Origins promoted social credit theory before becoming premier.
William Aberhart, a
Baptist lay-preacher and evangelist in
Calgary, was attracted to social credit theory while Alberta (and much of the western world) was in the depths of the
Great Depression. He soon began promoting it through his radio program on
CFCN in Calgary, adding a heavy dose of
fundamentalist Christianity to the Social Credit theories of
C.H. Douglas. Due to Aberhart's influence, the
Canadian social credit movement always had a strong social conservative tinge. The basic premise of social credit is that all citizens should be paid a dividend as capital and technology replace labour in production; this was especially attractive to farmers sinking under the weight of the Depression. Many study groups devoted to the theory sprang up across the province, which united into the Social Credit League of Alberta. Discussion of banking and monetary reform and social credit was not new to many Albertans. Alberta MP
William Irvine (with Manitoba MP
J.S. Woodsworth) had successfully pushed for an official inquiry into the subject in the early 1920s to which Edmonton-area self-taught expert George Bevington had presented evidence. Pamphleteers, such as Edmonton's R.C. Owens and Saskatoon's H.C. Pierce, had prepared the waters. James East, a long-serving Edmonton city councillor in the 1912-1936 period, had been proponent of monetary reform as well.
Rise to power From 1932 to 1935, Aberhart tried to get the governing
United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) to adopt social credit. However, the 1935 UFA convention voted against adopting social credit and UFA
Premier Richard Reid rejected the proposals as being outside the province's constitutional powers, so Aberhart entered Social Credit candidates in
that year's provincial election. There was widespread discontent with the overly cautious behaviour of the UFA government, and in some cases, local UFA chapters openly supported Social Credit candidates. The UFA government was also reeling from a scandal that had forced Reid's predecessor,
John Brownlee, to resign a year earlier. This, in particular, caused some
socially conservative UFA members to transfer their allegiance to the Christian-based Social Credit movement. The Social Credit Party campaigned on
price controls, and
social dividends of $25 a month to Albertan adults. In the 22 August 1935 election, much to its own surprise, Social Credit won a
landslide victory, taking 54% of the vote and winning 56 of the 63 seats in the
Legislative Assembly. The only elected opposition was five
Liberals and two
Conservatives.
Not "funny money" Following the 1937 revolt, the government made a serious attempt to implement social credit policies. It passed several pieces of radical
populist legislation and issued Alberta's own currency,
prosperity certificates, to Alberta residents (dubbed "funny money" by detractors) in accordance with the theories of
Silvio Gesell. Douglas, the main leader of the international Social Credit movement, did not like the idea of prosperity certificates, which depreciated in value the longer they were held, and openly criticized Gesell's theories and Aberhart's adoption of them. The Socred-dominated Alberta Legislature also passed bills that would have placed the province's banks under government control. However,
Lieutenant-Governor John C. Bowen refused to grant
Royal Assent to the bills. The
Supreme Court of Canada sided with Bowen and struck down the bills because only the federal government can legislate on banking. Thwarted in its attempt to impose regulation over private banks operating in Alberta, Aberhart's government gained a foothold in the province's financial sector by creating the
Alberta Treasury Branches (ATB) in 1938. The ATB banks, operating as an orthodox
financial institution and
crown corporation, are a legacy of Social Credit policies in Alberta. It is today the only government-owned financial institution in Canada that provides commercial banking to the public. The acrimony eventually healed, and Bowen served for a total of 13 years as lieutenant-governor, to 1950. Bowen also refused Royal Assent to the
Accurate News and Information Act, which would have forced newspapers to print government rebuttals to stories to which the
Executive Council (cabinet) objected. The government's relationship with Bowen became so acrimonious that in 1938, Bowen threatened to use his
reserve power to dismiss Aberhart. In the end, Bowen chose not to take this extraordinary action. Had Bowen sacked Aberhart, it would have triggered a new election, and the Socreds were so popular that they would have almost certainly been re-elected.
Other policies To uphold its election promise of democratizing Alberta's government, Aberhart passed a law allowing for the recall of members of the Legislative Assembly by petition of constituents. However, he repealed the legislation when he himself became the target of a recall drive. Continuing the UFA government's conservatism (which verged on
prohibition) on the matter of drinking, Aberhart's government enacted several socially conservative laws, notably one restricting the sale and serving of alcohol. It was one of the strictest such laws in Canada. Well into the 1960s, commercial airlines could not serve alcohol while flying over Alberta. As well, the government passed stronger labour legislation, such as a
minimum wage law for male workers (female workers already coming under legislation passed by the UFA government), and centralized the province's school system. Several socially conservative laws remained in place for years, such as the ban on airlines serving alcohol over provincial airspace.
Manning era was premier 1943 to 1968. The latter years of Aberhart's government saw a decline in popularity, with party membership falling from 41,000 in 1938 to just 3,500 in 1942. Manning also moved to purge
antisemites from the party. While antisemitism had been part of the party's Christian populist rhetoric for years, it was far less fashionable after
World War II due to awareness of
the Holocaust. Manning led Social Credit to seven consecutive election victories. He governed with very large majorities in the legislature for virtually his entire tenure. His party repeatedly won well over 50 percent of the popular vote and rarely faced more than ten opposition MLAs. This SC domination in the legislature was strengthened when Manning cancelled Alberta's use of
proportional representation in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary in 1956 where many of the opposition MLAs were being elected. For most of the next two decades, Alberta was virtually a one-party state. He wielded considerable influence over the party's
federal counterparts as well. For example, he let it be known that his party would not accept francophone Catholic
Real Caouette, leader of the party's
Quebec wing, as the party's leader—even though Caouette headed the party's third-strongest faction (behind the Alberta and
British Columbia Socreds). This led to rumours that Caouette had defeated
Robert N. Thompson for the federal party's leadership in 1961, only to have his win vetoed by Manning and the Alberta Socreds.
Anti-communism In 1946, Manning's government began a
Red Scare, censoring "communist propaganda films" in the hopes of "eliminating communist thought from Alberta-shown movies". And that socialists were trying to "enslave the ordinary people of the world, whose only real salvation lay in the issuance of Social Credit." Manning also fought against the media and public education systems, saying they were full of Marxists and sympathetic to the communist cause. Stating that it is "evident, in my view, in the news media, which are very heavily slanted, as a general rule favorably slanted, to socialist philosophy. This isn't by chance, it's because
communism has been smart enough to see... that there are always a goodly number of men in that field who are sympathetic to the socialistic and even communistic philosophy. You even have the same thing, to varying degrees, in the field of education. It isn't by chance that you find these agitations of
Marxism and so forth in many of our universities. It isn't by chance."
Red Scare The Manning administration, re-elected with an overwhelming majority of seats in the 1944 election, devoted itself to an anti-socialist crusade.'' This one strike alone accounted for 30% of all time lost to strikes in Canada in 1948. In Alberta, the strike accounted for more than 99% of all person-lost days due to strikes for the entire year. Clark, who had the support of half of the party's MLAs, led Schmidt on the first ballot, 583 votes to 512 votes. But in an upset victory, Schmidt won on the second ballot with 814 votes, defeating Clark by 39 votes.
First ballot • Clark 583 • Schmidt 512 • Taylor 406 • Ludwig 71 (Ludwig eliminated, Taylor withdraws)
Second ballot •
Schmidt 814 • Clark 775 Social Credit sank into near-paralysis in opposition. Having spent all but a few months of its history in government before 1971, it was ill-prepared for a role outside of it and was unable to get the better of the Tories. It didn't help matters that Schmidt was never able to get into the legislature; he lost a by-election shortly after taking the leadership. Henderson remained parliamentary leader until September when Clark succeeded him. 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 the popular vote it had received in 1971. Schmidt failed to win a seat and resigned as party leader, leaving Clark to take the leadership unopposed. Under Clark, the party staved off a total collapse in the
1979 election, holding onto its four seats.
Dormancy in the 1980s Clark returned to the backbench a little more than a year after the election. On 29 November 1980, former Calgary mayor
Rod Sykes became the party's new leader, defeating Edmonton alderman
Julian Kinisky 538–292.
Raymond Speaker became parliamentary leader, and hence leader of the opposition. Sykes was unable to get into the legislature, and the party continued to sag in the polls. The beginning of the end for Social Credit came when Clark retired from politics in 1981. His seat of
Olds-Didsbury, a longstanding Social Credit bastion (parts of the riding had been in Social Credit hands for all but one month since 1935), was resoundingly lost to
Western Canada Concept, an Alberta separatist party, and its candidate
Gordon Kesler. In the process, Social Credit lost official status in the legislature. Unable to resolve the party's internal and financial problems, Sykes quit as leader in March 1982. On 31 March 1982, Speaker announced that Social Credit would sit out
that year's election. In a press release, Speaker 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 Party council quickly distanced itself from Speaker's statement. There was wide speculation at the time that Speaker would cross the floor to Western Canada Concept. Unable to attract a new leader, the Social Credit membership held an emergency meeting 18 September 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, Speaker and
Walt Buck left the party to become independent candidates for the legislature. The party's third MLA,
Fred Mandeville, announced his retirement. George Richardson was named acting leader. Social Credit went into the 1982 election in a precarious position, with no full-time leader and, for the first time since 1935, no incumbents. It had been unable to get its leader elected to the legislature at any point during the parliamentary term. The party ran only 23 candidates, easily its smallest slate at the time, and garnered only 0.8 percent of the vote. It was shut out of the Legislative Assembly altogether for the first time, and has never elected another MLA. In 1986, Social Credit, Western Canada Concept and
the Heritage Party of Alberta joined 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. Social Credit sat out the 1986 election. Most of its remaining supporters joined and ran for the
Representative Party, which had been formed by Speaker after he and Buck were denied funding normally reserved to opposition parties. Speaker's new party billed itself as a more modern version of Social Credit without the monetary policies.
Rebirth in the 1990s and decline Interim leadership of the party was given to
Martin Hattersley, an Edmonton lawyer, and later to
Harvey Yuill of
Barrhead. What remained of the party ran six candidates 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. 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 could have meant eight seats in the Legislature. However, in April 1999, Thorsteinson, a devout member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, resigned to protest an internal party proposal to limit Mormon involvement within the party. Social Credit's fortunes quickly faded. In November 1999,
James Albers was elected over
Jon Dykstra and
Norm Racine to lead the party in a hotly contested race.
Wiebo Ludwig was disqualified. For the
2001 election, the party formed an
electoral coalition with the
Alberta Party. The party nominated 12 candidates in that election (down from 70 in 1997) and received 5,361 votes (0.5% of the popular vote), down from 64,667. The right wing vote fractured between the newly formed
Alberta First Party and Social Credit. Most right-wing voters went back to supporting the Progressive Conservatives, who had experienced a resurgence in popularity.
Lavern Ahlstrom was appointed Social Credit leader in 2001. Under Ahlstrom's leadership, the party made moves toward re-embracing elements of social credit monetary theory. 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.) It polled well in a few ridings, most notably
Rocky Mountain House where Lavern Ahlstrom tied for second place. In late 2005, the party entered discussion about merging with the
Alberta Party and the
Alberta Alliance. Despite cooperation and successful merger talks between the party leaders, the Social Credit Party membership voted down the motion to merge at the 2006 Social Credit Convention. In the
Drumheller-Stettler by-election on 12 June 2007, the party's candidate Larry Davidson placed third with 11.7% of the vote.
Alberta Social Credit in the 21st century In early November 2007,
Len Skowronski replaced Lavern Ahlstrom as leader of the party. The party fielded eight candidates for the
2008 general election on 3 March. The party received 0.22% of the total or 2,051 votes, a decline of 1.0% from the previous election. The best individual riding result, and the only result over 3.0 percent, was for Wilf Tricker in
Rocky Mountain House, who received 6.4% of the vote, finishing fifth in a field of seven candidates, just 0.62% behind the
Green candidate and well ahead of the NDP and
Separation Party of Alberta candidates. It fielded three candidates in the
2012 election, and garnered 0.023% of the total vote. Its six nominated candidates won 832 votes in the
2015 election, 0.056% of the total vote—an increase of 0.033% over its 2012 result.
Pro-Life Alberta Political Association At Social Credit's 2016 annual general meeting, a group of anti-abortion activists took over the party. One of them, Jeremy Fraser, was elected as leader. They also replaced the board. They then changed the party's registered name with Elections Alberta to the
Pro-Life Alberta Political Association (or
Prolife Alberta, for short). The change in name reflected the change in the party's direction. Whereas Alberta Social Credit had aims of forming government, Prolife Alberta is a
single-issue political association solely focused on promoting
right-to-life issues, and
anti-abortion efforts in Alberta. As a party, it has much greater latitude than other single-issue groups to engage in political activism and raise money. Its leader, Murray Ruhl, who succeeded Fraser in 2019, had virtually no public presence; the party claims it is led by a team. It openly admitted it had no desire to win government, but existed solely to promote its policies, making it a Canadian version of a
testimonial party. As in 2019, it only ran a single candidate in the
2023 provincial election. Prolife Alberta advertises itself as "...a group of women and men committed to promoting pro-life public policy in Alberta, through politics." ==Election results==