The 8th Alberta Legislative Assembly was in
session from February 6, 1936, to February 16, 1940, with the membership of the assembly determined by the results of the
1935 Alberta general election
The 1935 Alberta general election was held on August 22, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The newly founded Social Credit Party of Alberta won a sweeping victory, unseating the 14-year government of the United Farmer ...
held on August 22, 1935. The Legislature officially resumed on February 6, 1936, and continued until the ninth session was
prorogued
A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections ...
and
dissolved on February 16, 1940, prior to the
1940 Alberta general election
The 1940 Alberta general election was held on March 21, 1940, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
Despite its failure to implement its key policy, providing prosperity certificates to all Albertans, the Social Credit Party ...
.
Alberta's sixth government was controlled by the
majority
A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster
Social Credit Party of Alberta
Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement wa ...
for the first time, led by
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
William Aberhart
William Aberhart (December 30, 1878 – May 23, 1943), also known as "Bible Bill" for his outspoken Baptist views, was a Canadian politician and the seventh premier of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1943. He was the founder and first leader o ...
. There was no
Official Opposition
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...
in Alberta between 1926 and 1941 due to the
Independent Movement which saw a majority of non-UFA candidates elected as
independents. The
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** In ...
was
Nathan Eldon Tanner
Nathan Eldon Tanner (May 9, 1898 – November 27, 1982) was a politician from Alberta, Canada, and a leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1952 a ...
who would resign in 1937 and be replaced by
Peter Dawson.
The previous government formed by
United Farmers of Alberta
The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...
would lose every seat in the 1935 election following the
John Edward Brownlee sex scandal
The John Brownlee sex scandal occurred in 1934 in Alberta, Canada, and forced the resignation of Premier of Alberta, the provincial Premier, John Edward Brownlee. Brownlee was accused of seducing Vivian MacMillan, a family friend and a secretary ...
, and the upstart Social Credit dynasty would begin.
1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt
The Social Credit backbenchers' revolt was a rebellion against Premier William Aberhart by a group of
backbench
In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
(not part of the cabinet) members of the Legislative Assembly (
MLAs
The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...
) from his Social Credit League during the third session. The dissidents were unhappy with Aberhart's failure to provide Albertans with
Can$
The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style g ...
25 monthly dividends through
social credit
Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...
as he had promised before his 1935 election. When the government's 1937 budget made no move to implement the dividends, many MLAs revolted openly and threatened to defeat the government in a
confidence vote
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
.
The revolt took place in a period of turmoil for Aberhart and his government: besides the dissident backbenchers, half of the cabinet resigned or was fired over a period of less than a year. Aberhart also faced criticism for planning to attend the
coronation of George VI at the province's expense and for stifling a
recall
Recall may refer to:
* Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop
* Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure
* ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning
* Recall (memory)
* ''Recall'' (Overwatch ...
attempt against him by the voters of his constituency.
After a stormy debate in which the survival of the government was called into question, a compromise was reached whereby Aberhart's government relinquished considerable power to a committee of backbenchers. This committee, dominated by insurgents, recruited two British social credit experts to come to Alberta and advise on the implementation of social credit. Among the experts' first moves was to require a loyalty pledge from Social Credit MLAs. Almost all signed, thus ending the crisis, though most of the legislation the experts proposed was ultimately
disallowed or
struck down as unconstitutional.
Bills
''Reduction and Settlement of Debts Act''
The ''Reduction and Settlement of Debts Act'' (Bill 15) was the first controversial bills passed during the 8th Legislature under the Social Credit government occurred during the second session in 1936. The Bill originally titled ''An Act to Provide for the Reduction and Settlement of Certain Indebtedness'' sought to eliminate
compound interest on debts, make
Foreclosures on farms and homes increasingly difficult, and restrict the ability for municipalities to seize land for
property tax arrears.
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
William L. Walsh
William Legh Walsh (January 28, 1857 – January 13, 1938) was a Canadian lawyer and judge. He served as the fourth lieutenant governor of Alberta from 1931 to 1936.
Walsh was born in that portion of the colonial Province of Canada which woul ...
expressed concerns over the bills “ruthless” way that the Act proposed to deal with the rights of creditors. Walsh provided the Premier with three options: delay the bill until the next session, send the legislation for review to the
Supreme Court of Alberta
The Court of King's Bench of Alberta (abbreviated in citations as ABKB or Alta. K.B.) is the superior court of the Canadian province of Alberta. Until 2022, it was named Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta.
The Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary wa ...
or do nothing in which case the Lieutenant Governor would likely withhold Royal Assent of the bill. The government chose to send the bill for review by the Supreme Court of Alberta and in February 1937, Justice
Albert Ewing
Albert Freeman Ewing (June 29, 1871 – August 26, 1946) was a provincial politician and judge from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 1921 sitting with the Conservative caucus in oppositio ...
of the Supreme Court of Alberta ruled the ''Reduction and Settlement of Debts Act'' unconstitutional. The government appealed the decision but those appeals were unsuccessful.
''Accurate News and Information Act''
The ''Accurate News and Information Act'', introduced as ''An Act to ensure the Publication of Accurate News and Information'' was a statute introduced by Provincial Treasurer
Solon Earl Low and passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the fifth session of the Eighth Legislature on October 4, 1937, at the instigation of William Aberhart's Social Credit government. It would have required newspapers to print "clarifications" of stories that a committee of Social Credit legislators deemed inaccurate, and to reveal their sources on demand.
The act was a result of the stormy relationship between Aberhart and the press, which dated to before the 1935 election, in which the Social Credit League was elected to government. Virtually all of Alberta's newspapers—especially the ''
Calgary Herald
The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
History
''The ...
''—were critical of Social Credit, as were a number of publications from elsewhere in Canada. Even the American media had greeted Aberhart's election with derision.
Though the act won easy passage through the Social Credit-dominated legislature,
Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta
The lieutenant governor of Alberta () is the Viceroy, viceregal representative in Alberta of the . The lieutenant governor is appointed in the same manner as Lieutenant governor (Canada), the other provincial viceroys in Canada and is similarly ...
John C. Bowen
John Campbell Bowen (October 3, 1872 – January 2, 1957) was a clergyman, insurance broker and long serving politician. He served as an alderman in the City of Edmonton and went on to serve as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta fr ...
reserved
Reserved is a Polish apparel retailer headquartered in Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania, Poland. It was founded in 1999 and remains the largest company of the LPP (company), LPP group, which has more than 1,700 retail stores located in ...
royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
until the
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
evaluated the act's legality. In 1938's ''
Reference re Alberta Statutes
''Reference Re Alberta Statutes'', also known as the Alberta Press case and the Alberta Press Act Reference, is a landmark reference question, reference of the Supreme Court of Canada where several provincial laws, including one restricting the pr ...
'', the court found that it was unconstitutional, and it never became law.
''Métis Population Betterment Act''
The ''Métis Population Betterment Act'' (Bill 6) was a statute passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the seventh session in 1938 that created a committee of members of the
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
and the government to plot out lands for allocation to the Métis. Twelve areas were mapped out for this purpose, with the idea of creating ongoing cooperation between the Métis and Crown representatives toward the improvement of quality of life for the Métis. It came to light that certain lands given to the Métis were insufficient to create a living for the people placed there, and these settlements were rescinded. By 1960, only eight of the original lands were still in the hands of the Métis.
The Act came as a result of the findings of the ''Royal Commission on the Condition of the Halfbreed Population of the Province of Alberta'' (Ewing Commission) chaired by Justice
Albert Ewing
Albert Freeman Ewing (June 29, 1871 – August 26, 1946) was a provincial politician and judge from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1913 to 1921 sitting with the Conservative caucus in oppositio ...
and included members
James McCrie Douglas
James McCrie Douglas (5 February 1867 – 16 March 1950) was a politician in Alberta, Canada, a mayor of Edmonton, and a member of Parliament serving in the House of Commons of Canada from 1909 to 1921.
Early life
Douglas was born 5 February ...
and Dr. Edward A. Brathwaite. The Commission recommended that
Alberta's Métis should have land reservations for farming colonies/settlements, homes, and schools. Additionally, in recognition that the Métis were the original inhabitants of the proposed land allotments, the Commission acknowledged group rights and acknowledged that settlement Métis should have preference over nonresidents in harvesting fish, fur, and game.
''The Recall Act''
As part of Aberhart's mandate, the Social Credit government sought to bring
recall petition
A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of offi ...
s to Alberta. The
Speech from the Throne
A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or a representative thereof, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a session is opened, outlining th ...
on February 6, 1936 included a statement promising the government would introduce recall provisions for Members of the Legislative Assembly. On March 13, 1936, Provincial Secretary
Ernest Manning
Ernest Charles Manning, (September 20, 1908 – February 19, 1996), a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any other premier in Alberta's histor ...
introduced ''An Act providing for the Recall of Members of the Legislative Assembly'' (Bill 76) and subsequently passed third reading on April 3, 1936.
Recall did not last long in Alberta, by the fifth session in 1937 a recall petition had started against Premier William Aberhart and members of the opposition unsuccessfully introduced motions in the house to reduce the percentage of the electorate required to successfully recall a MLA. On September 30, 1937 backbench MLA
Ernest Duke
Lawrence Ernest Oscar Duke (December 21, 1880 – January 19, 1954) was a provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative ass ...
introduced ''An Act to repeal The Legislative Assembly (Recall) Act'' (Bill 11). The bill passed on October 5, 1937, and was
retroactive to invalidate any previous recall activities, protecting Premier Aberhart from the active recall activities in his constituency.
Composition at election
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Alberta Legislative AssemblyLegislative Assembly of Alberta Members Book
{{Alberta Assemblies
08th Alberta Legislative Assembly