Social Credit Party of Canada

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Social Credit Party of Canada
Parti Crédit social du Canada
founding 1935
resolution 1993
Alignment Conservatism , social credit , populism

The Social Credit Party of Canada (French Parti Crédit social du Canada ) was a political party in Canada that existed from 1935 to 1993. The Socreds , as they called themselves, were conservative - populist and campaigned for a free economic system based on the theories of social credit . In addition to this party, which is represented at the federal level, there were autonomous offshoots in various provinces.

In Western Canada emerged as a protest movement, the party had in the first years of its existence, the reputation, anti-Semitic to be. Over time, the party's influence in western Canada steadily declined, while in the province of Québec it rose to become the dominant force in rural areas. In 1962 there was a break between the English- and the French-speaking part of the party, whereupon the Socred MPs from Québec founded their own party, the Ralliement créditiste . In 1971 reunification took place, but the slow decline of the party, which was finally no longer represented in parliament from 1980, began.

history

Protest movement in the west (1935–1961)

The social credit movement in Canada has its origins in the Social Credit Party of Alberta , which won the Alberta provincial election in 1935 . In the same year, the Western Social Credit League was founded to establish the protest movement at the federal level. She pulled many of the effects of the global economic crisis to affected voters by the Progressive Party and the United Farmers no longer felt represented. In the 1935 general election, the Socreds , who were only running in western Canada , won 17 seats, 15 of them in Alberta, where they were able to unite almost half of the votes.

In 1939 the Socreds joined forces with the New Democracy movement of William Duncan Herridge and took part in the 1940 general election under this name . At their first congress in 1944, the delegates decided to give up the name New Democracy and officially founded the Social Credit Party of Canada . The various branches in the provinces were loosely connected to the federal party. It became more and more apparent that the theories of social credit were difficult to enforce, which is why the party increasingly turned away from them and advocated socially conservative values. This led in 1947 to a temporary break with the more radical Union des électeurs ("Association of Voters") in the province of Québec .

In the early years of their existence, the Socreds gained a reputation for being anti-Semites . Party leaders John Horne Blackmore and Solon Earl Low were accused of "regularly publicly supporting anti-Semites". In 1945, Low claimed that a conspiracy by Jewish bankers was causing the world's problems. In 1947 MP Norman Jacques even read from the Minutes of the Elders of Zion during parliamentary debates . In 1957, Low swore by anti-Semitism after a visit to Israel and gave several speeches in which he advocated the Jewish state.

Québec split off and reunification (1962–1971)

At the beginning of the 1960s there were severe tensions between the English- and the French-speaking part of the party. In the election of a new chairman in July 1961, Robert N. Thompson prevailed against Réal Caouette (who counted Benito Mussolini among his models). The voting figures were never released, leading to allegations that the election was rigged in Thompson's favor. Prior to the election, Alberta Prime Minister Ernest Manning announced that the West would never accept a Francophone Catholic as chairman.

The 1962 general election widened the gap between the language groups: 26 MPs came from Québec, only four (including Thompson) from the English-speaking part of Canada. After the early general election in 1963 , the ratio was 20: 4. Despite his clear inferiority, Thompson refused to step down as chairman. On September 1, 1963, the final break came when 13 Québec MPs founded their own party, the Ralliement créditiste . Five MPs went on as independents, two joined the progressive-conservative party .

In the years that followed, the Socreds' federal party in the west sank to almost insignificance; especially after the 1965 election, when she won seats in this region for the last time. This development was in stark contrast to the situation in Alberta and British Columbia , where the provincial offshoots of the Socreds remained unchallenged in the government. Réal Caouette and the Ralliement créditiste were now the only noteworthy representatives of the social credit movement at the federal level, which made rapprochement easier. WAC Bennett , the Prime Minister of British Columbia and chairman of the British Columbia Social Credit Party , put pressure on the federal party by temporarily suspending funding. Through his mediation, the split was finally overcome. In October 1971, Caouette was elected as the new chairman of the Socreds.

Decline (1972–1980)

In the 1972 general election , the Socreds won 15 seats, but only in Québec. In western Canada, where it had its roots, the party no longer played a role. In 1973 there was also a break within the Ralliement créditiste du Québec , the provincial offshoot of the Socreds in Québec. Réal Caouette rarely appeared in public after an accident with a snowmobile.

Despite these adverse circumstances, the Socreds won eleven seats in the 1974 general election, again all in Québec. However, in order to be recognized as a parliamentary group and thus to have the right to sit on commissions, a seat was missing. With the consent of the liberal government, the speaker of the lower house nevertheless granted this privilege. After Caouette's resignation in 1976 (and his death shortly thereafter), the decline accelerated. The newly elected party leader André-Gilles Fortin was killed in a car accident after only eight months in office.

After several changes at the top - including Réal Caouette's son Gilles briefly led the party - Fabien Roy was appointed as the new chairman before the 1979 general election . Roy worked closely with the separatist Parti Québécois , which provided the provincial government, but offended many traditional Socred voters. The number of MPs in the House of Commons dropped to six - exactly the number the new progressive-conservative Prime Minister Joe Clark needed to prop up his minority government. Clark refused to cooperate, however, and lost a vote of no confidence as the Socreds abstained. This step turned out to be fatal: In the early general election in 1980 , the Socreds lost two thirds of their voters and could not win a single seat.

Splinter Party (1981-1993)

After Roy's resignation, the party collapsed and in Quebec, too, sank to complete insignificance. She continued to take part in elections, but hardly a candidate could win more than a few hundred votes.

The party failed to nominate at least fifty candidates for the 1993 general election, which is why the Elections Canada electoral authority revoked the registration of the Socreds and the remaining candidates had to run as independents. The evangelist Ken Campbell, the last chairman, adopted the party name as a trademark and published political writings under that name until his death in 2006.

Election results

The results of the election to the House of Commons are noted below. The results of the Union des électeurs and the Ralliement créditiste are not included .

choice seats
total 		candidates
data 		Weighted
seats 		be right proportion of
1935 245 43 17th 180,679 4.10%
1940 245 9 7th 46.271 1.00%
1945 245 93 13 212.220 4.05%
1949 262 28 10 135.217 2.31%
1953 265 71 15th 304,553 5.40%
1957 265 114 19th 434,312 6.57%
1958 265 82 0 188.356 2.59%
1962 265 230 30th 893.479 11.61%
1963 265 224 24 940.703 11.92%
1965 265 86 5 282.454 3.66%
1968 264 32 0 68,742 0.85%
1972 264 164 15th 730.759 7.55%
1974 264 152 11 481.231 5.06%
1979 282 103 6th 527,604 4.61%
1980 282 81 0 185.486 1.70%
1984 282 51 0 16,659 0.13%
1988 295 9 0 3,407 0.03%

Party leader

  • John Horne Blackmore (1935-1944)
  • Solon Earl Low (1944-1961)
  • Robert N. Thompson (1961-1967)
  • Alexander Bell Patterson (1967–1968, interim)
  • Réal Caouette (1971-1976)
  • André-Gilles Fortin (1976–1977)
  • Gilles Caouette (1977–1978, interim)
  • Charles-Arthur Gauthier (1978, interim)
  • Lorne Reznowski (1978–1979)
  • Charles-Arthur Gauthier (1979, interim)
  • Fabien Roy (1979-1980)
  • Martin Hattersley (1981-1983)
  • Ken Sweigard (1983–1986, interim)
  • Harvey Lainson (1986-1990)
  • Ken Campbell (1990-1993)

See also

Web links

References and comments

  1. ^ Howard Palmer: Politics, Religion and Anti-Semitism in Alberta, 1880-1950 . Anti-Semitism in Canada, History and interpretation. Ed .: Alan T. Davies. 1992.
  2. ↑ Richard Menkis: " Antisemitism in the Evolving Nation: From New France to 1950 ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ", B'nai Brith Canada, 1999 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bnaibrith.ca
  3. ↑ Montreal Gazette: “Réal Caouette: Question now; can message survive? ”November 9, 1976
  4. ^ "Socred Ballot Sure Was Secret," Toronto Star, July 7, 1961
  5. ↑ a b "Quebec's Socreds vote to disown Thompson," The Globe and Mail, September 2, 1963
  6. ^ "Caouette retains leadership with ease on first ballot at Socred national rally," The Globe and Mail, October 11, 1971
  7. ^ Results of past general election - Elections Canada
  8. ↑ In the 1940 election, 17 social credit candidates led by William Duncan Herridge ran under the designation New Democracy . They won three additional seats and received 73,083 votes (1.59%).
  9. ↑ a b 1965 and 1968, the candidates from Québec ran separately as Ralliement créditiste .