![Wm Aberhart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Wm_Aberhart.JPG)
The Social Credit Board was a committee in
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada from 1937 until 1948. Composed of
Social Credit backbencher
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 " ...
s in the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...
, it was created in the aftermath of the
1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt
The 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt took place from March to June 1937 in the Canadian province of Alberta. It was a rebellion against Premier William Aberhart by a group of backbench (not part of the cabinet) members of the Legislative A ...
. Its mandate was to oversee the implementation of
social credit in Alberta. To this end, it secured the services of L. Dennis Byrne and George Powell, two lieutenants of social credit's British founder,
C. H. Douglas
Major Clifford Hugh "C. H." Douglas, MIMechE, MIEE (20 January 1879 – 29 September 1952), was a British engineer and pioneer of the social credit economic reform movement.
Education and engineering career
C.H. Douglas was born in either Edge ...
.
After requiring all Social Credit Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to sign loyalty oaths to it, the Social Credit Board proceeded to recommend radical legislation regulating banking, taxing banks, and restricting freedom of the press and access to courts. Most of this legislation was either
disallowed by the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
or ruled ''
ultra vires'' (beyond the powers of) the province by 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 ...
; these defeats and the advent of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
made the Social Credit Board increasingly irrelevant. In its later years it became highly
anti-Semitic
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 it was dissolved by the government of
Ernest Manning in 1948.
Beginnings
William Aberhart's
Social Credit League won 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 ...
on a platform of ending the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
by implementing social credit, a new economic theory that posited that poverty could be ended by increasing citizens' purchasing power. By 1937, many Social Credit backbenchers in the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...
were becoming frustrated with the government's lack of progress. This frustration became the 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt. As a condition of regaining the rebels' support, Aberhart agreed to create the Social Credit Board, to be composed of five Social Credit MLAs and responsible for the implementation of social credit in Alberta. The chair of the Social Credit Board was
Glenville MacLachlan; he and three other members had been insurgents during the revolt, while the fifth member,
Floyd Baker, had remained loyal to Aberhart.
The Social Credit Board was tasked with the appointment of a Social Credit commission, composed of experts on social credit, to advise on the implementation of social credit in Alberta. Most Social Crediters hoped that C. H. Douglas, the British founder of the social credit movement, would agree to head this commission. Douglas refused MacLachlan's entreaties to do so, but sent two representatives, George Frederick Powell and L. Dennis Byrne, in his stead.
[Elliott 264] One of Powell's first acts was to demand that all Social Credit MLAs sign an oath of loyalty to the Social Credit Board, which almost all did.
Proposals, disallowance, and judicial defeat (1937–1938)
The first round of legislation recommended by the commission and subsequently passed by the legislature included the ''Credit of Alberta Regulation Act'', which required every bank and all their employees to be licensed by the provincial government and to be overseen by a Social Credit Board-appointed directorate, the ''Bank Employees Civil Rights Act'', which prohibited unlicensed banks and their employees from initiating legal proceedings, and amendments to the ''Judicature Act'' prohibiting court actions alleging that any of Alberta's legislation was unconstitutional.
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 Campbell 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 ...
, asked to give
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 ...
to these bills, asked Attorney-General
John Hugill if he considered them to be valid under the
Canadian constitution. Hugill responded in the negative and, after being asked to do so by Aberhart, resigned. Aberhart appointed himself Attorney-General and told Bowen that it was his opinion that the laws were constitutional. Bowen provided royal assent, but all three acts were subsequently
disallowed by the federal government.
In 1937's
Bankers' Toadies incident
The Bankers' Toadies incident occurred in 1937 in the Canadian province of Alberta when a pamphlet advocating the "extermination" of nine men identified as "Bankers' Toadies" (in other words, servants of bank owners) was distributed to Members ...
, Powell (along with Social Credit
whip
A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
Joe Unwin) was convicted of
criminal libel, sentenced to six months hard labour, and deported to the United Kingdom. The charges stemmed from a pamphlet listing nine men as "bankers' toadies" and advocating their "extermination".
![Ernest Manning](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Ernest_Manning.jpg)
The Social Credit Board's second round of bills included a rewritten version of the ''Credit of Alberta Regulation Act''. The previous version had been disallowed partly on the basis that, under the
British North America Act, 1867, banking was a responsibility of the federal government, and the government of Alberta therefore lacked the authority to regulate it. In an attempt to address this concern, the new version substituted the words "credit institutions" for "banks". The Social Credit Board's proposals also included the ''Bank Taxation Act'', which imposed extremely high taxes on banks operating in Alberta, and the ''
Accurate News and Information Act
The ''Accurate News and Information Act'' (complete title: ''An Act to Ensure the Publication of Accurate News and Information'') was a statute passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada, in 1937, at the instigation of William Aberhar ...
'', which severely restricted
freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...
. All of these bills were passed by the legislature. Bowen, not wishing to have more laws to which he had assented disallowed,
reserved assent from all three 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 ...
could comment on their constitutional validity. It did so in 1938's
Reference re Alberta Statutes, which found all three to be unconstitutional. The Social Credit Board's major initiatives had failed.
Decline and dissolution (1939–1948)
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
further reduced the Social Credit Board's importance, as implementation of social credit took a backseat to the war effort. Instead of proposing new policy, the board devoted itself to
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
;
its members spoke across the province about social credit, and it distributed vast numbers of pamphlets and leaflets (272,900 in 1939). When Aberhart died in 1943, he was replaced by
Ernest Manning, who was by this time considerably less open to radical social credit proposals than Aberhart had been.
He soon transferred many of the Social Credit Board's responsibilities to the new department of Economic Affairs, of which L. D. Byrne was the
deputy minister.
Byrne, the remaining Douglas lieutenant after Powell's deportation, shared both Douglas's economic theories and his
antisemitism
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 ...
.
[Brennan 93] Under his influence, the Social Credit Board began to propagate anti-Jewish
conspiracy theories, including those espoused by the Russian
forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
''
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''. Its 1943 report alleged "a plot, world-wide in scope, deliberately engineered by a small number of ruthless international financiers",
most of whom were Jewish.
[Barr 128] Its 1947 report repeated these allegations, and also proposed a new voting system in which voters would state their choices publicly, and be taxed only for those government programs they supported during the election. Political parties were to be abolished in favour of "leagues of electors", and all farmland was to be appropriated by the government. Manning, benignly neglectful of the Social Credit Board to this point, took this as "a direct challenge to his leadership, a shot across the bow".
[Brennan 94] He quickly introduced a resolution in the legislature to "condemn, repudiate, and completely dissociate" the legislature from "any statements or publications which are incompatible with the established British ideals of democratic freedom, or which endorse, excuse, or incite anti-Semitism or racial or religious intolerance in any form".
In November 1947 he announced that the Social Credit Board would cease to exist effective March 1948,
[Brennan 95] and in February 1948 he asked for and received Byrne's resignation as deputy minister of Economic Affairs.
Despite its beginnings as a vehicle of intended economic revolution, the board achieved nothing of lasting importance. Once its early efforts were foiled by the federal government and the courts, it ceased to have much influence. By 1948, the dire conditions that had sparked Albertans' enthusiasm for radical economic reform had vanished, and with it their interest in social credit. While the Social Crediters remained in government until 1971, the revolutionary spirit of the 1930s was all but forgotten: as
Athabasca University
Athabasca University (AU) is a Canadian public research university that primarily operates through online distance education. Founded in 1970, it is one of four comprehensive academic and research universities in Alberta, and was the first ...
historian Alvin Finkel notes, post-war Social Credit "had been transformed from a mass, eclectic movement for social reform led by monetary reformers to a relatively small government party that enjoyed considerable support from various sectors of the Alberta population for its judicious combination of right-wing rhetoric and social service and road-building programs."
[Finkel 99] The Social Credit Board, with its reform mandate and its direct pipeline to Douglas, was no longer needed.
Notes
References
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{{good article
Canadian social credit movement
Antisemitism in Canada
Government of Alberta
History of Alberta
1937 establishments in Alberta
1948 disestablishments in Canada