United Farmers of Alberta
United Farmers of Alberta 
|
|
|---|---|
| Corporate form | cooperative |
| Founded | 1909 |
| Headquarters |
Calgary , Canada
|
| Products | Agricultural implements, fuels |
| sales | 1.6 billion CAD (2006) |
| Members | 120,000 (2006) |
| Website | www.ufa.com |
United Farmers of Alberta (UFA, United Farmer Alberta ) is a cooperative based in Calgary in the Canadian province of Alberta . It specializes in the sale of agricultural equipment and operates department stores in Alberta for the needs of farms and ranches as well as gas stations in three provinces. The UFA was also politically active for two decades and provided the provincial government from 1921 to 1935.
founding
In 1909, after the merger of the Alberta Farmers' Association and the Canadian Society for Equity , the UFA was founded as a lobbying organization . Their aim was to stand up for the interests of the provincial farmers. She opposed high interest rates on loans for farmers, protective tariffs and party politics in government. In 1913, the liberal provincial government forced them to found the cooperative silo company Alberta Farmers' Cooperative Elevator Company (now United Grain Growers ).
The UFA, rooted in the cooperative movement, became increasingly politically active and demanded the introduction of women's suffrage . In 1912 she founded the parallel organization United Farm Women's Association and from 1914 women received equal membership rights within the UFA. By 1920 the UFA had grown to become Alberta's strongest lobby organization.
Political history
Entry into politics
Under pressure to lose influence to the non-partisan movement Alberta Non-Partisan League , which had won two seats in the elections for the Alberta Legislative Assembly in 1917 , and dissatisfied with the political parties at the time, the UFA decided in 1919 to become more involved in politics participate. Numerous prominent members such as UFA President Henry Wise Wood refused a political mandate because of the non-partisan roots. At the end of 1919, the UFA won a seat in the provincial parliament for the first time in a by-election, and in 1921 Robert Gardiner won the first seat in the Canadian lower house for the UFA .
Encouraged by these successes, UFA candidates ran in the 1921 provincial elections in 45 of 61 constituencies. Completely surprisingly, the UFA won 38 seats, replaced the Alberta Liberal Party as the strongest party and was able to form a majority government.
Majority governments
Since none of the newly elected MPs seemed willing to take over the office of Prime Minister, the UFA looked outside Parliament for a suitable candidate. She even tried to win over the Liberal Prime Minister Charles Stewart . This refused, however, because he switched to federal politics. Eventually Herbert Greenfield , president of the ward union , agreed to do so. Irene Parlby was the first woman to hold a ministerial post at the provincial level.
Despite its inexperience, the UFA government initiated several reforms. In 1923 she set up a state grain fund and lifted alcohol prohibition . John Edward Brownlee , considered by many to be the real leader of the UFA, succeeded Greenfields as Prime Minister in 1925 and led the movement to a second electoral victory the following year.
After years of negotiations, Brownlee's government succeeded in 1929 in transferring control of the natural resources from the federal government to the province. The eastern provinces had already been granted this right when the Canadian Confederation was founded in 1867 , while the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan formed in 1905 had to do without it.
On a wave of success, Brownlee led the UFA to a third consecutive election victory in 1930. In its early years the movement still had a few socialist features, but under Brownlee's leadership it increasingly turned to conservatism .
Political decline
The UFA was poorly prepared for the global economic crisis , which led to a collapse in grain prices. The province had gone into debt with the purchase of the bankrupt Grain Fund, and as the banks took possession of the land of numerous highly indebted farmers, resistance increased. Brownlee had to resign in July 1934 because of a staged scandal, as a result of which a court found him guilty of seducing a secretary.
His successor Richard Gavin Reid did not succeed in stopping the collapse of the political movement. Many members turned away in disappointment and switched to the conservative Social Credit Party of Alberta or the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). In the provincial elections in 1935, the UFA lost all seats. Of the nine members of the lower house of the UFA who were elected in 1930, eight switched to the CCF, which was founded in 1932, and one to the Conservatives. In the 1935 general election, all nine were not re-elected. In 1939, the UFA decided to completely withdraw from politics.
Election results
United Farmers of Alberta results in the legislative assembly elections:
| choice | seats total |
candidates data |
Weighted seats |
be right | proportion of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 61 | 45 | 38 | 86,250 | 28.92% |
| 1926 | 60 | 46 | 43 | 71,967 | 39.68% |
| 1930 | 63 | 47 | 39 | 74,187 | 39.41% |
| 1935 | 63 | 45 | 0 | 33,063 | 11.00% |
The modern cooperative
After the dissolution of the political arm, the UFA concentrated on its economic activities. As early as 1935 it entered into a cooperation with Maple Leaf Fuels , a subsidiary of Imperial Oil , in order to sell fuel to its members on favorable terms. The following year saw the opening of the first gas station for UFA members with the brand name Maple Leaf.
In 1948 it merged with the Alberta Farmer's Union . In 1954, UFA opened the first department store for agricultural supplies in Calgary . In 1957, she took over the facilities from Maple Leaf Fuels, giving the cooperative greater influence on its second core business. In 1996 she expanded her gas station network to British Columbia and in 1998 to Saskatchewan .
In 2006, the 120,000 members of the UFA had 35 department stores across Alberta and 110 gas stations in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In 2005 it achieved sales of more than 1 billion Canadian dollars for the first time .
See also
Web links
- Official website
- Political history of the UFA
- United Farmers of Alberta ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
Individual evidence
- ↑ United Farmers of Alberta ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
- ^ Elections in Alberta - Elections Alberta