Social Credit Party of Canada
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Social Credit Party of Canada
Parti Crédit social du Canada |
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|---|---|
| Former federal party | |
 |
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| Leader |
John Horne Blackmore Solon Earl Low Robert N. Thompson Réal Caouette Fabien Roy |
| Founder | William Aberhart |
| Founded | 1935 |
| Dissolved | 1993 |
| Ideology |
Social credit Right-wing populism Syncretism |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| Colours | Green |
The Social Credit Party of Canada (French: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, 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.
The Canadian social credit movement was largely an out-growth of the Alberta Social Credit Party, and the Social Credit Party of Canada was strongest in Alberta during this period. In 1932, Baptist evangelist William Aberhart used his radio program to preach the values of social credit throughout the province. He added a heavy dose of fundamentalist Christianity to C. H. Douglas' monetary theories; as a result, the social credit movement in Canada has had a strong social conservative tint.
The party was formed in 1935 as the Western Social Credit League. It attracted 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, which hit the party's western Canadian birthplace especially hard. It can be credited both for the creation of this party and the rise of the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, forerunner of today's New Democratic Party.
In the party's first election in 1935, it only ran candidates in Western Canada. It won 17 seats, of which 15 were in Alberta and where it won over 46% of that province's popular vote.John Horne Blackmore was chosen as the party's parliamentary leader.
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