Historically in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, there were a number of political parties that were part of the

Canadian social credit movement The Canadian social credit movement is a political movement originally based on the Social Credit theory of Major C. H. Douglas. Its supporters were colloquially known as Socreds in English and créditistes in French. It gained popularity and its ...

. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the

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 ...

philosophy; at various times they had varying degrees of affiliation with the

Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada (french: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadi ...

at the federal level. The greatest success achieved by a provincial social credit party in Quebec was the

Ralliement créditiste du Québec The ''Ralliement créditiste du Québec'' was a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada that operated from 1970 to 1978 (the party was also known as the ''Parti créditiste'' from September to December 1973, contesting the 1973 provincial el ...

, which won 12 seats in the 1970 Quebec provincial election.

Union des électeurs

The Union des électeurs (UE) (in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: "Union of Electors") was founded in 1939 by

Louis Even Louis Even (March 23, 1885, Montfort-sur-Meu – September 27, 1974) was a lay Christian leader and publisher who founded the social credit movement in Quebec. He co-founded and led the Pilgrims of Saint Michael, better known as the white berets, w ...

and Gilberte Côté-Mercier. It was the first ''créditiste'' political movement to be active in Quebec. It ran two candidates, Even and Armand Turpin in the 1940 federal election as part of the Canada-wide

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...

movement. Even won 17% of the vote and placed third in the riding of

Lake St-John—Roberval Lac-Saint-Jean () is a federal electoral district in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, northeast Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 2004, and has been represented since 2015. Demographics :' ...

. Turpin placed second with over 31.8% of the vote in Hull. Even and the Union attended the founding convention of the Social Credit Association of Canada in 1944 and opposed the bid of the western Canada-based Social Credit federal caucus to establish a central party under the leadership of Solon Low. While Even's group ran candidates in the 1945 federal election under the national Social Credit banner and again in subsequent by-elections, by 1949 the Quebec créditistes were again running candidates under the Union des électeurs banner as they were also doing in the Quebec provincial elections. The Union was accused of

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and of distributing the ''

Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

'' in Quebec.Social Discredit: Anti-Semitism, Social Credit and the Jewish Response
by Janine Stingel, page 132 The

Canadian Jewish Congress The Canadian Jewish Congress (, , ) was, for more than ninety years, the main advocacy group for the Jewish community in Canada. Regarded by many as the "Parliament of Canadian Jewry," the Congress was at the forefront of the struggle for human r ...

referred to it as "fast becoming the rallying point of the numerous Jew-haters in French Canada". The Union des électeurs' electoral philosophy was that it was not a partisan political party but an organization which marshals voters to enforce their wishes on their elected representatives. Even's belief, like that of social credit originator C.H. Douglas, was that parties were corrupt and that the party system should be replaced by a "union of electors" who would compel elected officials to follow the popular will. Even and the Union broke with the national Social Credit organization in 1947 due to

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 ...

's increasingly hostile attitude towards them and his purge of anti-Semites from the movement. The Union influenced some Social Crediters outside of Quebec, including the

Social Credit Association of Ontario The Social Credit Party of Ontario (SCPO) (also known as the Ontario Social Credit League, Social Credit Association of Ontario and the Union of Electors) was a minor political party at the provincial level in the Canadian province of Ontario fro ...

which stood its candidates in the 1948 Ontario elections under the name "Union of Electors". In British Columbia, there was a "Union of Electors" party which ran as a rival to the British Columbia Social Credit League in the 1949 provincial election. With

Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette (September 26, 1917 – December 16, 1976) was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the '' Ralliement des créditistes''. Outsid ...

and then P. Ernest Grégoire as leader, the Quebec provincial party contested seats in the 1944 provincial election but won no seats and the 1948 provincial election when it managed to get 9.25% of the popular vote, but again won no seats. It also ran candidates federally: Caouette was elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

in a 1946

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

under the Social Credit banner. He failed to win re-election in the 1949 federal election as a Union des électeurs candidate, when the party ran a total of 56 candidates. None were successful. The Union des électeurs faded away as a political party after 1949. In the 1950s, Caouette contested seats in various by-elections against the wishes of Even and Côté-Mercier. In 1958, Caouette broke with Even and Côté-Mercier and founded the Ralliement des créditistes, which ran candidates in federal elections in the 1950s and 1960s and was, at times, the Quebec branch of the

. In 1970, the federal Ralliement des créditistes founded a distinct provincial branch, the

. In 1939, Even and Côté also founded a lay

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

group called the "

Pilgrims of Saint Michael The Pilgrims of St. Michael (the "white berets") is a Roman Catholic organization in Canada that promotes social credit economic theories in Canada and other countries. Description The Pilgrims of St. Michael were founded in Canada in 1939 by ...

", based in Rougemont, Quebec, that continues to promote social credit monetary policy coupled with conservative Catholicism. The Pilgrims publish ''The Michael Journal'' in English and ''Vers Demain'' in French. The group was founded in 1939 and is nicknamed "the White Berets" for the headgear worn by members.

Federal general election results

Quebec provincial general election results

Candidats des électeurs

ran under this label in the

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

and 1958 federal elections, but failed to win a seat.

Candidats libéral des électeurs

In the 1962 and 1963 federal elections, a small breakaway from Social Credit ran a single candidate under the name Candidat libéral des électeurs without success. The 1962 candidate, J.-Edouard Pharon, received 1,800 votes – 500 more than the Social Credit candidate.

Ralliement des créditistes du Canada

Réal Caouette had been a social credit stalwart since the joining the movement in 1939, running as a candidate for the Union des électeurs. He won a seat in the House of Commons in a

, but lost it in the next general election. He was a true believer in social credit theory and a charismatic, almost evangelical speaker. In 1958, he broke with Union des électeurs founders Louis Even and Gilberte Côté-Mercier, and formed the Ralliement des créditistes du Canada as the Quebec wing of the

on May 4, 1958. Caouette was named leader of the new organization. His party political broadcasts on Quebec television developed a great following. Caouette ran for the leadership of the Social Credit Party of Canada in 1961, but was defeated by Robert N. Thompson. Driven by Caouette's fiery oratory, the Social Credit Party achieved a breakthrough in the 1962 federal election, winning 26 seats in Quebec. Only four Social Credit MPs were elected in the rest of Canada. Thompson insisted on remaining national party leader after 1962, even though the Social Credit

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

was overwhelmingly from Quebec and regarded Caouette as its leader. Thompson accepted Caouette as his deputy leader. This tension led to a split: in 1963, the Quebec wing became independent from the party in the rest of country as the Ralliement des créditistes, or Social Credit Rally in English. Of the 20 Social Credit MPs elected in Quebec in the 1963 federal election, 13 followed Caouette into the Ralliement, five ran in the next election as independents and two joined the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

. The Ralliement ran as a separate party in the 1965 federal election. Nine of its candidates were elected in Quebec in 1965. It went on to win 14 seats in Quebec in 1968, and then creditiste leader Caouette became leader of the Social Credit Party. The party took seats in Quebec in the 1970s. In 1968, Thompson joined the Progressive Conservative Party.

General election results – Ralliement des créditistes

Ralliement créditiste

In October 1967, the Ralliement des créditistes changed its name to Ralliement créditiste. In the 1968 federal election, the Social Credit Party won no seats in the House of Commons, while Caouette's Ralliement créditiste returned 14 MPs. In 1969, the federal Ralliement créditiste entered provincial politics by running candidates in four Quebec by-elections. The candidates appeared on the ballot without party designation, as the party did not run candidates in the last general election. All were defeated. A dissident group opposed to Caouette's leadership founded the

Parti crédit social uni The Parti crédit social uni (PCSU; English: United Social Credit Party) was a provincial political party in the Canadian province of Quebec. It existed on two occasions, from 1969 to around 1971 and from 1979 to 1994. The party's leader in both pe ...

in this period.Ronald Lebel, "Creditistes' entry into politics likely to be swamped by UN win," ''Globe and Mail'', 25 September 1969, p. 10. The

was created in January 1970 and fielded candidates in the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and 1973 provincial elections. In 1971, Caouette and the Ralliement créditiste rejoined the Social Credit Party of Canada, and Caouette was elected national leader. The Social Credit Party under Caouette's leadership won 15 seats in 1972 and 11 in 1974. Under

Fabien Roy Fabien Roy (born April 17, 1928) is a former Canadian politician who was active in Quebec in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the House of Commons of Canada, and advocated social credit theories of monetary re ...

’s leadership it won 6 in 1979. It won no seats in 1980.

General election results - Ralliement créditiste

References

External links

National Assembly historical information

La Politique québécoise sur le Web
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ralliement creditiste Federal political parties in Canada Defunct political parties in Canada Political parties established in 1939 Conservative parties in Canada Social credit parties in Canada Political history of Quebec 1939 establishments in Quebec