Lavern Ahlstrom is a retired provincial level politician and former leader of the

Alberta Social Credit Party 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 w ...

Political career

Ahlstrom first became involved with Social Credit in the 1970s. He has been a perennial candidate for the party with some moderately successful showings during his career. Ahlstrom first ran for office in electoral district of

Rocky Mountain House Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of Red Deer at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) and Highway 11 (David T ...

in the

1979 Alberta general election The 1979 Alberta general election was held on March 14, 1979, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, which had been expanded to 79 seats. The Progressive Conservative Party of Peter Lougheed won its third consecutive term in g ...

finishing second to Progressive Conservative Jack Campbell. He ran for a second time in the

1986 Alberta general election The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, this time for the

Representative Party of Alberta The Representative Party of Alberta (first registered as the Political Alternative Association, and known as the Alternative Government Movement prior to registration in 1984) was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada formed by former Al ...

finishing third. In that election he was once again defeated by Campbell. He would run again in the

1993 Alberta general election The 1993 Alberta general election was held on June 15, 1993, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Conservative government was re-elected, taking 51 seats out of 83 (61 percent of the seats) but only having support of 45 per ...

once again for Social Credit finishing a strong second to Progressive Conservative Ty Lund. In the

1997 Alberta general election The 1997 Alberta general election was held on March 11, 1997, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Ralph Klein's Conservatives were re-elected, with increased number of seats in the Legislature. Liberal Official Opposition los ...

he would go against Lund for a second time coming up with his best electoral result ever, finishing a close second again. He would attempt another run against Lund in the 2001 Alberta general election this time being defeated finishing second in a landslide. He would run for the last time in the

2004 Alberta general election The 2004 Alberta general election was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated dead ...

this time as party leader finishing in a second place tie.

Leader of Social Credit

Ahlstrom was elected leader of Social Credit after James Alberts departed in 2001 after a poor showing in the 2001 Alberta general election. Ahlstrom's leadership of the Alberta Social Credit Party has been notable for the party re-embracing elements of

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 ...

economic and monetary theory. Electoral wise he led the party to a better showing running 43 candidates in the

earning 1.2% of the popular vote. The last election contested under his leadership was the

Drumheller-Stettler Drumheller-Stettler is a provincial electoral district (riding) in Alberta, Canada. The electoral district is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The district ...

by election held in June 2007. Social Credit finished a very strong third vastly improving their showing in the district over 2004. He resigned as leader and was replaced by Len Skowronski in November 2007.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahlstrom, Lavern Canadian people of Swedish descent Alberta Social Credit Party leaders Alberta Social Credit Party candidates in Alberta provincial elections Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people)