Manitoba Social Credit Party

The Manitoba Social Credit Party (originally the Manitoba Social Credit League) was a political party in the Canadian province of Manitoba. In its early years, it espoused the monetary reform theories of social credit.

It was formed in the 1935-1936, shortly after William Aberhart's supporters formed a Social Credit government in Alberta. While the party never won many seats in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, it maintained a presence in the legislature for most of the period from 1936 to 1973.

In its earliest years, the Social Credit League took the form of a populist protest movement. Like other Social Credit parties in Canada, it eventually became as a party of conservatism while retaining an anti-establishment message. The party's leadership was consistently anti-socialist.

The Social Credit Party ran 19 candidates in the provincial election of 1936, five of whom were elected. It did not have a leader during the election, but chose Stanley Fox to lead the parliamentary group shortly thereafter. During this period, the party supported the monetary reforms of Major Douglas, which Aberhart had been promoting in Alberta for several years.

The 1936 election produced a minority government, with 23 Liberal-Progressives, 16 Conservatives, 7 Independent Labour Party members, the 5 Social Crediters and 4 others. After early talks for a Liberal-Progressive/Conservative coalition broke down, the Social Crediters made a surprise offer to keep the outgoing Liberal-Progressive government of John Bracken in power. Some party members may have hoped for a formal coalition, but this came to nothing and the party supported the government from the outside for the next four years.

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