As much as things change in Alberta politics, they seem to stay the same.
Social Credit
I’ve always been a bit of a history geek. The old axiom—“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it”—echoes in my mind whenever something in the present feels eerily familiar.
I’m not a political junkie, but politics in Canada—and especially here in Alberta—does catch my attention from time to time. That’s where a little historical context helps me make sense of the moment.
During the Great Depression, when the world was desperate for answers, radical economic and political ideas gained traction. Communism in the Soviet Union. Fascism in Germany. And, closer to home, one of the strangest of them all: social credit theory, dreamed up by British engineer Major C.H. Douglas.
As Jesse Kline wrote in the Canadian Jewish News, “Douglas’ economic theories – which have been thoroughly discredited – were predicated on the idea that the world’s financial troubles were caused by an international conspiracy led by a cabal of Jewish bankers.”
Now, here’s the surprising part: guess which provincial party eagerly embraced Douglas’s ideas?
Alberta Politics
It was Alberta’s own Social Credit Party, which swept to power in 1935 under Premier William Aberhart. What started as an economic theory turned into a political movement that shaped Alberta for decades.
Aberhart promised “$25.00 a month for every bona fide Albertan citizen to be paid out of our ‘cultural heritage’ without taking a cent’s worth of wealth away from any person who actually had it.” (Remember Ralph bucks?)
That never happened.
But Alberta voters repeatedly re-elected Social Credit to power. Why?
The Premier habitually blamed everything wrong in Alberta on evolutionists, eastern bankers, and Jews and presented himself as the solution.
Beyond Alberta
Premier Aberhart didn’t stop at the Alberta border and attempted to interfere in the Saskatchewan provincial election of 1938 with an eye on extending Social Credit’s influence all the way to Ottawa.
Years later, Preston Manning, the son of Social Credit Party leader, Ernest Manning spawned the Reform Party which was the predecessor of the Wildrose Party and now the United Conservative Party. The UCP is the party whose leader blames all of Alberta’s problems on Ottawa and Carney’s Liberal government.
The UCP have mastered the core principal of tribal leadership – rally people around an adversary. The bigger the adversary, the stronger the tribe. And the tribe is strong in Alberta. The adversaries? Among many are the New Democrats, Liberals, science, and the “woke culture.”
Looking back, it’s a reminder of how fear and hardship can make strange ideas seem appealing—and how quickly people will rally around anyone who promises simple solutions to complex problems.
History doesn’t repeat itself exactly, but it sure does rhyme. When I see frustration and distrust rising today, I can’t help but wonder: what new “solutions” might we be tempted to believe next?
What do you think? If you’re a history geek or interested in politics, especially Alberta’s, please join the conversation and post a comment below.
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