saint , resigned to protest an internal party proposal to limit the involvement of the
Mormon s within the party. The fortunes of the Social Credit party quickly faded.
In November 1999,
James Alberts was elected over
Jon Dykstra and
Norm Racine to lead the party in a hotly-contested race.
Wiebo Ludwig was disqualified. During the
Election Of 2001 , the right wing vote fractured between the newly formed
Alberta First Party and Social Credit, and most right-wing voters went back to supporting the Progressive Conservatives who had experienced a resurgence in popularity.
Thorsteinson founded the
Alberta Alliance Party in October 2002.
Lavern Ahlstrom was appointed leader of the party in February 2001. Under Ahlstrom's leadership, the party has made moves toward re-embracing elements of social credit monetary threory.
The party nominated 12 candidates in the
2001 Election (down from 70 in 1997) and received 5,361 votes (0.5% of the poular vote), down from 64,667.
As Of 2004 , Social Credit insists it is "neither a 'right-wing' nor a 'left-wing' political party", and that it opposes both "big business" and "big government". However, the party has adopted what some Albertans might consider to be centrist or even
Left-leaning policies. These include:
The party nominated 42 candidates for the
2004 Election , and won 10,874 votes (1.2% of the popular vote, an increase of 0.7% from 2001.)
In late 2005, the party entered discussion about merging with the
Alberta Party and the
Alberta Alliance . (''See:''
and [http://www.albertaparty.ab.ca/default.asp?pageID=15 )
