Chapter 1:
Socreds, Reformers
preceded today's Canadian Alliance

Today's Canadian Alliance party has a distant voice that is loudest in Western Canada. It can also be heard from the Official Opposition benches at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Since the Canadian Alliance party has never formed a government, it is without question on the outside of power, looking in. It will be noted, later in this chapter, that the party is not without influence at the federal level of government, although it plays no direct role in formulating policy.
However, this chapter will explore the history and dynamics driving this party, without dwelling too extensively on its tiresome leadership struggle that came to the forefront in the new millennium.
Canadian Alliance and its immediate predecessor, the Reform Party, bear some remarkable similarities to the Social Credit party which preceded both parties.
Indeed, this chapter will argue that both parties arose from like circumstances, and, fuelled by western Canadian alienation, can be viewed as a continuum of western unrest manifesting itself in political movements designed to appease westerners who feel left out a political process many believe is overly dominated by central Canada.
Based on extensive research, and by citing numerous sources, I'll draw several comparisons between both parties in regard to their economic policies and orientation, the role of Christian fundamentalist religion in both and the relationship of party leaders to their rank-and-file members.
Although differences exist between the two parties, the sheer strength of the similarities between them will serve to bolster this chapter's central argument that the two parties do indeed represent a continuum.
That the two parties should have originated in Alberta is not surprising.
The province's small population and isolation from urbanized Central Canada has fostered a feeling of being left out which in turn has resulted in the formation of protest movements intended to wrest a larger role for Alberta and the prairie provinces within the Canadian federation.
As Hugh G. Thorburn, head of political studies at Queen's University, observes:
"The West has also been a nursery of protest movements The United Farmers or Progressive movement began the~ after 1918, as did the CCF-NDP and Social Credit in the 1930s." 1.

C. B. MacPherson notes the roots of western alienation can be traced back to confederation when farmers in the prairie provinces began to view the National Policy as a development strategy favouring eastern business at the expense of the West which they felt was being treated as a quasi-colonial economy. 2.

Bolstering MacPherson's argument, Chris Adams observes:
"Since the establishment of Sir John A Macdonald's National Policy in 1879 which relegated the Prairie region to being an agricultural hinterland for the export of resources to Central Canada, the West has also been a seedbed of regional protest movements." 3.

Hard economic times can intensify a region's dissatisfaction with the existing power structure and increase the possibility of a protest party or movement achieving success. It was just this set of conditions which prevailed when Social Credit became established during the Great Depression of the 'Dirty '30s'. Alvin Finkle describes Social Credit, which ruled Alberta from 1935 to 1971, as a "depression-born movement for reform," which was "maintained in office by a wartime and post-war prosperity that allowed it to indeed achieve many reforms." 4.

The Reform Association of Canada formed in 1986, became the Reform Party of Canada in May 1987 and by the late 1980s through early 1990s, the fledgling party was attracting throngs of supporters from the West and from Ontario during the depths of a prolonged recession.
Although difficult economic times alone are insufficient to explain the popularity which has greeted Reform and the Socreds before them, such conditions can be seen as conducive to a protest party's efforts to attract support from a population which has grown disenchanted with the ability of mainstream parties to deal with economic woes.
A stronger common tie between Reformers and their forerunner Socreds is Western alienation. As former Reform Party Leader Preston Manning explains in his own semi-autobiographical work, The New Canada, the common bond was the belief Reform's followers were being left out of the important political decision-making process:
"The common issue that brought us together was a feeling of being left out of our own country. We left that the West's constitutional concerns were never given the same priority by the national government as those of Quebec... We believed that the solution lay not in mere protest or threats of separation, but in developing a short list of constructive changes, that is, reforms to the Canadian federal system and finding an appropriate political vehicle to promote that list in the federal political arena." 5.

The West was a well spring for protest movements to empower the west. Manning recalls a boyhood steeped in populist culture: "As I grew up, I learned that the 'prairie populism' with which I was familiar - the Social Credit movement in Alberta - was not an isolated political aberration, but 'part of a much broader political tradition. That tradition is as western as wheat, oil, forests, prairies, rivers and mountains." 6.

The tradition Manning speaks of extended throughout his own life, his father Ernest Manning's life and the life of the late Socred leader William Aberhart.
Aberhart, a radio preacher of evangelical Christianity, loosely based Social Credit on the same-named, radical monetary theory of British mechanical engineer Major Clifford Hugh Douglas who argued that although modern technology had made possible an age of prosperity for all, the concentration of wealth and power among elites had served to prevent a more even distribution of society benefits.
Douglas proposed monetary reforms to reduce the power of financial institutions he deeply distrusted. He also proposed a social credit or unearned dividend which individuals could then spend to raise production and consumption - and prosperity - across an entire society. 7.

Finkle suggests Aberhart little understood Douglas' complex theory but embraced with enthusiasm the disdain Douglas held for big business and big banks whom Aberhart label as "fifty big shots" who run Canada as an economic clique.
Aberhart also proposed, during his term, a social dividend which might have amounted to $25 per individual had it ever been implemented. The Socred leader also attempted to limit the income of rich people to a set maximum. He also wanted to have Alberta license banks and fix prices. 8.

However, the courts found Aberhart's Alberta government ultra vires - or guilty of acting outside provincial jurisdiction.
The court found the province was without the legal authority to regulate banks or alter federal monetary policies.
Although Aberhart continued to rail against big business and banks, he realized he could not assume control over them and he came to adopt a more conservative approach - including the appointment of conservative-minded officials to key boards developing financial policies that business found non-threatening. 9.

Similarly, when Aberhart died in 1943, his successor, Ernest Manning, introduced the Alberta Bill of Rights, which was also struck down as ultra vires by the courts as it too attempted to license and control banks under federal domain.
Manning then put monetary changes on hold and similarly took a more moderate stance. 10.

Commenting on this necessary and practical tact, Finkle found pragmatism ruled the day and he summed up the Social Credit leader's approach thusly:
"Unsurprisingly, the new Social Credit premier; Ernest Manning, forced to abandon the monetary panaceas of his party, simply concentrated on the provision of 'good government'' ... it was not a radical right-wing regime and did not therefore represent a major shift from the earlier Aberhart regime." 11.

Thus, when confronted with the legal limitations of their approach, both Social Credit leaders became less radical and more compatible with business.
Although Reform was not able to form a government, its leader Preston Manning succeeded in expanding the party's support in other areas of the country.
Manning achieved this success after he became more moderate after taking Reform from Western protest movement to national party with a more modest approach to broaden support. For example, the Reform party's less radical approach favoured changing the GST rather than eliminating it.
Sydney Sharpe and Don Braid see a further influence of Social Credit on the Reform Party through the political bloodlines of the Mannings:
"The rightist Social Credit movement which ruled Alberta from 1935 to 1971 and elected many federal MPs provides the strategic goals, the grand design for Canada. Most of the ideas espoused by the Reform Party today, in fact, were developed by (Preston) Manning and his father in the late 1960s as they tried to keep the populist spirit alive in a form appealing to modern Canada." 12.

Religion is another common factor providing a continuous thread between Social Credit and Reform.
Offering his own expert commentary on Bible Bill Aberhart's ability to effectively mix religion and politics in a seamless web of social policy, John A. Irving quite astutely observes: "Aberhart had no hesitation in presenting Social Credit to Albertans as a Divine Plan for the salvation of society, the parallel in the economic sphere of the Divine Plan for the individual. While such an approach infuriated many institutional religious and political leaders, it had a powerful attraction for thousands of people who were undoubtedly led in this way to join the movement." 13.

Murray Dobbin stresses the central role religion has played in Social Credit and Reform parties when he notes:
"Through Ernest Manning and his predecessor and mentor, William Aberhart, evangelical Christianity played a role in Alberta politics for which the only Canadian parallel is Catholicism in Quebec. Ernest Manning was both spiritual and political leader of Alberta. Preston Manning grew up in the shadow of his larger-than-life father." 14.

Preston Manning has made numerous appearances on his father's evangelical radio program 'Canada's National Bible Hour', was raised in a deeply-religious household and has served in an executive capacity on church boards.
In fact, Manning's church, the First Alliance (an ironic title given the party's subsequent mutation into Canadian Alliance) Church in Calgary, is a core part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance of Canada (again that word 'Alliance').
The First Alliance Church requires its members to accept the bible as true in every detail and to adopt all positions taken by the church. Commenting on 14 church articles on marriage, Dobbin draws this conclusion:
"These articles of Preston Manning's faith are not simply his personal, private beliefs. They impel his actions and command him to act in the world to change it Preston Manning readily acknowledges the powerful influence of his faith on his thinking. The nature of that faith - its rejection of collectivism, its glorification of individualism and free enterprise, its view of women as submissive to men and homosexual men and women as the "basest of sinners," - must be reflected in "all spheres" of his life." 15.

Sharpe and Braide emphasize the importance of religion as a common bond between the Social Credit and Reform parties and as a shaper of Reform party policies when they assert that: "The deep religious convictions of the Manning family, rooted in evangelical Christianity, are central to Preston Manning's political beliefs.. He believes that every word of the Bible is true and knows he has a calling to translate these words into political action. Every one of his policies, from his views on capitalism to privatization, can be traced in a straight line back to his vision of the proper Christian society." 16.

Sharpe and Braid cite a number of examples in which Manning's religious beliefs have had an influence on party policy, much of which was drafted by Manning himself.
Examples include the party's code of conduct requiring Reform candidates to adhere to established Christian values. And there was the party's very strong emphasis on individualism which manifested itself in opposition to multi-culturalism, bilingualism (except in very restricted governmental forms), special status for Quebec and any other measures which would put collective rights ahead of individual rights. As Sharpe and Braid observe:
"Most Reformers firmly believe that the individual is paramount in society and that all group rights tend to infringe on individual rights. Preston Manning's own belief in individualism, in turn, springs from his deep religious convictions. If any one idea expresses the Reform Party's core ideology, it is this pure individualism with its strong echo of the western frontier." 17.

Sharpe and Braid further note that the late Social Credit leader 'Bible Bill' Aberhart, who "made little distinction between Alberta's secular and religious thrones," was succeeded as party leader by the equally religious Ernest Manning, while Manning's son, Preston Manning, "reached on such subjects as faith and politics..." 18.

Although Reform's agenda tended to magnify political reform over monetary changes, a close examination of both parties certainly indicates some important monetary policy similarities do exist to provide a common bond with the Social Credit party of the past.
Reform's Blue Book of policies supported the concept of a guaranteed annual income, a notion, which harkens back to Social Credit efforts to provide an unearned income, or social credit, to individuals to compensate for missing purchasing power.
As well, the Blue Book advocated studying some unusual concepts such as a negative income tax and a security investment fund, both of which could enhance the spending power of individuals in a manner Social Credit might well have supported. 19.

The Blue Book also called for privatization of Crown corporations, such as Petro Canada, in the belief - shared by Social Credit - that individual enterprise is by far preferable to control by a central, federal government.
Similarly, Reform also carried on with Social Credit's urging for voter recalls of ineffective elected members of government, increased use of referendums and decentralization of federal control over provincial resources. 20.

Although Reform did not seek to control banks and financial institutions in the way Social Credit had proposed, the Blue Book did call for the establishment of a greater number of regional banks to lessen the degree of concentrated financial power held by the Eastern banks. Thus, while the proposed remedy differed, the perceived problem of indifferent Eastern banks remained the same. 21.

Reform also adopted Social Credit's distrust of federal government control over the resources of provinces. In particular, Reform has lashed out against the former federal government of Pierre Trudeau for initiating the National Energy Program (NEP) which the party sees as a federal government theft of Western energy revenues. 22.

The Brian Mulroney government also came under fire by Reform for awarding a $1.4 billion CF-18 fighter plane contract to Montreal's Canadair Ltd.
This odorous decision came despite the technically and financially superior bid from Winnipeg's Bristol Aerospace. 23.

Faced with such perceived injustices, Preston Manning has advocated increased decentralization and devolution of powers from the federal government to the provincial governments. 24.

To Peter McCormick, Reform's concerns amounted to a milder version of the forces of frustration that aided in the creation of the Social Credit:
"The current vituperation against federal bureaucrats and their left-leaning policy advisers is a weak reflection of the passionate hatred for the eastern banks and the sinister financial interests (the "Fifty Big Shots"), just as the GST is a poor substitute for the Depression that generated the second wave of populism in the form of the Social Credit and the CCF." 25.

Yet another similarity between Social Credit and Reform was the presence in both parties of a strong leader who played a central formative role in shaping party policy while giving the membership guidance and direction towards the carrying out of party objectives.
However, the extent of that direction has varied between leaders of both parties.
For example, the evidence suggests Aberhart ran Social Credit as something of a one-man show, which did not appear to take pains to reflect the wishes of rank-and-file members. As MacPherson goes on to duly note:
"From the beginning, Aberhart's organization was strongly centralized... His headquarters, not a delegate convention, decided and announced that candidates would be run in every constituency, issued the draft platform and instructions to the constituencies, limited the agenda of the constituency conventions, and laid down the procedure for nominations. The central office took the initiative and kept control of the electoral machine." 26.

Although Finkle contends that the rank-and-file initially did have a voice and contributed to the process, he agrees with MacPherson that Aberhart did essentially hand-pick candidates and become more autocratic over time.
Finkle also stresses the importance of Aberhart's forceful, authoritarian leadership when he notes: "No doubt Aberhart's demagogic style, used with equal effect to propound religious views and political views, was essential to the rapid take-off of the Social Credit movement." 27.

Dobbin argues that Aberhart and Ernest Manning created the "illusion of democracy," often calling for "voice votes" on general goals in which an audience at a rally would roar approval of goals that had already been predetermined by the party leader.
It became very clear to political observers that both men doubted the ability of average citizens to make policy and so the two largely confined the citizens to serving as their cheerleaders or to filling other, lesser supportive roles. 28

Dobbin also suggests the steady shift towards a leader-dominated Social Credit party became even more pronounced under Ernest Manning:
"By the time Ernest Manning took over the Social Credit League in 1943, it had already been transformed from a mass-based populist party and movement to a party electoral machine dominated by an increasingly autocratic leader and premier. Ernest Manning perpetuated that autocratic leadership and also moved the party further to the right." 29.

Sharpe and Braid have contended that the Reformers were headed in the same leader dominated direction as Social Credit:
"Shrewd observers of Alberta Social Credit noted long ago that the Socred movement was not truly populist, but a massive delegation of trust by voters to revered leaders, first William Aberhart and then Ernest Manning. The same dynamic appears at work today in Preston Manning's leadership of the Reform party. Audiences hang on his words with rapt attention, applauding every point and laughing at every joke." 30.

But Reform would not prove as autocratic as Social Credit. Reform ran its conventions in a democratic manner, hearing the views and proposals of rank-and-file members and putting votes to ballots (although some "voice votes" were still conducted at rallies) Reform also advocated voter recall rights and referendums, both of which would place more power in the hands of ordinary citizens - and not just during elections.
Yet there is no denying that Reform was also a leader-dominated party, a party in which leader Preston Manning took a comprehensive role in writing policies and advocating his own views while seeking audience approval of his statements.
Reform's philosophy, objectives and concerns had been given considerable thought and were largely formulated by the Mannings prior to the founding of Reform. And, while the party insisted its directions are subject to input and amendments from ordinary members, Preston Manning played an enormous role in shaping policy.
Although the slight, owlish Manning lacked the forceful physical presence of either Socred leader discussed in this essay, it's also clear that he possessed different qualities which made him an effective leader.
Southam columnist Roy MacGregor suggested Manning's appeal may have laid in his unassuming, disarming manner. In fact, MacGregor goes so far as to compare Manning with the stubborn and heroic little man who struggles against an indifferent government in Frank Capra's classic film 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'. 31.

Wherever the source of Manning's appeal lay, it's apparent that he was a strong leader and that Reform was certainly a leader-dominated party. Although both of these characteristics may pale in comparison to those of Social Credit, these remain shared traits which mark a political continuum between the two parties.
By citing a number of political observers and political scientists, this chapter has drawn some important parallels between Social Credit and Reform and the Canadian Alliance parties, which, when taken together, demonstrate the existence of a political continuum. We've found both these parties were born of Western alienation, nurtured by a profound distrust of the status quo and fed by a pronounced dislike and fear of powerful federal governments and Eastern business interests.
Both the Socreds and Reformers sought to wrest more power for the West by changing their provincial relationship with the federal government and by enhancing Alberta's financial strength.
For Social Credit, there were unsuccessful efforts to enact radical monetary reform and control of banks, while for Reform, the approach taken was largely one of advocating political reforms along with urging the establishment of additional regional banks, measures intended to enhance Alberta's political and financial clout.
Reform also looked favourably at some income enhancing measures in the spirit of Social Credit. It is also true that Reform did not pursuing the radical bank-controlling measures once sought by Social Credit but this may have been for practical reasons since the illegality of such measures has made their pursuit a matter even Social Credit came to abandon.
We've seen that with both parties, the response to the shared feeling of being largely "left out" of politics has been to form a new party offering solutions which, given their dramatic departure from existing power structures, can best be described as radical.
As well, we've explored the common bond of Christian fundamentalist religion as an integral part of both parties and a common tie linking Social Credit to Reform.
Finally, we've examined the existence of two leader-dominated parties led by what amounts to three generations of Christian fundamentalist leaders, from big 'Bible Bill' Aberhart to his protégé Ernest Manning (described by some as almost an adopted son of Aberhart who had only daughters), who lived for years at Aberhart's home, to Ernest Manning's own son, Preston, who has clearly inherited his father's strong appetite for religion and politics.
Given all of these remarkable similarities between the parties, and given Social Credit's evolution into an entity more comparable to today's Reform party, than Social Credit's origins would have suggested, one could view Reform as something of a 'Social Credit: The Next Generation'. While that may be going a little too far, it's clear that the sheer number of similarities between the two parties amounts to a political continuum which has at its core the enduring legacy of Western discontent.
Although clearly on the outside, looking in, in terms of political power, the Alliance party has begun to play to a more central role in Canadian political life following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
Chantal Hebert, national affairs columnist for The Toronto Star, suggests Prime Minister Jean Chretien and the Liberal government are marching to the Alliance drummer when it comes to formulating policy in response to September 11.
Hebert notes that on Sept. 17, 2001, Alliance Leader Stockwell Day had urged Chretien to "sign on to whatever military counteroffensive," the United States decided to engage in against terrorism. Although the government roundly criticized Day for wanting to give the Americans a blank cheque, only days later, the government in fact committed troops with no questions asked and no clear objectives stated. 32.

The same day, the government rejected Day's call for tough anti-terrorism legislation, then a month later introduced an omnibus bill containing such legislation. As Hebert observes: "Given the magnitude of Bill C-36, the ink was barely dry on Day's speech when the government set out to draft its legislation." 33.

Hebert also notes that Day called for more resources for the military and an early budget - both of which were rebuffed and then quickly adopted by the government. 34.

Hebert adds: "Day may be the most discredited opposition leader in recent history, his party may sit in the basement of opinion polls, but that is not stopping the Chretien government marching to the war on terrorism to the Alliance drummer and much of the Canadian public from liking it." 35.

Indeed, although Alliance - like any opposition party - is a somewhat distant voice on the political landscape, that voice can indeed become louder and more influential in times of trouble when the government has no direction of its own to offer.

End Notes:

1. Hugh G. Thorburn, Party Politics in Canada, edited by Hugh G. Thorburn, (Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada , 1991), p. 317.
2. C. B. MacPherson, Democracy In Alberta: Social Credit and the Party System. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962), p.6.
3. Chris Adams, 'The Reform Party and the Roots of Western Protest' from Parliamentary Government. Vol.9. No. 1. Fall, 1989, p.14.
4. Alvin Finkle, The Social Credit Phenomenon in Alberta. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989) p1
5. Preston Manning, The New Canada. (Toronto: Macmillan Canada 1992) p. V.
6. IBID, p.6.
7. Alvin Finkle, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989), pp. 33-35.
8. IBID.
9. C. B. MacPherson, Democracy In Alberta: Social Credit and the Party System. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, I 962), pp. 177-178.
10. C. B. MacPherson, Democracy In Alberta: Social Credit and the Party System, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962), pp. 208-211.
11. Alvin Finkle, The Social Credit Phenomenon in Alberta, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989), p. 1.
12. Sydney Sharpe and Don Braid, Storming Babylon. Preston Manning and the Rise of the Reform Party. (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1992), P. 7.
13. John A. Irving, The Social Credit Movement in Alberta. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974), p. 338.
14. Murray Dobbin, Preston Manning and the Reform Party. (Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, 1991), p.1.
15. IBID, p. 11.
16. Sydney Sharpe and Don Braid, Storming Babylon. Preston Manning and the Rise of the Reform Party. (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1992), p.2.
17. IBID, p. 172.
18. IBID, p. 82.
19. Principles And Policies: The Blue Book 1991, (Calgary: Reform Fund Canada, 1991), pp. 13-25.
20. IBID
21. IBID
22. Kenneth Whyte, Steve Weatherbe, Lori Cohen, Tim Gallagher and David Philip, 'The West Finds a Voice: A new federal party is launched', from Act of Faith: The illustrated Chronicle of the Reform Party of Canada. (Vancouver: B.C. Report Magazine Ltd., 1991), pp. 22-31.
23. IBID.
24. Mike Trickey, Southam News, 'Manning tells students beware of unity deal', Hamilton Spectator. September 29,1992. p. A1.
25. Peter McCormick, 'The Reform Party of Canada: New Beginning or Dead End?', from Party Politics in Canada. Edited by Hugh G. Thorburn, (Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada, 1991), p. 350.
26. C. B. MacPherson, Democracy in Alberta: Social Credit and the Party System. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962), p. 162.
27. Alvin Finkle, The Social Credit Phenomenon in Alberta. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, i 989), pp. 30-41.
28. Murray Dobbin, Preston Manning and the Reform Party. (Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, 1991), p. 16.
29. Murray Dobbin, Preston Manning and the Reform Party. (Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, 1991), p. 17.
30. Sydney Sharpe and Don Braid, Storming Babylon. Preston Manning and the Rise of the Reform Party, (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1992), p. 17.
31. Roy MacGregor, 'Preston Manning goes to Ottawa and talks common sense', The Hamilton Spectator. October 4, 1991. p. A6.
32. Chantal Hebert, 'Chretien marching to Alliance drummer', The Toronto Star, October 31, 2001. p. A29.
33. IBID
34. IBID
35. IBID.