Social Credit Party of Canada
Encyclopedia
The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative
-populist
political party in Canada
that promoted social credit
theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadian social credit movement
.
was largely an out-growth of the Alberta Social Credit Party, and the Social Credit Party of Canada was originally strongest in Alberta.
When first formed in 1935, as the Western Social Credit League, it attracted many voters from the Progressive Party of Canada
and the United Farmers
movement. The party grew out of disaffection with the status quo during the Great Depression
. The depression hit the party's western Canadian birthplace especially hard, and can be credited both for the creation of this party and the rise of a social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
.
In the party's first election in 1935
, it ran candidates only in Western Canada
and won 17 seats, all but two of them in Alberta
, where it won over 46% of that province's popular vote.
In 1939, Social Credit joined with former Conservative
William Duncan Herridge
and his supporters in the New Democracy
movement. The Social Credit Party ran in the 1940 election
under the "New Democracy" name. At the party's first national convention in 1944, delegates decided to abandon the name New Democracy and founded the Social Credit Association of Canada as a national party and chose Alberta Treasurer Solon Low as the party's first national leader.
Nevertheless, in the 1940s, Social Credit supporters in Quebec often ran under the name Union des électeurs, a social credit
organization which had been formed in 1939 by Louis Even
and Gilberte Côté-Mercier as the political arm of their religious organization, the Pilgrims of Saint Michael
, and which had an on again, off again, relationship with the western-based national party as well as an inconsistent attitude towards electoral politics. The Union of Electors 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 believed the party politics was corrupt and that the party system should be abolished and replaced by a "union of electors" who would compel elected officials to follow the popular will. The Union also favoured a more orthodox application of social credit economic theory, something which the western based Social Credit movement had begun to move away from. This sometimes led to tensions with the Alberta based Social Credit Party of Canada - at the 1944 national founding convention, Even and his followers initially opposed the creation of a national Social Credit Party and in 1947 Even and the Union broke from the Social Credit Party of Canada as a result of Manning's rejection of orthodox social credit economic theory and his purge of anti-Semites from the movement.
The Union des électeurs philosophy inspired an Ontario group, the "Union of Electors" led by Ron Gostick
, to form in 1946 as a rival to the Ontario Social Credit League and run in the 1948 provincial election
under the "Union of Electors" label. Even's views also led to a debate within the national Social Credit Party about whether to continue to run on a Social Credit basis or under the "non-partisan" "Union of Electors" banner. In British Columbia
, the movement split with both the British Columbia Social Credit League and the "Union of Electors" running candidates in the 1949 provincial election
.
Réal Caouette
, a member of the Union des electeurs, won a 1946 by-election
as a Social Credit MP and ran, unsuccessfully, for re-election as a Union des électeurs candidate in the 1949 federal election
. In 1958, Caouette broke with Even and Côté-Mercier and the increasingly hostile attitude of the Union des électeurs towards elections and party politics and founded the Ralliement des créditistes which won recognition as the Quebec wing of the national Social Credit party.
In its first years, the Socreds gained a reputation for anti-Semitism
. It was said of both Blackmore and Low that they "frequently gave public aid and comfort to anti-Semitism" In 1945, Solon Low alleged there was a conspiracy of Jewish bankers behind the world's problems, and in 1947, Norman Jaques
, the Socred Member of Parliament for Wetaskiwin
, even read excerpts of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion into the parliamentary Hansard
. Low officially repudiated anti-Semitism in 1957 following a trip to Israel
after which he made speeches supporting the Jewish state.
of Alberta defeated Réal Caouette
of Quebec
at the party's leadership convention. The vote totals were never announced; many suspect that Caouette actually won more votes, but was rejected by the party's western leadership for fear that he would be a liability. Alberta Socred
Premier
Ernest Manning
had previously told the convention that his province would never accept a francophone Catholic as the party's leader, leading to suspicions that the vote was fixed in Thompson's favour.
Caouette became the party's deputy leader after leading its Quebec wing to a major breakthrough in the 1962 election
. 26 créditistes were elected from Quebec, while Thompson was responsible for a scant four Socred seats in rest of Canada, including his own. The linguistic imbalance caused severe tensions in the Social Credit caucus
, as the Quebec MPs regarded Caouette as their leader. Also, Caouette and the other Quebec MPs remained true believers in social credit theory, while the English branch had largely abandoned the theory. The number of Socreds from English Canada was also declining. Thompson refused to stand down.
On September 9, 1963, the party split into an English Canadian wing and a separate French Canadian party led by Caouette - the Ralliement des créditistes. Of the 20 Social Credit MPs from Quebec in 1963, 13 joined Caouette's Ralliement, five of the remaining seven ran in the next election as independents, and two joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
.
. Party leader Robert Thompson was frustrated by the lack of support given to the federal wing, while the provincial Social Credit parties in Alberta and British Columbia ran powerful political machines and formed the governments. BC's Socred Premier W.A.C. Bennett
cut off his party's organizational and financial support after the 1965 election in hopes of pressuring the federal party to reconcile with Caouette's Créditistes.
Alberta Premier Manning was becoming concerned with the leftward trajectory of both the federal Liberals
and the Progressive Conservatives
(PCs) and encouraged Thompson to try to bring about a merger of the federal Socred and PC parties. Negotiations failed and in March 1967, citing lack of support for the party from its provincial wings in Alberta and British Columbia, Thompson resigned as leader. In the fall Bud Olson
left to join the Liberals
. With the support of both Manning and PC leader Robert Stanfield
, Thompson sought and won the PC nomination in his electoral district (riding) once the June 1968 federal election
was called.
The defections left acting leader Alexander Bell Patterson
leading a three-person Social Credit caucus into the election campaign. When the votes were counted Social Credit lost its last three seats in English Canada. While BC Socred Premier Bennett campaigned actively for the federal party, its internal strain, Manning’s call to merge with the PCs, the defections of Thompson and Olson, and the wave of Trudeaumania swept the Socreds aside. National party president Herb Bruch said that Patterson’s refusal to take a clear stand on whether the Socreds would support Stanfield’s PCs in Parliament was a contributing factor in the party’s defeat. Patterson expressed confidence that the party could bounce back, as it had after the Diefenbaker sweep in the 1958 election, noting the strength of the Créditistes in Quebec, and expressed hope that the two parties would be reunited. The party never won another seat in English Canada, although Manning was appointed to the Canadian Senate
in 1970. Patterson returned to Parliament as a Progressive Conservative in the 1972 election.
Arena. Réal Caouette won the leadership on the first ballot.
In the 1972 election
, the Social Credit Party won 15 seats — all in Quebec — and 7.6% of the popular vote.
, the provincial wing of the party was wracked continually by internal divisions, eventually splitting into two factions led by Camil Samson
and Armand Bois
. On February 4, 1973, former federal Liberal cabinet minister Yvon Dupuis
was elected leader of the Ralliement créditiste du Québec
, but failed to win his riding of Saint-Jean in the 1973 provincial election
, while the party only retained two of the twelve seats they held. Under pressure and without a seat, Dupluis resigned the leadership on May 5, 1974.
, the Social Credit Party machine in Quebec began to fall apart. Caouette was suffering from a snowmobiling accident, and therefore the powerful voice that had carried Social Credit in prior elections was silenced. When he was able to speak, Caouette focussed his attacks on the Progressive Conservatives
and the New Democratic Party
, instead of the Liberal Party
, which was Social Credit's main competitor in Quebec. Two weeks before the election was called, Caouette had informed the parliamentary caucus that he would resign as leader in the fall.
Party rallies faced declining, aging attendance. Feuding within the party had accelerated: Some ridings in Quebec had two Social Credit candidates, while others — including the party's Levis stronghold — had none. Many Social Credit MPs ran for re-election on their own strengths, making little mention of the party or its leader in their campaign materials. The party's support in Quebec was undermined by rumours that its MPs had made deals with the Progressive Conservatives during Caouette's illness.
The Social Credit Party won eleven seats, which was considered a success in light of the divisions that plagued their campaign, but was one short of the twelve seats needed for official party status
in the House of Commons. The Socreds failed in their attempts to convince Independent MP Leonard Jones
to join their party. The Socreds made these attempts despite their almost complete absence of political compatibility in order to get recognition as an official party in the House of Commons
. The Speaker of the House of Commons
, with approval from the Liberal government, decided to recognize the party anyway.
The official party status rules provide for automatic recognition of parties that hold at least twelve seats, but they do not state specifically that a party with fewer seats is not to be recognized. This status results in access to government funds for research purposes, committee membership, and more opportunities to participate in debates.
André-Gilles Fortin
, the 32-year-old MP for Lotbiniere
won the convention on the second ballot. Fortin presented a young, dynamic image, but campaigned on traditional social credit economic theory and supporting small business.
Social Credit was dealt a further blow when Fortin was killed in a car accident
on June 24, 1977, after serving only eight months as leader. Réal's son, Gilles Caouette
, was named acting leader five days after Fortin's death.
In 1978, Socreds elected Lorne Reznowski
as their leader, in an attempt to revive the party outside of Quebec. Reznowski, an anglophone Manitoba
n, presented himself as a candidate in the October 16, 1978 by-elections and fared extremely poorly (1,204 votes, only 2.76% of the 43,572 valid votes in the riding of Saint Boniface
). He resigned quickly thereafter. He was replaced as acting leader by Charles-Arthur Gauthier
.
was drafted to lead Social Credit just before the 1979 election
. Under Roy, the party won the tacit support of the separatist Parti Québécois
, which formed the government of Quebec. Social Credit attempted to rally the separatist and nationalist vote: Canadian flags were absent at its campaign kick-off rally, and the party's slogan was C'est à notre tour ("It's our turn"), which was reminiscent of the popular separatist anthem "Gens du pays
" that includes the chorus, "C'est à votre tour de vous laisser parler d'amour". The party focused its platform on constitutional change, promising to fight to abolish the federal government's never-used right to disallow any provincial legislation, and stating that each province has a "right to choose its own destiny within Canada".
Support from the PQ was not welcome by everyone; for instance, Gilles Caouette
publicly denounced what he called "péquistes déguisés en créditistes" (Parti Québécois
disguised as Socreds). Caouette had said that he wanted to work within the spirit and letter of Confederation: “Let us not burn our bridges. It is not the time for le Ralliement des créditistes to be separatists, but rather to win recognition for the French fact within Canada.” Caouette said that he would fight for the recognition of French Canada’s aspirations within Confederation on the basis of a partnership with the other nine provinces, “But if this partnership cannot be brought about, I shall become the more ardent separatist in Quebec.”
While the party did manage to somewhat increase its vote in Péquiste areas, it also lost much support in areas of traditional Socred strength, with the end result being a drop from eleven to six MPs and a slightly reduced share of the popular vote compared to the 1974 election. (See also: Social Credit Party candidates, 1979 Canadian federal election
.)
's Progressive Conservatives formed a minority government
after the election. The Socreds had just enough seats to give the Tories a majority in the House had the two parties formed a coalition government
or otherwise agreed to work together. Prime Minister Clark, who declared that he would govern as if he had a majority, refused to grant the small Social Credit caucus the official party status it wanted, let alone form a coalition or make concessions to the party in order to gain its votes. Clark convinced one Socred MP, Richard Janelle
from Lotbinière, to leave the party and join the government caucus. In December 1979, the remaining five members of the Social Credit caucus demanded that the Conservatives amend their budget to allocate the controversial gas tax revenues to Quebec. Clark refused and the Social Credit caucus abstained in a vote on a Motion of No Confidence
, causing the Conservative government to fall.
The abstention by Social Credit on the important budget vote (while the Liberals and NDP voted to bring down the government) contributed to the growing perception that the party had become irrelevant following the death of iconic leader Réal Caouette
. The resulting February 18, 1980 election
not only defeated the Clark government but wiped out
the Socreds; their popular vote collapsed and the party ended up without any MPs.
The death of the Social Credit candidate in the riding of Frontenac, Quebec, resulted in the postponement of the election in that riding to March 24, 1980. Fabien Roy sought to return to the House of Commons in that by-election
, but lost to the Liberal candidate. Roy resigned as leader on November 1, 1980. The party would never again win a seat in the House of Commons.
's resignation, the party chose Martin Hattersley
in 1981 as interim leader over Alberta evangelist Ken Sweigard
. Hattersley was an Edmonton lawyer and former British army officer.
In the May 4, 1981 by-election in Levis, Quebec, the party nominated Martin Caya. Caya placed 6th in a field of seven candidates, winning 367 votes (1.1% of the total), ahead of renegade Socred John C. Turmel
. Turmel, running as an independent, won 172 votes.
In the August 17, 1981 by-election in Quebec, party president Carl O’Malley placed 5th in a field of eight candidates, with 92 votes (0.2% of the total). Turmel won 42 votes, placing last.
Hattersley resigned in 1983 when the party overturned his decision to expel Jim Keegstra and two other Albertans accused of anti-Semitism
from the party.
In June 1983, Sweigard was elected interim leader by means of a telephone conference call of 19 party executive members, with nine votes to five votes for party vice-president Richard Lawrence. Quebec party member Adrien Lambert was nominated, but could not be reached by telephone. He nonetheless won two votes.
When the call began, two candidates were in the race: professional gambler John C. Turmel
of Ottawa
, and tractor dealer Elmer Knutson
of Edmonton, the founder of West-Fed, a western Canada separatist movement.
Turmel's candidacy was rejected on the basis that his membership had been suspended. Turmel subsequently formed the Christian Credit Party
, and later, the Abolitionist Party of Canada
, both based on social credit principles. Knutson failed to win endorsement because he was not well known by the members of the executive. Knutson subsequently quit the party to form the Confederation of Regions Party.
The meeting decided to appoint an interim leader until a leadership convention could be held in September 1983. This convention was deferred until June 1986, and Sweigard remained as interim leader until that time. Also in 1983, Manning retired from the Senate after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, ending the Social Credit's representation on Parliament Hill
.
In the 1984 election
, the party nominated 52 candidates in 51 ridings, and collected a total of 17,044 votes (0.13% of votes cast in all ridings). Two candidates ran as Social Credit candidates in the BC riding of Prince George-Peace River. The party's strength remained in Quebec and Alberta, but also ran candidates in BC, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick. See also: Social Credit Party candidates, 1984 Canadian federal election
.
Sweigard resigned as leader in 1986. The party's leadership was subsequently won by the socially conservative
Ontario
evangelical minister Harvey Lainson
, who defeated holocaust denier
James Keegstra
by 67 votes to 38 at a delegated convention in Toronto
. Lainson's campaign focused on gun rights and an opposition to abortion and the metric system
. (He was not affiliated with the anti-Semitic groups that endorsed Keegstra.) After becoming party leader, Lainson rebranded the party as the Christian Freedom Party of Canada
. For official purposes, it was still listed as the Social Credit Party.
The party nominated Andrew Varaday as its candidate in the 1987 Hamilton Mountain by-election. He won 149 votes (0.4% of the total), placing last in a field of six candidates, which included John Turmel (166 votes).
In the 1988 election
, the party nominated nine candidates: six in Quebec, two in Ontario, and one in BC. These candidates collected a total of 3,408 votes (0.02% of votes cast in all ridings). The BC candidate, running in New Westminster-Burnaby, won 718 votes (1.3% of the total). Although the party did not nominate the 50 candidates required to obtain official party status, the Chief Electoral Officer agreed to put the party's name on the ballots for the nine candidates on the basis of its historical status as an official party.
In 1990, the remnant of the federal Social Credit party was taken over by social conservative evangelist Ken Campbell
. He continued to describe the party as the Christian Freedom Party in public appearances, although he also retained the "Social Credit" name on official documents for tax purposes.
In 1990, the party nominated two candidates in by-elections, each of whom won 96 votes. In the February 12 by-election in Chambly, Quebec, Emilian Martel placed last in a field of six, winning 0.2% of the total vote. Party leader Ken Campbell placed 7th out of 10, winning 0.4% of the total vote in the August 13 by-election in Oshawa, Ontario. John Turmel placed last with 50 votes in this race.
The party failed to nominate at least fifty candidates for the 1993 election
, and was deregistered by Elections Canada
on September 27, 1993. Its candidates in that election appeared on the ballot as non-affiliated candidates. Campbell later ran as an unofficial "Christian Freedom Party" candidate in a 1996 by-election in Hamilton East, appearing on the ballot as an independent.
Social Credit has not attempted to run candidates on the national level since then, but continued to exist as an incorporated entity in the form of the "Social Credit Party of Canada, Incorporated" under which Ken Campbell, until his death in 2006, published political advocacy material in order to preserve his ministry's status as a religious charity.
* In the 1940 election, W.D. Herridge
ran a group of 17 social credit candidates as members of a monetary reform party called New Democracy
. In addition to the official Social Credit party, they won 3 seats and received 73,083 or 1.59% of the national vote. Herridge failed to win a seat in Parliament and the 3 member New Democracy caucus folded and joined the Social Credit Party Caucus in the House of Commons, raising the caucus' seat total to 10 Members.
** In the 1965 and 1968 elections, Quebec social crediters ran separately as the Ralliement des créditistes.
, attempted to revive the national Social Credit Party of Canada/Parti Credit Social du Canada. His attempt failed to win sufficient support to enable his group to become a registered political party with Elections Canada
and the group did not run candidates in the 2008 federal election
on either an official or unofficial basis. In June 2009, he announced that his unregistered Social Credit Party of Canada would cease and urged all members to join with the Christian Heritage Party of Canada
.
Since the demise of the federal party, several small fringe parties have attempted to promote social credit economic policy while not advocating the social conservativism that the Social Credit Party was known for. John C. Turmel
, who is in the Guinness Book of Records for the most elections contested and for the most elections lost, is an advocate of social credit monetary theory and founded the Abolitionist Party of Canada
which ran 80 candidates in the 1993 federal election
on a social credit style economic platform. The party dissolved in 1996. (Turmel also founded the short-lived Christian Credit Party
in the early 1980s after he was expelled from the Social Credit Party.)
The Canada Party
, founded by former Social Credit candidate Joseph Thauberger
, also ran candidates in the 1993 election on a platform of monetary reform influenced by social credit. Many of its members also belonged to the social credit influenced Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform
(COMER). In 1997, the Canada Party merged with the left economic nationalist Canadian Action Party
which, while not a social credit party per se, adopted a monetary reform policy that is heavily influenced by COMER and the Canada Party.
Source:http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Files/Party.aspx?Item=361dbd54-a9dd-43cd-8024-085861e8a4d3&Language=E&MenuID=Lists.Members.aspx&MenuQuery=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.parl.gc.ca%2FParlinfo%2FLists%2FMembers.aspx%3FParliament%3De4dddf16-dc22-4f33-aa3f-c792e1f1c8ae%26Riding%3D%26Name%3D%26Party%3D361dbd54-a9dd-43cd-8024-085861e8a4d3%26Province%3D%26Gender%3D%26New%3DFalse%26Current%3DFalse%26Picture%3DFalseParliament of Canada website: Party File: Social Credit Party]
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
-populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
political party in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
that promoted social credit
Social Credit
Social Credit is an economic philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas , a British engineer, who wrote a book by that name in 1924. Social Credit is described by Douglas as "the policy of a philosophy"; he called his philosophy "practical Christianity"...
theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadian social credit movement
Canadian social credit movement
The Canadian social credit movement was a Canadian political movement originally based on the Social Credit theory of Major C. H. Douglas. Its supporters were colloquially known as Socreds...
.
A Western protest movement: 1935–1961
The Canadian social credit movementCanadian social credit movement
The Canadian social credit movement was a Canadian political movement originally based on the Social Credit theory of Major C. H. Douglas. Its supporters were colloquially known as Socreds...
was largely an out-growth of the Alberta Social Credit Party, and the Social Credit Party of Canada was originally strongest in Alberta.
When first formed in 1935, as the Western Social Credit League, it attracted many voters from the Progressive Party of Canada
Progressive Party of Canada
The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...
and the United Farmers
United Farmers of Canada
The United Farmers of Canada was a radical farmers organization. It was established in 1926 as the United Farmers of Canada as a merger of the Farmers' Union of Canada and the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association...
movement. The party grew out of disaffection with the status quo during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The depression hit the party's western Canadian birthplace especially hard, and can be credited both for the creation of this party and the rise of a social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...
.
In the party's first election in 1935
Canadian federal election, 1935
The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...
, it ran candidates only in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
and won 17 seats, all but two of them in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, where it won over 46% of that province's popular vote.
In 1939, Social Credit joined with former Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada (historical)
The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...
William Duncan Herridge
William Duncan Herridge
William Duncan Herridge, PC, KC, MC, DSO was a Canadian politician and diplomat.He was the son of Reverend William T...
and his supporters in the New Democracy
New Democracy (Canada)
New Democracy was a political party in Canada founded by William Duncan Herridge in 1939. Herridge, a former Conservative party adviser who was Canada's Envoy to the United States from 1931-35 during the government of R. B. Bennett....
movement. The Social Credit Party ran in the 1940 election
Canadian federal election, 1940
The Canadian federal election of 1940 was the 19th general election in Canadian history. It was held March 26, 1940 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 19th Parliament of Canada...
under the "New Democracy" name. At the party's first national convention in 1944, delegates decided to abandon the name New Democracy and founded the Social Credit Association of Canada as a national party and chose Alberta Treasurer Solon Low as the party's first national leader.
Nevertheless, in the 1940s, Social Credit supporters in Quebec often ran under the name Union des électeurs, a social credit
Social Credit
Social Credit is an economic philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas , a British engineer, who wrote a book by that name in 1924. Social Credit is described by Douglas as "the policy of a philosophy"; he called his philosophy "practical Christianity"...
organization which had been formed in 1939 by Louis Even
Louis Even
Louis Even 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, with Gilberte Côté-Mercier and was a founder of the Union of Electors, a predecessor of Réal Caouette's...
and Gilberte Côté-Mercier as the political arm of their religious organization, the Pilgrims of Saint Michael
Pilgrims of Saint Michael
The Pilgrims of St. Michael is a Roman Catholic organization in Canada that promotes social credit economic theories in Canada and other countries.The Pilgims of St...
, and which had an on again, off again, relationship with the western-based national party as well as an inconsistent attitude towards electoral politics. The Union of Electors 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 believed the party politics was corrupt and that the party system should be abolished and replaced by a "union of electors" who would compel elected officials to follow the popular will. The Union also favoured a more orthodox application of social credit economic theory, something which the western based Social Credit movement had begun to move away from. This sometimes led to tensions with the Alberta based Social Credit Party of Canada - at the 1944 national founding convention, Even and his followers initially opposed the creation of a national Social Credit Party and in 1947 Even and the Union broke from the Social Credit Party of Canada as a result of Manning's rejection of orthodox social credit economic theory and his purge of anti-Semites from the movement.
The Union des électeurs philosophy inspired an Ontario group, the "Union of Electors" led by Ron Gostick
Ron Gostick
Ronald A. Gostick was a long-time figure on the Canadian far right and founder of the anti-Semitic Canadian League of Rights/ Gostick was involved in the Canadian social credit movement and later published far right and anti-Semitic material over the course of 50 years, including the Canadian...
, to form in 1946 as a rival to the Ontario Social Credit League and run in the 1948 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1948
The Ontario general election of 1948 was held on June 7, 1948, to elect the 90 members of the 23rd Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
under the "Union of Electors" label. Even's views also led to a debate within the national Social Credit Party about whether to continue to run on a Social Credit basis or under the "non-partisan" "Union of Electors" banner. In British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, the movement split with both the British Columbia Social Credit League and the "Union of Electors" running candidates in the 1949 provincial election
British Columbia general election, 1949
The British Columbia general election of 1949 was the 22nd general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 16, 1949, and held on June 15, 1949...
.
Réal Caouette
Réal Caouette
David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes...
, a member of the Union des electeurs, won a 1946 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
as a Social Credit MP and ran, unsuccessfully, for re-election as a Union des électeurs candidate in the 1949 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1949
The Canadian federal election of 1949 was held on June 27 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 21st Parliament of Canada. It was the first election in Canada in almost thirty years in which the Liberal Party of Canada was not led by William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had...
. In 1958, Caouette broke with Even and Côté-Mercier and the increasingly hostile attitude of the Union des électeurs towards elections and party politics and founded the Ralliement des créditistes which won recognition as the Quebec wing of the national Social Credit party.
In its first years, the Socreds gained a reputation for anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. It was said of both Blackmore and Low that they "frequently gave public aid and comfort to anti-Semitism" In 1945, Solon Low alleged there was a conspiracy of Jewish bankers behind the world's problems, and in 1947, Norman Jaques
Norman Jaques
Norman Jaques was a farmer and a Canadian federal politician who represented the electoral district of Wetaskiwin in the Canadian House of Commons from 1935 to 1949. Jaques was a member of the Social Credit Party....
, the Socred Member of Parliament for Wetaskiwin
Wetaskiwin (electoral district)
Wetaskiwin is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925.-Geography:...
, even read excerpts of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion into the parliamentary Hansard
Hansard
Hansard is the name of the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, an early printer and publisher of these transcripts.-Origins:...
. Low officially repudiated anti-Semitism in 1957 following a trip to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
after which he made speeches supporting the Jewish state.
Split between Quebec and English Canadian factions: 1963–1971
Beginning in the early 1960s, there were serious tensions between the party's English and French wings. In 1961, Robert ThompsonRobert N. Thompson
Robert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family...
of Alberta defeated Réal Caouette
Réal Caouette
David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes...
of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
at the party's leadership convention. The vote totals were never announced; many suspect that Caouette actually won more votes, but was rejected by the party's western leadership for fear that he would be a liability. Alberta Socred
Social Credit Party of Alberta
The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values....
Premier
Premier of Alberta
The Premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta. He or she is the province's head of government and de facto chief executive. The current Premier of Alberta is Alison Redford. She became Premier by winning the Progressive Conservative leadership elections on...
Ernest Manning
Ernest Manning
Ernest Charles Manning, , 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 premier in the province's history, and was the second longest serving provincial premier in Canadian history...
had previously told the convention that his province would never accept a francophone Catholic as the party's leader, leading to suspicions that the vote was fixed in Thompson's favour.
Caouette became the party's deputy leader after leading its Quebec wing to a major breakthrough in the 1962 election
Canadian federal election, 1962
The Canadian federal election of 1962 was held on June 18, 1962 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 25th Parliament of Canada...
. 26 créditistes were elected from Quebec, while Thompson was responsible for a scant four Socred seats in rest of Canada, including his own. The linguistic imbalance caused severe tensions in the Social Credit caucus
Caucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
, as the Quebec MPs regarded Caouette as their leader. Also, Caouette and the other Quebec MPs remained true believers in social credit theory, while the English branch had largely abandoned the theory. The number of Socreds from English Canada was also declining. Thompson refused to stand down.
On September 9, 1963, the party split into an English Canadian wing and a separate French Canadian party led by Caouette - the Ralliement des créditistes. Of the 20 Social Credit MPs from Quebec in 1963, 13 joined Caouette's Ralliement, five of the remaining seven ran in the next election as independents, and two joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
.
Decline of party in English Canada
The English Canadian party, concentrated in Alberta and British Columbia, won only five seats in the 1965 federal electionCanadian federal election, 1965
The Canadian federal election of 1965 was held on November 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 27th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was re-elected with a larger number of seats in the House...
. Party leader Robert Thompson was frustrated by the lack of support given to the federal wing, while the provincial Social Credit parties in Alberta and British Columbia ran powerful political machines and formed the governments. BC's Socred Premier W.A.C. Bennett
W.A.C. Bennett
William Andrew Cecil Bennett, PC, OC was the 25th Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. He was usually referred to as W.A.C...
cut off his party's organizational and financial support after the 1965 election in hopes of pressuring the federal party to reconcile with Caouette's Créditistes.
Alberta Premier Manning was becoming concerned with the leftward trajectory of both the federal Liberals
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
and the Progressive Conservatives
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
(PCs) and encouraged Thompson to try to bring about a merger of the federal Socred and PC parties. Negotiations failed and in March 1967, citing lack of support for the party from its provincial wings in Alberta and British Columbia, Thompson resigned as leader. In the fall Bud Olson
Bud Olson
Horace Andrew Olson, PC, AOE was a Canadian businessman, politician, and the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. He also served as a Canadian Member of Parliament, Senator, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Economic and Regional Development...
left to join the Liberals
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
. With the support of both Manning and PC leader Robert Stanfield
Robert Stanfield
Robert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...
, Thompson sought and won the PC nomination in his electoral district (riding) once the June 1968 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1968
The Canadian federal election of 1968 was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 28th Parliament of Canada...
was called.
The defections left acting leader Alexander Bell Patterson
Alexander Bell Patterson
Alexander Bell Patterson was a long time Canadian Member of Parliament and was briefly leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada. Patterson, a minister by profession, was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1953 election from the riding of Fraser Valley, British Columbia. He...
leading a three-person Social Credit caucus into the election campaign. When the votes were counted Social Credit lost its last three seats in English Canada. While BC Socred Premier Bennett campaigned actively for the federal party, its internal strain, Manning’s call to merge with the PCs, the defections of Thompson and Olson, and the wave of Trudeaumania swept the Socreds aside. National party president Herb Bruch said that Patterson’s refusal to take a clear stand on whether the Socreds would support Stanfield’s PCs in Parliament was a contributing factor in the party’s defeat. Patterson expressed confidence that the party could bounce back, as it had after the Diefenbaker sweep in the 1958 election, noting the strength of the Créditistes in Quebec, and expressed hope that the two parties would be reunited. The party never won another seat in English Canada, although Manning was appointed to the Canadian Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
in 1970. Patterson returned to Parliament as a Progressive Conservative in the 1972 election.
Reunification
In 1971, the Ralliement des créditistes and the English-Canadian Social Credit Party reunited into a single national party at a leadership convention, held at the HullHull, Quebec
Hull is the central and oldest part of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for twenty thousand...
Arena. Réal Caouette won the leadership on the first ballot.
In the 1972 election
Canadian federal election, 1972
The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 29th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive...
, the Social Credit Party won 15 seats — all in Quebec — and 7.6% of the popular vote.
Decline: 1973–1980
Despite a modest success in the 1970 Quebec electionQuebec general election, 1970
The Quebec general election of 1970 was held on April 29, 1970 to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The former Legislative Assembly had been renamed the "National Assembly" in 1968...
, the provincial wing of the party was wracked continually by internal divisions, eventually splitting into two factions led by Camil Samson
Camil Samson
Camil Samson was a politician in Quebec, Canada, Member of the National Assembly of Quebec , and leader of the Ralliement créditiste du Québec and other political parties.-Background:...
and Armand Bois
Armand Bois
Armand Bois was a politician in Quebec, Canada and a Member of the National Assembly of Quebec .-Background:He was born in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec on April 21, 1920 and served as a military officer during World War II...
. On February 4, 1973, former federal Liberal cabinet minister Yvon Dupuis
Yvon Dupuis
Yvon Dupuis, PC is a former Canadian politician.-Political career:Born in Montreal, Dupuis was educated at Collège de Varennes in Longeuil, Quebec, and worked as an insurance agent and as the owner of two music stores prior to running for elected office.He was first elected to the National...
was elected leader of the Ralliement créditiste du Québec
Ralliement créditiste du Québec
The Ralliement créditiste du Québec was a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada that operated from 1970 to 1978. It promoted social credit theories of monetary reform, and acted as an outlet for the expression of rural...
, but failed to win his riding of Saint-Jean in the 1973 provincial election
Quebec general election, 1973
The Quebec general election of 1973 was held on October 29, 1973 to elect members to National Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Robert Bourassa, won re-election, defeating the Parti Québécois, led by René Lévesque, and the Union Nationale .The Liberals won a...
, while the party only retained two of the twelve seats they held. Under pressure and without a seat, Dupluis resigned the leadership on May 5, 1974.
End of Caouette era
In the 1974 federal electionCanadian federal election, 1974
The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term...
, the Social Credit Party machine in Quebec began to fall apart. Caouette was suffering from a snowmobiling accident, and therefore the powerful voice that had carried Social Credit in prior elections was silenced. When he was able to speak, Caouette focussed his attacks on the Progressive Conservatives
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
and the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
, instead of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
, which was Social Credit's main competitor in Quebec. Two weeks before the election was called, Caouette had informed the parliamentary caucus that he would resign as leader in the fall.
Party rallies faced declining, aging attendance. Feuding within the party had accelerated: Some ridings in Quebec had two Social Credit candidates, while others — including the party's Levis stronghold — had none. Many Social Credit MPs ran for re-election on their own strengths, making little mention of the party or its leader in their campaign materials. The party's support in Quebec was undermined by rumours that its MPs had made deals with the Progressive Conservatives during Caouette's illness.
The Social Credit Party won eleven seats, which was considered a success in light of the divisions that plagued their campaign, but was one short of the twelve seats needed for official party status
Official party status
Official party status refers to the Canadian practice of recognizing political parties in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures. The type of recognition and threshold needed to obtain it varies...
in the House of Commons. The Socreds failed in their attempts to convince Independent MP Leonard Jones
Leonard Jones
Leonard C. Jones was a Canadian lawyer and politician, who served as mayor of the city of Moncton, New Brunswick between 1963 and 1974, and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Moncton between 1974 and 1979....
to join their party. The Socreds made these attempts despite their almost complete absence of political compatibility in order to get recognition as an official party in the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
. The Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow Members of Parliament...
, with approval from the Liberal government, decided to recognize the party anyway.
The official party status rules provide for automatic recognition of parties that hold at least twelve seats, but they do not state specifically that a party with fewer seats is not to be recognized. This status results in access to government funds for research purposes, committee membership, and more opportunities to participate in debates.
Leadership turmoil
The decline of the party accelerated after Caouette resigned from the party leadership in 1976. Caouette had announced in 1975 that he would step down from the leadership within a year. He was hospitalized after a stroke on September 16, and died later that year. The party held its leadership convention November 6–7, 1976 at the Civic Centre in Ottawa. This time, 85% of the delegates were from Quebec.André-Gilles Fortin
André-Gilles Fortin
André-Gilles Fortin was a Canadian politician in the 1970s. Fortin was a member of the Canadian House of Commons for the Social Credit Party of Canada....
, the 32-year-old MP for Lotbiniere
Lotbinière (electoral district)
Lotbinière was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 2004.It was created by the British North America Act of 1867...
won the convention on the second ballot. Fortin presented a young, dynamic image, but campaigned on traditional social credit economic theory and supporting small business.
Social Credit was dealt a further blow when Fortin was killed in a car accident
Car accident
A traffic collision, also known as a traffic accident, motor vehicle collision, motor vehicle accident, car accident, automobile accident, Road Traffic Collision or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other stationary obstruction,...
on June 24, 1977, after serving only eight months as leader. Réal's son, Gilles Caouette
Gilles Caouette
Gilles Caouette was a Canadian politician and Member of Parliament.Caouette was born in Rouyn, Quebec. His father, Réal Caouette, was a prominent Social Credit politician, and leader of the Ralliement créditiste and later the Social Credit Party of Canada.Gilles followed in his father’s...
, was named acting leader five days after Fortin's death.
In 1978, Socreds elected Lorne Reznowski
Lorne Reznowski
Lorne Reznowski was a professor of English at the University of Manitoba and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada.A one-time national secretary of the Social Credit Party, Reznowski once worked for former Socred leader Robert N...
as their leader, in an attempt to revive the party outside of Quebec. Reznowski, an anglophone Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
n, presented himself as a candidate in the October 16, 1978 by-elections and fared extremely poorly (1,204 votes, only 2.76% of the 43,572 valid votes in the riding of Saint Boniface
Saint Boniface (electoral district)
Saint Boniface is a federal electoral district that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925. It is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.In 1996, its English name was changed from "St. Boniface" to "Saint Boniface"....
). He resigned quickly thereafter. He was replaced as acting leader by Charles-Arthur Gauthier
Charles-Arthur Gauthier
Charles-Arthur Gauthier was a long time Canadian Member of Parliament for the Social Credit Party and Ralliement Créditiste. Gauthier, an undertaker, was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons representing Roberval, Quebec in the 1962 election...
.
Roy's leadership
Popular provincial créditiste Fabien RoyFabien Roy
Fabien Roy was a politician in Quebec, Canada, in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the Canadian House of Commons, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.-Background:...
was drafted to lead Social Credit just before the 1979 election
Canadian federal election, 1979
The Canadian federal election of 1979 was held on May 22, 1979 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 31st Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of Liberal Party of Canada after 11 years in power under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Joe Clark led the Progressive...
. Under Roy, the party won the tacit support of the separatist Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
, which formed the government of Quebec. Social Credit attempted to rally the separatist and nationalist vote: Canadian flags were absent at its campaign kick-off rally, and the party's slogan was C'est à notre tour ("It's our turn"), which was reminiscent of the popular separatist anthem "Gens du pays
Gens du pays
"Gens du pays" has been called the unofficial national anthem of Quebec. Written by poet, songwriter, and avowed Quebec nationalist Gilles Vigneault , it was first performed by Vigneault on June 24, 1975 during a concert on Montreal's Mount Royal at that year's Fête nationale du Québec ceremony...
" that includes the chorus, "C'est à votre tour de vous laisser parler d'amour". The party focused its platform on constitutional change, promising to fight to abolish the federal government's never-used right to disallow any provincial legislation, and stating that each province has a "right to choose its own destiny within Canada".
Support from the PQ was not welcome by everyone; for instance, Gilles Caouette
Gilles Caouette
Gilles Caouette was a Canadian politician and Member of Parliament.Caouette was born in Rouyn, Quebec. His father, Réal Caouette, was a prominent Social Credit politician, and leader of the Ralliement créditiste and later the Social Credit Party of Canada.Gilles followed in his father’s...
publicly denounced what he called "péquistes déguisés en créditistes" (Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
disguised as Socreds). Caouette had said that he wanted to work within the spirit and letter of Confederation: “Let us not burn our bridges. It is not the time for le Ralliement des créditistes to be separatists, but rather to win recognition for the French fact within Canada.” Caouette said that he would fight for the recognition of French Canada’s aspirations within Confederation on the basis of a partnership with the other nine provinces, “But if this partnership cannot be brought about, I shall become the more ardent separatist in Quebec.”
While the party did manage to somewhat increase its vote in Péquiste areas, it also lost much support in areas of traditional Socred strength, with the end result being a drop from eleven to six MPs and a slightly reduced share of the popular vote compared to the 1974 election. (See also: Social Credit Party candidates, 1979 Canadian federal election
Social Credit Party candidates, 1979 Canadian federal election
The Social Credit Party of Canada won six seats in the 1979 federal election, all in the province of Quebec. It also fielded candidates in other provinces...
.)
Clark minority government
Joe ClarkJoe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...
's Progressive Conservatives formed a minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
after the election. The Socreds had just enough seats to give the Tories a majority in the House had the two parties formed a coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
or otherwise agreed to work together. Prime Minister Clark, who declared that he would govern as if he had a majority, refused to grant the small Social Credit caucus the official party status it wanted, let alone form a coalition or make concessions to the party in order to gain its votes. Clark convinced one Socred MP, Richard Janelle
Richard Janelle
Richard Janelle was a member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a secretary and coordinator by career.Janelle represented Quebec's Lotbinière electoral district at which he won a 16 October 1978 by-election...
from Lotbinière, to leave the party and join the government caucus. In December 1979, the remaining five members of the Social Credit caucus demanded that the Conservatives amend their budget to allocate the controversial gas tax revenues to Quebec. Clark refused and the Social Credit caucus abstained in a vote on a Motion of No Confidence
Motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
, causing the Conservative government to fall.
The abstention by Social Credit on the important budget vote (while the Liberals and NDP voted to bring down the government) contributed to the growing perception that the party had become irrelevant following the death of iconic leader Réal Caouette
Réal Caouette
David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes...
. The resulting February 18, 1980 election
Canadian federal election, 1980
The Canadian federal election of 1980 was held on February 18, 1980 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 32nd Parliament of Canada...
not only defeated the Clark government but wiped out
Wipeout (elections)
An electoral wipeout occurs when a major party receives far fewer votes or seats in a Legislature than their position justifies. It is the opposite of a landslide victory; the two frequently going hand in hand....
the Socreds; their popular vote collapsed and the party ended up without any MPs.
The death of the Social Credit candidate in the riding of Frontenac, Quebec, resulted in the postponement of the election in that riding to March 24, 1980. Fabien Roy sought to return to the House of Commons in that by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
, but lost to the Liberal candidate. Roy resigned as leader on November 1, 1980. The party would never again win a seat in the House of Commons.
Denouement: 1981–1993
After Fabien RoyFabien Roy
Fabien Roy was a politician in Quebec, Canada, in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the Canadian House of Commons, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.-Background:...
's resignation, the party chose Martin Hattersley
Martin Hattersley
J. Martin Hattersley is an Edmonton lawyer and a long-time activist in the Canadian social credit movement. Born in Swinton, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, England, Hattersley earned degrees in economics and law from Cambridge University before moving to Alberta in 1956 where he worked as a lawyer...
in 1981 as interim leader over Alberta evangelist Ken Sweigard
Ken Sweigard
Ken Sweigard was a Pentecostal evangelist from Grande Prairie, Alberta, and politician who led the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1983 to 1986....
. Hattersley was an Edmonton lawyer and former British army officer.
In the May 4, 1981 by-election in Levis, Quebec, the party nominated Martin Caya. Caya placed 6th in a field of seven candidates, winning 367 votes (1.1% of the total), ahead of renegade Socred John C. Turmel
John C. Turmel
John C. Turmel is a perennial candidate for election in Canada, and according to the Guinness Book of Records holds the records for the most elections contested and for the most elections lost having contested 75 elections and lost 74...
. Turmel, running as an independent, won 172 votes.
In the August 17, 1981 by-election in Quebec, party president Carl O’Malley placed 5th in a field of eight candidates, with 92 votes (0.2% of the total). Turmel won 42 votes, placing last.
Hattersley resigned in 1983 when the party overturned his decision to expel Jim Keegstra and two other Albertans accused of anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
from the party.
In June 1983, Sweigard was elected interim leader by means of a telephone conference call of 19 party executive members, with nine votes to five votes for party vice-president Richard Lawrence. Quebec party member Adrien Lambert was nominated, but could not be reached by telephone. He nonetheless won two votes.
When the call began, two candidates were in the race: professional gambler John C. Turmel
John C. Turmel
John C. Turmel is a perennial candidate for election in Canada, and according to the Guinness Book of Records holds the records for the most elections contested and for the most elections lost having contested 75 elections and lost 74...
of Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, and tractor dealer Elmer Knutson
Elmer Knutson
Elmer S. Knutson was a Canadian fringe politician. He was born on the family farm in Torquay, Saskatchewan. He worked on road gangs, in lumber camps and mines until he won a baseball scholarship to a Lutheran college in North Dakota, USA. After serving in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War...
of Edmonton, the founder of West-Fed, a western Canada separatist movement.
Turmel's candidacy was rejected on the basis that his membership had been suspended. Turmel subsequently formed the Christian Credit Party
Christian Credit Party
The Christian Credit Party was a short-lived Canadian political party founded in 1982 by perennial candidate and social credit activist, John C...
, and later, the Abolitionist Party of Canada
Abolitionist Party of Canada
The Abolitionist Party of Canada was a Canadian political party founded by perennial candidate John C. Turmel. The party ran on a platform of: monetary reform, including the abolition of interest rates and the income tax, the use of the local employment trading system of banking, and introducing a...
, both based on social credit principles. Knutson failed to win endorsement because he was not well known by the members of the executive. Knutson subsequently quit the party to form the Confederation of Regions Party.
The meeting decided to appoint an interim leader until a leadership convention could be held in September 1983. This convention was deferred until June 1986, and Sweigard remained as interim leader until that time. Also in 1983, Manning retired from the Senate after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, ending the Social Credit's representation on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
.
In the 1984 election
Canadian federal election, 1984
The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...
, the party nominated 52 candidates in 51 ridings, and collected a total of 17,044 votes (0.13% of votes cast in all ridings). Two candidates ran as Social Credit candidates in the BC riding of Prince George-Peace River. The party's strength remained in Quebec and Alberta, but also ran candidates in BC, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick. See also: Social Credit Party candidates, 1984 Canadian federal election
Social Credit Party candidates, 1984 Canadian federal election
The Social Credit Party of Canada ran a number of candidates in the 1984 federal election, none of whom were elected.-Richelieu: Rénald Bibeau:...
.
| 1984 election results | ||
| Province | № of candidates | № of votes |
|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 8 | 3,479 |
| Alberta | 13 | 5,193 |
| Saskatchewan | 1 | 772 |
| Ontario | 6 | 865 |
| Quebec | 22 | 6,633 |
| New Brunswick | 1 | 102 |
| Total | 51 | 17,044 |
Sweigard resigned as leader in 1986. The party's leadership was subsequently won by the socially conservative
Social conservatism (Canada)
Social conservatism in Canada is a political attitude that is widespread, though not as pronounced as in the United States. It represents conservative positions on issues of family, sexuality and morality...
Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
evangelical minister Harvey Lainson
Harvey Lainson
Harvey George Lainson was a Christian evangelical minister based in the Cambridge, Ontario region and was leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1986 to 1990 during which time he led a successful effort to expel an anti-Semitic faction from the party led by Jim Keegstra.Lainson was a...
, who defeated holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
James Keegstra
James Keegstra
James "Jim" Keegstra is a former public school teacher in Eckville, Alberta, Canada, who was charged and convicted of hate speech in 1984. The conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal but re-instated by the Supreme Court of Canada...
by 67 votes to 38 at a delegated convention in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. Lainson's campaign focused on gun rights and an opposition to abortion and the metric system
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
. (He was not affiliated with the anti-Semitic groups that endorsed Keegstra.) After becoming party leader, Lainson rebranded the party as the Christian Freedom Party of Canada
Christian Freedom Party of Canada
The Christian Freedom Party of Canada, also known as the Christian Freedom/Social Credit Party of Canada was an unregistered Canadian political party that was active from 1988 to 1996. It grew out of the Social Credit Party of Canada, and for most of its existence it was officially registered under...
. For official purposes, it was still listed as the Social Credit Party.
The party nominated Andrew Varaday as its candidate in the 1987 Hamilton Mountain by-election. He won 149 votes (0.4% of the total), placing last in a field of six candidates, which included John Turmel (166 votes).
In the 1988 election
Canadian federal election, 1988
The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ....
, the party nominated nine candidates: six in Quebec, two in Ontario, and one in BC. These candidates collected a total of 3,408 votes (0.02% of votes cast in all ridings). The BC candidate, running in New Westminster-Burnaby, won 718 votes (1.3% of the total). Although the party did not nominate the 50 candidates required to obtain official party status, the Chief Electoral Officer agreed to put the party's name on the ballots for the nine candidates on the basis of its historical status as an official party.
In 1990, the remnant of the federal Social Credit party was taken over by social conservative evangelist Ken Campbell
Ken Campbell (evangelist)
Kenneth Livingstone Campbell was a Canadian fundamentalist Baptist evangelist and political figure. He was the final leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1990 to 1993....
. He continued to describe the party as the Christian Freedom Party in public appearances, although he also retained the "Social Credit" name on official documents for tax purposes.
In 1990, the party nominated two candidates in by-elections, each of whom won 96 votes. In the February 12 by-election in Chambly, Quebec, Emilian Martel placed last in a field of six, winning 0.2% of the total vote. Party leader Ken Campbell placed 7th out of 10, winning 0.4% of the total vote in the August 13 by-election in Oshawa, Ontario. John Turmel placed last with 50 votes in this race.
The party failed to nominate at least fifty candidates for the 1993 election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
, and was deregistered by Elections Canada
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
on September 27, 1993. Its candidates in that election appeared on the ballot as non-affiliated candidates. Campbell later ran as an unofficial "Christian Freedom Party" candidate in a 1996 by-election in Hamilton East, appearing on the ballot as an independent.
Social Credit has not attempted to run candidates on the national level since then, but continued to exist as an incorporated entity in the form of the "Social Credit Party of Canada, Incorporated" under which Ken Campbell, until his death in 2006, published political advocacy material in order to preserve his ministry's status as a religious charity.
Election results (1935–1988)
(These results do not include those for Union des électeurs, Independent Social Credit candidates, or the Ralliement des créditistes.)| Election | Party leader | # of candidates nominated | # of seats won | # of total votes | % of popular vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 Canadian federal election, 1935 The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central... |
J.H. Blackmore John Horne Blackmore John Horne Blackmore , a school teacher and principal by training, was the first leader of what became the Social Credit Party of Canada, a political party in Canada that promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform.... |
46 | 17 | 180,679 | 4.10% |
| 1940 Canadian federal election, 1940 The Canadian federal election of 1940 was the 19th general election in Canadian history. It was held March 26, 1940 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 19th Parliament of Canada... * |
J.H. Blackmore John Horne Blackmore John Horne Blackmore , a school teacher and principal by training, was the first leader of what became the Social Credit Party of Canada, a political party in Canada that promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform.... |
9 | 7 (10) | 46,271 | 1.00% |
| 1945 Canadian federal election, 1945 The Canadian federal election of 1945 was the 20th general election in Canadian history. It was held June 11, 1945 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 20th Parliament of Canada... |
Solon Low Solon Earl Low Solon Earl Low was a Canadian politician in the 20th century.Low was born in Cardston, Alberta, and was a farmer, school teacher and school principal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 provincial that swept the Social Credit Party of Alberta to power... |
93 | 13 | 212,220 | 4.05% |
| 1949 Canadian federal election, 1949 The Canadian federal election of 1949 was held on June 27 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 21st Parliament of Canada. It was the first election in Canada in almost thirty years in which the Liberal Party of Canada was not led by William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had... |
Solon Low Solon Earl Low Solon Earl Low was a Canadian politician in the 20th century.Low was born in Cardston, Alberta, and was a farmer, school teacher and school principal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 provincial that swept the Social Credit Party of Alberta to power... |
28 | 10 | 135,217 | 2.31% |
| 1953 Canadian federal election, 1953 The Canadian federal election of 1953 was held on August 10 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 22nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Louis St... |
Solon Low Solon Earl Low Solon Earl Low was a Canadian politician in the 20th century.Low was born in Cardston, Alberta, and was a farmer, school teacher and school principal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 provincial that swept the Social Credit Party of Alberta to power... |
72 | 15 | 305,551 | 5.42% |
| 1957 Canadian federal election, 1957 The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held June 10, 1957, to select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. In one of the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Progressive Conservative Party , led by John Diefenbaker, brought an end to 22 years of Liberal rule, as the... |
Solon Low Solon Earl Low Solon Earl Low was a Canadian politician in the 20th century.Low was born in Cardston, Alberta, and was a farmer, school teacher and school principal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 provincial that swept the Social Credit Party of Alberta to power... |
114 | 19 | 434,312 | 6.57% |
| 1958 Canadian federal election, 1958 The Canadian federal election of 1958 was the 24th general election in Canada's history. It was held to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 24th Parliament of Canada on March 31, 1958, just nine months after the 23rd election... |
Solon Low Solon Earl Low Solon Earl Low was a Canadian politician in the 20th century.Low was born in Cardston, Alberta, and was a farmer, school teacher and school principal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 provincial that swept the Social Credit Party of Alberta to power... |
82 | 0 | 188,356 | 2.58% |
| 1962 Canadian federal election, 1962 The Canadian federal election of 1962 was held on June 18, 1962 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 25th Parliament of Canada... |
R.N. Thompson Robert N. Thompson Robert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family... |
226 | 30 | 893,479 | 11.60% |
| 1963 Canadian federal election, 1963 The Canadian federal election of 1963 was held on April 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.-Overview:During the Tories' last year in... |
R.N. Thompson Robert N. Thompson Robert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family... |
224 | 24 | 940,703 | 11.92% |
| 1965 Canadian federal election, 1965 The Canadian federal election of 1965 was held on November 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 27th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was re-elected with a larger number of seats in the House... ** |
R.N. Thompson Robert N. Thompson Robert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family... |
86 | 5 | 282,454 | 3.66% |
| 1968 Canadian federal election, 1968 The Canadian federal election of 1968 was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 28th Parliament of Canada... ** |
A.B. Patterson Alexander Bell Patterson Alexander Bell Patterson was a long time Canadian Member of Parliament and was briefly leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada. Patterson, a minister by profession, was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1953 election from the riding of Fraser Valley, British Columbia. He... |
32 | 0 | 68,742 | 0.85% |
| 1972 Canadian federal election, 1972 The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 29th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive... |
Réal Caouette Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes... |
164 | 15 | 730,759 | 7.55% |
| 1974 Canadian federal election, 1974 The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term... |
Réal Caouette Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes... |
152 | 11 | 481,231 | 5.06% |
| 1979 Canadian federal election, 1979 The Canadian federal election of 1979 was held on May 22, 1979 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 31st Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of Liberal Party of Canada after 11 years in power under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Joe Clark led the Progressive... |
Fabien Roy Fabien Roy Fabien Roy was a politician in Quebec, Canada, in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the Canadian House of Commons, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.-Background:... |
103 | 6 | 527,604 | 4.61% |
| 1980 Canadian federal election, 1980 The Canadian federal election of 1980 was held on February 18, 1980 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 32nd Parliament of Canada... |
Fabien Roy Fabien Roy Fabien Roy was a politician in Quebec, Canada, in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the Canadian House of Commons, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.-Background:... |
81 | 0 | 185,486 | 1.70% |
| 1984 Canadian federal election, 1984 The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada... |
Ken Sweigard Ken Sweigard Ken Sweigard was a Pentecostal evangelist from Grande Prairie, Alberta, and politician who led the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1983 to 1986.... |
51 | 0 | 16,659 | 0.13% |
| 1988 Canadian federal election, 1988 The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement .... |
Harvey Lainson Harvey Lainson Harvey George Lainson was a Christian evangelical minister based in the Cambridge, Ontario region and was leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1986 to 1990 during which time he led a successful effort to expel an anti-Semitic faction from the party led by Jim Keegstra.Lainson was a... |
9 | 0 | 3,407 | 0.03% |
William Duncan Herridge
William Duncan Herridge, PC, KC, MC, DSO was a Canadian politician and diplomat.He was the son of Reverend William T...
ran a group of 17 social credit candidates as members of a monetary reform party called New Democracy
New Democracy (Canada)
New Democracy was a political party in Canada founded by William Duncan Herridge in 1939. Herridge, a former Conservative party adviser who was Canada's Envoy to the United States from 1931-35 during the government of R. B. Bennett....
. In addition to the official Social Credit party, they won 3 seats and received 73,083 or 1.59% of the national vote. Herridge failed to win a seat in Parliament and the 3 member New Democracy caucus folded and joined the Social Credit Party Caucus in the House of Commons, raising the caucus' seat total to 10 Members.
Attempted revival
From 2006 to 2009 Wayne Cook, a father's rights activist from Toronto and candidate in 2000 for the Canadian Action PartyCanadian Action Party
The Canadian Action Party is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997. It promotes Canadian nationalism, monetary and electoral reform, and opposes neoliberal globalization and free trade agreements.- Background :The Canadian Action Party was founded by Paul T...
, attempted to revive the national Social Credit Party of Canada/Parti Credit Social du Canada. His attempt failed to win sufficient support to enable his group to become a registered political party with Elections Canada
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
and the group did not run candidates in the 2008 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2008
The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
on either an official or unofficial basis. In June 2009, he announced that his unregistered Social Credit Party of Canada would cease and urged all members to join with the Christian Heritage Party of Canada
Christian Heritage Party of Canada
The Christian Heritage Party of Canada, also referred to as CHP Canada, is a federal political party that advocates that Canada be governed according to Biblical principles...
.
Since the demise of the federal party, several small fringe parties have attempted to promote social credit economic policy while not advocating the social conservativism that the Social Credit Party was known for. John C. Turmel
John C. Turmel
John C. Turmel is a perennial candidate for election in Canada, and according to the Guinness Book of Records holds the records for the most elections contested and for the most elections lost having contested 75 elections and lost 74...
, who is in the Guinness Book of Records for the most elections contested and for the most elections lost, is an advocate of social credit monetary theory and founded the Abolitionist Party of Canada
Abolitionist Party of Canada
The Abolitionist Party of Canada was a Canadian political party founded by perennial candidate John C. Turmel. The party ran on a platform of: monetary reform, including the abolition of interest rates and the income tax, the use of the local employment trading system of banking, and introducing a...
which ran 80 candidates in the 1993 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
on a social credit style economic platform. The party dissolved in 1996. (Turmel also founded the short-lived Christian Credit Party
Christian Credit Party
The Christian Credit Party was a short-lived Canadian political party founded in 1982 by perennial candidate and social credit activist, John C...
in the early 1980s after he was expelled from the Social Credit Party.)
The Canada Party
Canada Party
The Canada Party was a short-lived political party in Canada that nominated 56 candidates in the 1993 federal election and one candidate in a 1996 by-election. It was unable to win any seats. The party was populist and ran on a platform of banking and monetary reform...
, founded by former Social Credit candidate Joseph Thauberger
Joseph Thauberger
Joseph Thauberger was a Canadian farmer and politician. Born in Bessarabia, he emigrated to Canada from Russia with his parents, Andreas Thauberger and Maria Eva née Bähr, in 1911....
, also ran candidates in the 1993 election on a platform of monetary reform influenced by social credit. Many of its members also belonged to the social credit influenced Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform
Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform
The Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform is an international publishing and education centre based in Toronto, Canada.Its mandate is to study the destabilization that its members believe current economic and monetary policies have caused, and are causing, for the citizens of Canada and other...
(COMER). In 1997, the Canada Party merged with the left economic nationalist Canadian Action Party
Canadian Action Party
The Canadian Action Party is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997. It promotes Canadian nationalism, monetary and electoral reform, and opposes neoliberal globalization and free trade agreements.- Background :The Canadian Action Party was founded by Paul T...
which, while not a social credit party per se, adopted a monetary reform policy that is heavily influenced by COMER and the Canada Party.
Leaders
- John Horne BlackmoreJohn Horne BlackmoreJohn Horne Blackmore , a school teacher and principal by training, was the first leader of what became the Social Credit Party of Canada, a political party in Canada that promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform....
(1935–1944) parliamentary leader - Solon Earl LowSolon Earl LowSolon Earl Low was a Canadian politician in the 20th century.Low was born in Cardston, Alberta, and was a farmer, school teacher and school principal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 provincial that swept the Social Credit Party of Alberta to power...
(1944–1961) - Robert ThompsonRobert N. ThompsonRobert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family...
(1961–1967) - Alexander Bell PattersonAlexander Bell PattersonAlexander Bell Patterson was a long time Canadian Member of Parliament and was briefly leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada. Patterson, a minister by profession, was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1953 election from the riding of Fraser Valley, British Columbia. He...
(1967–1968) acting leader - Réal CaouetteRéal CaouetteDavid Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes...
(1971–1976) - André-Gilles FortinAndré-Gilles FortinAndré-Gilles Fortin was a Canadian politician in the 1970s. Fortin was a member of the Canadian House of Commons for the Social Credit Party of Canada....
(1976–1977) - Gilles CaouetteGilles CaouetteGilles Caouette was a Canadian politician and Member of Parliament.Caouette was born in Rouyn, Quebec. His father, Réal Caouette, was a prominent Social Credit politician, and leader of the Ralliement créditiste and later the Social Credit Party of Canada.Gilles followed in his father’s...
(1977–1978) acting leader - Charles-Arthur GauthierCharles-Arthur GauthierCharles-Arthur Gauthier was a long time Canadian Member of Parliament for the Social Credit Party and Ralliement Créditiste. Gauthier, an undertaker, was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons representing Roberval, Quebec in the 1962 election...
(1978) acting leader - Lorne ReznowskiLorne ReznowskiLorne Reznowski was a professor of English at the University of Manitoba and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada.A one-time national secretary of the Social Credit Party, Reznowski once worked for former Socred leader Robert N...
(1978–1979) - Charles-Arthur GauthierCharles-Arthur GauthierCharles-Arthur Gauthier was a long time Canadian Member of Parliament for the Social Credit Party and Ralliement Créditiste. Gauthier, an undertaker, was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons representing Roberval, Quebec in the 1962 election...
(1979) acting leader - Fabien RoyFabien RoyFabien Roy was a politician in Quebec, Canada, in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the Canadian House of Commons, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.-Background:...
(1979–1980) - Martin HattersleyMartin HattersleyJ. Martin Hattersley is an Edmonton lawyer and a long-time activist in the Canadian social credit movement. Born in Swinton, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, England, Hattersley earned degrees in economics and law from Cambridge University before moving to Alberta in 1956 where he worked as a lawyer...
(1981–1983) - Ken SweigardKen SweigardKen Sweigard was a Pentecostal evangelist from Grande Prairie, Alberta, and politician who led the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1983 to 1986....
(1983–1986) acting leader - Harvey LainsonHarvey LainsonHarvey George Lainson was a Christian evangelical minister based in the Cambridge, Ontario region and was leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1986 to 1990 during which time he led a successful effort to expel an anti-Semitic faction from the party led by Jim Keegstra.Lainson was a...
(1986–1990) - Ken CampbellKen Campbell (evangelist)Kenneth Livingstone Campbell was a Canadian fundamentalist Baptist evangelist and political figure. He was the final leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1990 to 1993....
(1990–1993)
Source:http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Files/Party.aspx?Item=361dbd54-a9dd-43cd-8024-085861e8a4d3&Language=E&MenuID=Lists.Members.aspx&MenuQuery=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.parl.gc.ca%2FParlinfo%2FLists%2FMembers.aspx%3FParliament%3De4dddf16-dc22-4f33-aa3f-c792e1f1c8ae%26Riding%3D%26Name%3D%26Party%3D361dbd54-a9dd-43cd-8024-085861e8a4d3%26Province%3D%26Gender%3D%26New%3DFalse%26Current%3DFalse%26Picture%3DFalseParliament of Canada website: Party File: Social Credit Party]
See also
- Canadian social credit movementCanadian social credit movementThe Canadian social credit movement was a Canadian political movement originally based on the Social Credit theory of Major C. H. Douglas. Its supporters were colloquially known as Socreds...
- Ralliement créditisteRalliement créditisteHistorically in Quebec, Canada, there was a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the social credit philosophy; at various times they had...
- List of Social Credit/Creditistes MPs
- Social Credit Party of AlbertaSocial Credit Party of AlbertaThe Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values....
- Social Credit Party of British Columbia
- Ralliement créditiste du QuébecRalliement créditiste du QuébecThe Ralliement créditiste du Québec was a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada that operated from 1970 to 1978. It promoted social credit theories of monetary reform, and acted as an outlet for the expression of rural...
- Manitoba Social Credit PartyManitoba Social Credit PartyThe Manitoba Social Credit Party was a political party in the Canadian province of Manitoba. In its early years, it espoused the monetary reform theories of social credit....
- Social Credit Party of SaskatchewanSocial Credit Party of SaskatchewanThe Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan was a political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan that promoted social credit economic theories from the mid-1930s to the mid-1970s....
- Social Credit Party of OntarioSocial Credit Party of OntarioThe Social Credit Party of Ontario was a minor political party at the provincial level in the Canadian province of Ontario from the 1940s to the early 1970s. The party never won any seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario...