Sensing a change in the mood of Albertans, Ernest Manning resigned as Premier a year after the 1967 election. Taking up the leadership of the Social Credit Party was Harry Strom, a rancher from Bow Island who had served in the Legislature since 1955. The Social Credit government did relax some regulations in the late 1960?s. But as historian David Leonard explains, the tide of change was too strong for Strom?s mild manner and fundamentalist views:

The radicalism of the late 1960?s was getting to pervade all aspects of life. Even middle-aged establishment-oriented people were now letting their hair grow and becoming somewhat ?mod? in their dress. The radicalism was reflected in Sunday movies, which were now featured; nudity displayed on magazine racks, which would have been unheard of five or six years earlier. The drug culture was now upon us. And the feeling was throughout the province that we do need a change.

As the next election approached, Albertans began to look more seriously at the six new members elected in 1967, who made up the Official Opposition. These were the Progressive Conservatives led by a young Calgary lawyer named Peter Lougheed.

The Progressive Conservative Party did not differ substantially in its attitude and its policies from the Social Credit Party, but it did have a sense of professionalism about it. Many were lawyers; many had connections with the oil and gas industry.

Also, Peter Lougheed was very clever, I think, in going into the 1971 election in deliberately attaching to his cause a number of people with roots in eastern European communities, particularly German and Ukrainian. People like Julian Koziak, Bill Yurko, Bill Diachuk, Horst Schmidt, Ken Poproski and others gave them a chance to demonstrate that the Lougheed government would be very favourable towards multiculturalism and to the ethnic diversity of Alberta.

Alberta was anything but a left-wing province in 1971. There was a feeling in favour of youth, a feeling in favour of change. But under no circumstances were the people of the province left-wing.

Albertans headed to the polls on the 30th of June, 1971. And it was clear that for the first time in its thirty-five years of rule, the Social Credit Party was facing a serious threat.

On the Heritage Trail, I?m Cheryl Croucher.