Ernest Manning
Ernest Manning | |
---|---|
8th Premier of Alberta | |
In office May 31, 1943 – December 12, 1968 | |
Monarchs | George VI Elizabeth II |
Lieutenant Governor | John C. Bowen John J. Bowlen John Percy Page Grant MacEwan |
Preceded by | William Aberhart |
Succeeded by | Harry E. Strom |
Senator for Edmonton West | |
In office October 7, 1970 – September 20, 1983 | |
Appointed by | Pierre Trudeau |
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta | |
In office June 18, 1959 – December 11, 1968 | |
Preceded by | New district |
Succeeded by | William Yurko |
Constituency | Strathcona East |
In office March 21, 1940 – June 18, 1959 | |
Preceded by | William Howson |
Succeeded by | District abolished |
Constituency | Edmonton |
In office November 4, 1935 – March 21, 1940 | |
Preceded by | William Ross Hugh Farthing Norman Hindsley |
Succeeded by | Andrew Davison William Aberhart James Mahaffey |
Constituency | Calgary |
Personal details | |
Born | Ernest Charles Manning September 20, 1908 Social Credit Party of Alberta (provincial) |
Spouse |
Muriel Aileen Preston
(m. 1936) |
Children | 2, including Edmonton Regiment |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Ernest Charles Manning
Manning's 25 consecutive years as premier were defined by strong social conservatism and fiscal conservatism. He was also the only member of the Social Credit Party of Canada to sit in the Senate and, with the party shut out of the House of Commons in 1980, was its last representative in Parliament when he retired from the Senate in 1983.
Manning's son, Preston Manning, was the founder and leader of the Reform Party of Canada who served as the federal leader of the Official Opposition from 1997 to 2000.[1]
Early life and career
Manning was born in
Manning was among the first students of William Aberhart's Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute (CPBI), which opened in 1927, and became its first graduate in April 1930,[4] having heard of it over a radio broadcast. There he met his future wife, Muriel Preston, who was the institute's pianist and later served as the National Bible Hour's musical coordinator. As a student, Manning soon caught the attention of Aberhart and quickly became his assistant at CPBI. "During his second and third years at the institute, Manning lived in the Aberhart home. After graduation, the Aberhart devotee became a teacher at the institute and played a role in the management of the organization's business affairs."[5] In 1930, he began preaching on Aberhart's weekly "Back to the Bible Hour" radio program, a practice that he continued throughout his life, even after he had entered politics. The broadcasts were eventually aired on over 90 radio stations across Canada from Halifax to Vancouver and had a large listening audience.[6]
In 1935, Manning went into the realm of provincial politics as Aberhart's right-hand man. Together, they created the Social Credit Party with the aim of bringing financial relief to Albertans, who were suffering because of the Great Depression.
Early provincial political career
"Manning followed Aberhart into politics, becoming a key Social Credit organizer, and platform speaker before the 1935 election."
At the outbreak of
Premier of Alberta
"Manning's take-over of the premiership at Aberhart's sudden death in May 1943 was a foregone conclusion. He had been Aberhart's religious protege and his closest associate in cabinet. He was regarded by Aberhart, who had two daughters, almost as a son."
In 1935, Manning had famously entered the
Under Manning, Alberta became a virtual one-party province. He led Social Credit to an incredible seven consecutive election victories between
However, an ominous sign came during Manning's last victory, when the once-moribund Progressive Conservatives, led by Peter Lougheed won six seats, mostly in Calgary and Edmonton. More seriously, the PCs did well enough across the rest of the province to hold Social Credit to 45 percent of the vote, its lowest vote share since 1940. Manning retired in 1968, and Social Credit was knocked out of office three years later. It has never come within sight of power again. By the time Manning left the legislature, only he, Alfred Hooke, and William Tomyn were left from the original 1935 caucus. Of that trio, Hooke was the only MLA to see the government right through from its beginning to its very end in 1971 (Tomyn served a break from 1952 to 1959).
Social Credit policy
Under Manning, the party largely abandoned
Development of oil sands
In 1945 the Abasand plant again burned down; this time, it was not rebuilt. The huge discoveries of conventional oil at Leduc and
At the opening ceremonies for the Great Canadian Oil Sands plant, Pew repeated Manning's belief of the need for the oil sands. Telling his audience, "No nation can long be secure in this atomic age unless it be amply supplied with petroleum.... It is the considered opinion of our group that if the North American continent is to produce the oil to meet its requirements in the years ahead, oil from the Athabasca area must of necessity play an important role."[12]
Adopton of Albertan flag
Around the time of the upcoming centennial celebration of
Social conservatism and faith
Manning's deep Christian faith gave him a sense of charity to the poor and needy, but unlike the longtime premier of neighbouring Saskatchewan, Tommy Douglas, Manning did not espouse a socialistic doctrine or use socialist rhetoric regarding the solving of societal issues. On the contrary, he was an outspoken critic of government involvement in society. Denouncing socialism and communism before, while, and after serving premier, Manning remained a staunch anticommunist all his life. Instead, he encouraged strong religious, individual, and corporate initiatives in addressing and solving social issues. Manning believed that the "government was there to motivate and give direction, not to intervene and carry the load."[11]
His views on health care and social issues were heavily shaped by his elder son, Keith, who suffered from
Mannings's faith also heavily influenced his approach to politics. He was always prudent and careful in practicing politics by "always practicing Christian-based reconciliation and conflict resolution."[11]
Anticommunism
For the
Manning argued the media and education system was sympathetic to the communist cause. He stated that it is "evident, in my view, in the news media, which are very heavily slanted, as a general rule favorably slanted, to socialist philosophy. This isn't by chance, it's because communism has been smart enough to see... that there are always a goodly number of men in that field who are sympathetic to the socialistic and even communistic philosophy. You even have the same thing, to varying degrees, in the field of education. It isn't by chance that you find these agitations of Marxism and so forth in many of our universities. It isn't by chance."[17]
The Manning administration, now re-elected with a resounding majority of seats as a result of the 1944 election, devoted itself to an antisocialist crusade.[15]: 131 In 1946, Manning's government extended censorship to included 16mm films in the hopes of "eliminating communist thought from Alberta-shown movies."[15]: 131
In January 1948, a
Federal politics
Manning also used his strong provincial standing to influence the
"In 1967, Manning's book Political Realignment: A Challenge to Thoughtful Canadians was published. This book is an outline of his views regarding the reorganization of the Canadian federal party system."[20]
Senate and death
After retirement from provincial politics in 1968, Manning established his own
Personal life
In 1936, Manning married Muriel Aileen Preston, the pianist at the Prophetic Bible Institute. They had two sons.
Their first son, William Keith, commonly called Keith, was born on May 2, 1939. Keith suffered from cerebral palsy. For stretches of time, he lived at a hospital in upstate New York, the Red Deer School Hospital, and a nursing home in Edmonton. He married fellow nursing home resident Marilyn Brownell, and died from cardiac arrest on June 29, 1986.[21][22][23]
Their second son, Ernest Preston, commonly called Preston, was born on June 10, 1942. Preston went on to found the Reform Party of Canada, and was leader of the Official Opposition in parliament from 1997 to 2000. [1]
Legacy
Manning was appointed as the first member of Alberta Order of Excellence on September 23, 1981.[24] Manning was also invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada by Governor-General Michener in 1970.[25]
A high school and a business park road in Calgary, a
In 1980, the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation was created, and the Manning Innovation Awards were started in 1982, with the purpose of promoting and honouring Canadian innovation.
In 2013, the federal riding of
Works
- Manning, Ernest (1967). A white paper on human resources development. Edmonton: Government of Alberta; Alberta. Office of the Premier. OCLC 858331098.
References
- ^ a b "Preston Manning: Canadian politician". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- ^ Perry & Craig 2006, p. 451.
- ^ Brennan 2008, p. 1-5.
- ^ Brennan 2008, p. 4-11.
- ^ ISBN 9781442682382. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ISBN 9780802082459. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
- ^ "The Honourable Ernest Manning, 1943 - 1968". AB heritage. Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 8 Dec 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b Donn Downey, "OBITUARY / Ernest Charles Manning History of former Alberta premier also history of Socreds," Globe and Mail, February 20, 1996
- ^ "Senator The Honourable Ernest Charles Manning". www.alberta.ca. Government of Alberta. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ "The Honourable Ernest Manning, 1943 - 1968". AB heritage. Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 8 Dec 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c d "Ernest Manning". Online Encyclopedia of Canadian Christian Leaders. Online Encyclopedia of Canadian Christian Leaders. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ a b McKenzie-Brown, Peter; Jaremko, Gordon; Finch, David (1993), The Great Oil Age, Calgary: Detselig Enterprises Ltd.
- ^ "Flag of Alberta - Canadian provincial flag". Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ "Ernest Manning". Making Medicare: The History of Health Care in Canada. Canadian Museum of History. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
- ^ JSTOR 25142941.
- ^ ISBN 9781442682382. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ISBN 9781442682382. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^ "Contraction and Expansion: 1930–1950". history.alberta.ca. Alberta Culture and Tourism.
- ^ Dufresne, Bernard, "Quebec's Socreds vote to Disown Thompson," Globe and Mail, 2 September 1963, p.1
- ^ "The Honourable Ernest Manning, 1943 - 1968". AB heritage. Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 8 Dec 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Mackey 1997, p. 78.
- ^ "Keith Manning dies in hospital". Edmonton Journal. 30 Jun 1986. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "MANNING, William Keith". Edmonton Journal. 2 July 1986. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ "Ex-premier gets award". Calgary Herald. The Canadian Press. 24 September 1981. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- The Ottawa Citizen. The Canadian Press. 22 April 1970. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
Bibliography
- Bell, Edward (2004). "Ernest Manning". In Rennie, Bradford James (ed.). Alberta premiers of the twentieth century. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina. ISBN 978-0-88977-151-2.
- Brennan, Brian (2008). The Good Steward. ISBN 9781897252161.
- Byfield, Ted, ed. (2001). Leduc, Manning & the Age of Prosperity 1946–1963. Edmonton: United Western Communications. ISBN 0-9695718-9-5.
- Mackey, Lloyd (1997). Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning. ISBN 1550222996.
- Perry, Sandra E.; Craig, Jessica J. (2006). The Mantle of Leadership : Premiers of the Northwest Territories and Alberta. ISBN 0-9689217-2-8.