Social Credit Party of Canada

The Social Credit Party of Canada 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.

Growth in Quebec: 1962–1972

Beginning in the early 1960s, there were serious tensions between the party's English and French wings. In 1961, Robert Thompson of Alberta defeated Real Caouette of Quebec at the party's leadership convention. The vote totals were never announced; many suspect that Caouette actually won more votes, but was rejected by the party's western leadership for fear that he would be a liability. (Ernest Manning had previously told the convention that his province would never accept a francophone Catholic as the party's leader.)

Related Topics:
1961 - Robert Thompson - Real Caouette - Quebec - Ernest Manning

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The party's Quebec wing, led by Réal Caouette, nevertheless had a major breakthrough in that province in the 1962 election, returning 26 Members of Parliament (MPs) from the province. Social Credit won only four seats from English Canada. This imbalance caused severe tensions in the Social Credit caucus, and on September 9, 1963, the party split into English Canadian wing and a separate Quebec party led by Caouette - the Ralliement des créditistes.

Related Topics:
Quebec - 1962 election - Members of Parliament - Caucus - Ralliement des créditistes

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Of the 20 Social Credit MPs elected in Quebec in 1963, 13 joined Caouette's Ralliement, five of the remaining seven ran in the next election as independents, and two joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

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The English Canadian party, concentrated in Alberta and British Columbia, won only four seats in 1963, and five in 1965. In 1967, three of its MPs left the party. Party leader Robert Thompson and a second Socred MP defected to the Progressive Conservatives, while a third MP, Bud Olson, joined the Liberal Party.

Related Topics:
Bud Olson - Liberal Party

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In the 1968 election, Social Credit lost its last two seats in English Canada. Quebec Creditistes remained the sole representatives of the movement in parliament.

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In 1971, the Ralliement and the English-Canadian Social Credit reunited into a single national party, with Caouette as leader, but the party continued its decline.

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