In the late 1950?s, a wave of conservatism swept the country, particularly the west. In 1958, John Diefenbaker?s Tories won the federal election with an unprecedented majority of 208 seats. But as historian David Leonard explains, Alberta?s Premier, Ernest Manning had nothing to fear from the Conservatives when he took his Social Credit government to the polls in 1959:

In Alberta, the Opposition was the Liberal Party. The Conservative Party virtually didn?t exist. What was the Conservative Party was the Social Credit Party of Ernest Manning. And people were very happy to continue with the government of Ernest Manning. Manning favoured good administration over political ideology. And that?s what kept his party in power.

He had replaced a lot of cabinet ministers after the 1955 election when hints of corruption were laid against Alf Hooke and certain other ministers for loans they had obtained through the Treasury Branches. And Manning had gone to seek the removal of several of the older rural farmers who were staunch Social Creditors of the old school, which stressed the ideology of Social Credit rather than strong administration. He prided himself very much on the fact that there was no provincial sales tax in Alberta. And if there was one guiding light for him, in addition to his fundamentalist religion, which he stressed through his weekly Sunday morning radio program, Back to the Bible Hour, that was governmental restraint. Small government, conservative, friendly to business, less taxes, and certainly nothing at all that would breathe of communism.

When it came to electioneering, Premier Manning wasn?t keen on campaign slogans. But he was certainly on the wave of trying to persuade the people that his party was not only the party of good, solid conservative, fiscally responsible government, but it was also the party that was on the side of God. If you vote for Ernest Manning, that is equivalent to a vote for God.

The election of 1959 gave Social Credit sixty-one of sixty-five seats. The Liberals under Grant MacEwan gained but one seat in the Legislature.

On the Heritage Trail, I?m Cheryl Croucher.