William Aberhart

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

William Aberhart
A bald man in a suit with round spectacles
Aberhart in 1937
7th Premier of Alberta
In office
September 3, 1935 – May 23, 1943
MonarchsGeorge V
Edward VIII
George VI
Lieutenant GovernorWilliam L. Walsh
Philip Primrose
John C. Bowen
Preceded byRichard Gavin Reid
Succeeded byErnest Manning
Alberta Minister of Education
In office
September 3, 1935 – May 23, 1943
Preceded byPerren Baker
Succeeded bySolon Earl Low
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office
March 21, 1940 – May 23, 1943
ConstituencyCalgary
In office
November 4, 1935 – March 21, 1940
Preceded byWilliam Morrison
Succeeded byJohn Broomfield
ConstituencyOkotoks-High River
Personal details
Born(1878-12-30)December 30, 1878
Social Credit
SpouseJessie Flatt
Children2
Residence(s)Calgary, Alberta, Canada
OccupationEducator, evangelist
Signature

William Aberhart (December 30, 1878 – May 23, 1943), also known as "Bible Bill" for his radio sermons about the Bible, was a Canadian politician and the seventh premier of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1943.[1] He was the founder and first leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party, which believed the Great Depression was caused by ordinary people not having enough to spend. Therefore, Aberhart argued that the government should give each Albertan $25 per month to spend to stimulate the economy, by providing needed purchasing power to allow needy customers to buy from waiting businesses.

During his premiership, Aberhart campaigned for and instituted several anti-poverty and debt relief programs, and other governmental reforms, such as consolidation of Alberta's numerous small school districts into centralized school divisions, and natural resources conservation. His attempts at banking reform met with less success, facing strong opposition from the federal government, the courts, privately owned newspapers and a coalition of the Liberal and Conservative parties. Aberhart's government did successfully establish the Alberta Treasury Branches (now ATB Financial), a government-owned financial institution to provide an alternative to existing banks, which continues to operate as a Crown corporation of the Alberta government.

Early life

Childhood, education, and family

William Aberhart was born December 30, 1878, in Kippen, Ontario (now part of

soccer,[7] he generally preferred solitary pursuits such as reading or teaching himself to play musical instruments.[5]: 186 [4]
: 6–7 

In 1896, Aberhart attended three months of model school in

Chatham, from which he withdrew after four months of successful study.[4]: 6  In 1897–98, Aberhart attended Seaforth Collegiate Institute, where he was nicknamed "Whitey" (for his blond hair) and broadened his athletic prowess to include the long jump, shot put, 100-yard dash, high jump, cycling, and football.[4]
: 6–7 

On July 29, 1902, Aberhart married Jessie Flatt, whom he had met in 1901 at a football game.[4]: 14–15  A daughter, Khona Louise Aberhart, was born in the winter of 1903, and a second, Ola Janet Aberhart, followed in August 1905.[4]: 15 

On July 20, 1910, William Aberhart Sr. died in an accident at a pharmacy owned by his son (William Jr.'s brother) Charles.

carbolic acid; he died within minutes. William Jr., by now in Calgary, did not make the trip east to his father's funeral.[4]: 23  Louisa Aberhart died February 20, 1944, outliving her son, William Aberhart Jr., by less than a year.[8]

In 1911, he earned a

Teaching career

Aberhart as a young man

In the fall of 1901 Aberhart was hired as a teacher at the Central Public School in

Brantford, for which he was paid $60 per month.[4]: 11–12  He fast won a reputation as a strict disciplinarian: he addressed his students by number rather than name and was liberal in his use of the strap. By his own account in a 1903 essay, he viewed the classroom as a battlefield, and admired Oliver Cromwell's military organization. While his tactics divided his students—some loved him, while others recounted that "he did everything he could to break the spirit of a child"—his supervisors gave him uniformly positive reviews.[4]
: 15 

His school's principal died in 1905, and Aberhart was selected to replace him; his salary increased to $1,000 per year.[4]: 15  This figure had reached $1,200 by 1910 when, in response to glowing reviews from his colleagues, the Calgary Board of Education offered him a principalship at $1,400 per year. In response to a petition from his staff and students that this offer be matched by Brantford, Aberhart was offered a raise to $1,300; he declined it, and moved to Calgary that spring.[4]: 20  His family followed later, after he purchased a two-storey wooden house and Khona finished her academic year in Brantford.[4]: 23–24  1910 Calgary was a frontier town that smelled of horse manure and in which public drunkenness was common; though Aberhart's sensibilities were less shocked by this than his wife's were, he also had to make some adjustments: in Brantford he had always attended church in a silk top hat and frock coat, but he quickly abandoned this custom after discovering that he was the only one in Calgary to do so.[4]: 23 

Aberhart was to become principal of Mount Royal School, but it was not yet complete at the time of his arrival, so he became the principal of Alexandra Public School immediately on his arrival.[4]: 23  Mount Royal was still not completed by the fall, so he took over the principalship of Victoria School,[4]: 24  which he held until becoming principal of the new Crescent Heights High School in 1915.[7][4]: 44 [Note 1]

Elliott and Miller write that Aberhart took a less rigid approach to discipline at Crescent Heights than he had in Ontario,[4]: 44  though Schultz says that as principal he was "authoritarian in manner and a strict disciplinarian".[5]: 187  His love of organization persisted,[7][4]: 44  and his penchant for it enhanced his reputation as "an able administrator".[5]: 187  Crescent Height's students scored very well on departmental examinations, though some members of the school board believed that he achieved this at least partly by culling weaker students with a preliminary qualifying examination.[4]: 46 

One way Aberhart applied his organizational prowess was in creating one of Calgary's first and largest parent–teacher associations, which had an average of two hundred parents attend each meeting; Aberhart had a generally good relationship with parents.[4]: 45  His standing with his staff was more mixed: he had a habit of "talking down" to them, dominated the school to the point that teachers were left with little initiative, and, as Elliott and Miller put it, "never entered the staff room except to issue an order".[5]: 187 [4]: 46  Many of his teachers, while respecting his abilities as an administrator, thought very little of him as a man, and some believed that his domineering approach stemmed from a fear of people smarter than him.[4]: 47  In 1919, eight Crescent Heights teachers wrote the school board requesting an investigation into Aberhart's work; the resulting inspection led to the transfer of three male teachers—with whom Aberhart had a particularly poor rapport—to other schools, and stated that persisting problems would lead to a request for Aberhart's resignation.[4]: 46  A follow-up investigation two years later found a substantial improvement in conditions and reported favourably on Aberhart's abilities.[4]: 47  Despite this uneven relationship, Aberhart was not all together closed-minded, and would entertain—and sometimes even be convinced by—arguments from his staff.[4]: 44 [11]

Besides his administrative duties, Aberhart taught English and math.[4]: 44 [5]: 187  True to form, in doing so he emphasized rote memorization at the expense of independent reasoning, to the point that one of his teachers once likened him to a dog trainer.[7][4]: 44  He cared for his students and provided extensive extra tutoring, especially for students in whom he saw a genuine interest in learning the material.[5]: 187 [4]: 44–45  Outside of the classroom, he applied his talents to organizing picnics and games,[5]: 187  and in 1922 organized an elected student council years before the concept became widespread in Calgary.[11] When some students wanted the school to purchase a movie projector not provided for in the school's budget, Aberhart organized a company into which students could buy for ten cents per share; the company put on movies for which it charged admission, and at the end of its first year of operation it declared a dividend of 25 cents per share. He urged his students to adopt four axioms he followed in his own life: "be enthusiastic, be ambitious, develop a distinctive personality, [and] have a hobby and ride it hard."[5]: 187 

In the assessment of John Barr, a Social Credit staffer years after Aberhart's death who later wrote one of the first histories of the party's years in power, "Aberhart generally had the respect and admiration of a broad following of parents, teachers, and students."[11] Schultz states that the only area in which all 61 people he interviewed in researching Aberhart's career agreed was that he was an excellent high school teacher.[5]: 187 

Ministry

Early religious views and adoption of Dispensationalism

Though his parents were not churchgoers, as a child Aberhart attended

Arminian doctrine of conditional election, and became confident that, through his faith, he would be saved.[4]
: 9 

While in Brantford, Aberhart studied at Zion Presbyterian church,

Cyrus Scofield; Elliott and Miller speculate that such a course would have appealed to Aberhart by reducing "difficult theological problems to a matter of memorizing questions and answers".[4]
: 3 

Aberhart had aspired to take ministerial training at the Presbyterian Knox College Divinity School, but the church in Brantford was reluctant to take on the support of both him and his family in the four-year training period. He became fascinated with prophetical teaching in the Bible and studied a correspondence course by Cyrus Scofield. He had been introduced to this system while attending a men's Bible Class at Zion Presbyterian, taught by William Nichol, an elderly physician.[12]

In 1910, Aberhart accepted a position as principal of Alexandra School in Calgary, Alberta. His initial Bible Study Teaching in Calgary commenced at the Grace Presbyterian Church at the Young Men's Bible Class. Within a few weeks attendance was over 100 and he attracted the attendance of the senior minister Dr. Esler, but his views on prophecy did not jibe with senior minister's reformed beliefs and his teaching privileges were cancelled. He then moved on to teach successively at the Wesley and Trinity Methodist Churches.[13]

In 1915, he became an unpaid pastor of Westbourne Baptist Church in Calgary.

baptism of the Holy Spirit separate from conversion, decided to return to the old building, prompting Aberhart to found Bible Institute Baptist Church. [18] Towards the end of his life British Israelism became increasingly central to his theology.[19] British Israelism had been an element of his theology from an early stage, but assumed further importance following the 1939 royal tour of Canada where he spoke with King George VI on the topic.[4]
: 284 

Early political involvement

Aberhart became interested in politics during the

Social Credit theories of Major C. H. Douglas, a British engineer. From 1932 to 1935, Aberhart lobbied for the governing political party, the United Farmers of Alberta
, to adopt these theories, but it never did.

It is doubtful that Aberhart fully understood the theories himself.

Social Credit Party of Alberta
.

Premier of Alberta (1935–1943)

Aberhart and his cabinet in 1935

Electoral record

The Social Credit Party won the 1935 provincial election by a landslide with over 54% of the popular vote and all but seven of the 63 seats in the legislature.[21]

Not even the

Socreds had expected to win the election. Indeed, its expectations were so low that it had not named a formal leader during the campaign. The party was now tasked with selecting a leader who would become the province's new premier. Aberhart was the obvious choice, as he had been the party's founder and guiding force. He initially said he did not want the job, but was finally prevailed to accept it.[citation needed
]

He was sworn in as premier on September 3 (11 days after his August 22 victory). However, he was not yet a member of the legislature. The Social Credit MLA for Okotoks-High River, William Morrison, resigned to give Aberhart a chance to get a seat, per standard practice in the Westminster system when a leader or cabinet minister does not have a seat.[citation needed]

Aberhart won the November 4 by-election, held prior to the first sitting of the new legislature after the general election. Aberhart was elected by acclamation.[citation needed]

Aberhart served as premier and as his own

Attorney General. Aberhart's government was re-elected in the 1940 election with a somewhat reduced mandate, with Aberhart being elected to a Calgary seat.[citation needed
]

Policy

Portrait of Aberhart as premier

Aberhart's government did not implement much of the Social Credit policies promised in the party's election platform, because of the province's very poor financial position in the depths of the Depression. The federal government's opposition to Social Credit was a significant block to Aberhart's policy goals. The federal government has jurisdiction over Canadian currency and banks, under the

prosperity certificates. Aberhart did threaten the power of private banks with his government's extension of the UFA government's foreclosure moratorium and mandatory debt adjustment. But a law to tax banks was overturned on constitutional grounds. Later, the government started its own banks, which carry on as the Alberta Treasury Branch (ATB Financial
).

Aberhart instituted a variety of relief programs to help people out of poverty, as well as public works programs and a debt relief program that froze some debt collections and mortgage foreclosures. This, like Tommy Douglas' similar program in Saskatchewan, was later overturned in the mid-1940s by the Supreme Court, although it aided people for a number of years during and (for a short time) after the Great Depression.

Alberta's Social Credit government brought in legislation under which an MLA could be recalled by a portion of their constituents. Aberhart's own constituents, including out-of-power UFA farmers and many oilworkers working for U.S. oil companies threatened by Aberhart's Natural Resources Conservation legislation, gathered signatures for Aberhart's own recall. He thus became the first Canadian politician to be threatened with recall from office. Aberhart's government retroactively repealed the recall legislation rather than have Aberhart forced to give up his seat.[22]

In keeping with his evangelical views, Aberhart added a heavy dose of social conservatism to Major Douglas's ideas. Most notably, he enacted very tight restrictions on the sale of alcohol. Indeed, the only stricter law in Canada at the time was in Prince Edward Island, where the sale of alcohol remained completely banned until 1948. Well into the 1960s, commercial airlines could not serve alcohol while flying over Alberta.

Although Aberhart was unable to gain control of Alberta's banks, his government gained a foothold in the province's financial industry by creating the

Crown corporation
.

Conflict with Lieutenant Governor

Elizabeth
to Alberta in May 1939

Lieutenant Governor John C. Bowen refused to give royal assent to three government bills in 1937. Two of the bills would have put the province's banks under the control of the provincial government, while a third, the Accurate News and Information Act, would have forced newspapers to print government rebuttals to stories the provincial cabinet deemed "inaccurate". All three bills were later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. For its leadership in the fight against the latter act, in 1938 the Edmonton Journal was awarded a Pulitzer Prize special citation and bronze plaque, the first time a special citation was awarded outside the United States, while 95 other newspapers including the Calgary Herald, the Red Deer News, Lethbridge Herald
and the province's weekly newspapers were recognized with engraved certificates.

By late 1937, relations with the lieutenant governor became so strained that Bowen even threatened to dismiss Aberhart's government, which would have been an extraordinary use of his

reserve powers. An analogous situation occurred in 1932 in Australia between Jack Lang and Sir Philip Game, the premier and governor, respectively, of New South Wales
. However, Bowen did not follow through on his threat due in part to Social Credit's immense popularity with the people. Had he dismissed Aberhart, it would have triggered a fresh election that Social Credit would have almost certainly won.

Death and legacy

Aberhart died unexpectedly on May 23, 1943, during a visit to his adult daughters in

Ernest C. Manning, who gradually moved away from Douglas' monetary theories. Social Credit would remain in office until its defeat in the 1971 election
—one of the longest-serving provincial governments in Canadian history, and one of the longest-serving in the Commonwealth.

The Aberhart Centre, a long-term medical care centre at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, is named in his honour, as is William Aberhart High School in Calgary.

In 1974, he was named a Person of National Historic Significance by the Government of Canada. A plaque commemorating this sits inside Crescent Heights High School at 1019 1st NW, Calgary, Alberta.[24]

Ideology

Elliott (1978) argues that the Aberhart's Social Credit ideology was clearly antithetical to his previous theology, which was highly sectarian, separatist, apolitical, other-worldly, and eschatologically oriented. Elliott challenges the arguments of Mann (1955) and Irving (1959) that there was a definite connection between Aberhart's theology and political program. Elliott reports that Aberhart's political support did not come from the sectarian groups as Mann and Irving suggest, but rather it came from the members of established churches and those with marginal religious commitment.[25]

Publications and articles about Aberhart

Historian Harold J. Schultz's 1964 "Portrait of a Premier: William Aberhart" was published in the Canadian Historical Review.[5] A 1977 book edited by Lewis Herbert Thomas, traced Aberhart's role in the development of Alberta's Social Credit movement.[26]

In his 1978 article published in the Canadian Historical Review, David R. Elliot examined Aberhart's theological and political beliefs.[25]

Elliot and Iris Miller published Bible Bill: A Biography of William Aberhart in 1987.[4] A 2004 edited book —Alberta Premiers of the Twentieth Century, devoted a chapter to Aberhart.[27]

A June 2020 in-depth article in Alberta Views magazine, compared Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to Aberhart.[28]

Bruce Allen Powe in 1983 published a novel entitled The Aberhart Summer based on the events of 1935 when Aberhart swept into power. The novel was adapted as a stage play in 1999 by Conni Massing.

Electoral record

November 4, 1935, provincial by-election Okotoks—High River

1935 by-election results (Okotoks-High River)[29]
Affiliation Candidate Votes N.A. %
Social Credit William Aberhart Acclaimed
1940 Alberta general election results (Calgary)[30] First count vote totals*
 
Independent
Andrew Davison[Note 2] 12,465 27.1%
Social Credit William Aberhart[Note 2] 12,122 26.4%
 
Independent
James Mahaffey[Note 2] 3,645 7.9%
 
Independent
John J. Bowlen[Note 2] 3,447 7.5%
  CCF Frederick J. White 2,846 6.2%
 
Independent
Joseph Tweed Shaw 2,685 5.8%
Social Credit Frederic Anderson[Note 2] 1,939 4.2%
Social Credit Edith Gostick 1,605 3.5%
 
Independent
Norman D. Dingle 1,480 3.2%
Social Credit Mrs. Howitt D. Tarves 1,386 3.0%
  CCF Robert T. Alderman 1,298 2.8%
 
Independent
Harry Pryde 576 1.3%
 
Independent
Douglas V. Mitchell 251 0.5%
 
Independent
James M. Moodie 169 0.4%

* The first count vote totals were altered through STV vote transfers, to produce the five successful candidates, one of which was not in a leading position in the first count.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Schultz reports this date as 1927, saying that Aberhart was principal of "Balmoral Heights" from 1915 until then.[5]: 187  This confusion may be because when Crescent Heights opened in 1915, it occupied part of Balmoral School, an elementary school. Crescent Heights received its own building in 1929.[10]
  2. ^ a b c d e Calgary was a multi-member constituency that elected five MLAs using the single transferable vote electoral method. These candidates were elected.

References

  1. Canadian Encyclopedia (online ed.). Historica Canada
    . Retrieved September 24, 2013.
  2. ., p. 409
  3. ^ Perry & Craig 2006, p. 410.
  4. ^ .
  5. ^ ., p. 185
  6. ., p. 37
  7. ^ a b c d Barr 1974, p. 37.
  8. ^ "William Aberhart Family History". Alberta Family Histories Society. Archived from the original on September 17, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  9. ^ James H. Marsh, The Canadian Encyclopedia, McClelland & Stewart, Canada, 1999, p. 2
  10. ^ "Balmoral School, 16th Avenue N.W., taken in snowstorm". Community Heritage and Family History Digital Library. Calgary Public Library. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
  11. ^ a b c Barr 1974, p. 38.
  12. ^ Johnson, L. P. V.; McNutt, Ola (1970). Aberhart of Alberta. Institute of Applied Art. pp. 26–27.
  13. ^ Johnson & McNutt 1970, pp. 50–51.
  14. ^ John Gordon Stackhouse, Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction to Its Character, Regent College Publishing, Canada, 1998, p. 37
  15. ^ William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2021, p. 9
  16. ^ John Gordon Stackhouse, Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction to Its Character, Regent College Publishing, Canada, 1998, p. 41
  17. ^ Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 1
  18. ^ John Gordon Stackhouse, Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction to Its Character, Regent College Publishing, Canada, 1998, p. 41
  19. . Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  20. ^ Douglas, C.H. (June 1, 1935). Possible Social Credit in Alberta. First interim report on the possibilities of the application of social credit principles to the Province of Alberta (Report). Retrieved September 28, 2015.[dead link]
  21. .
  22. ^ Rowat, Don (1998). "Our Referendums are not Direct Democracy" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review. 21 (3): 25–27.
  23. ^ "Aberhart Rites on Wednesday". Calgary Herald. May 25, 1943. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  24. ^ Aberhart, William National Historic Person. Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. Parks Canada.
  25. ^
    S2CID 145374314
    .
  26. .
  27. .
  28. ^ "Uncanny Resemblance". Alberta Views - The Magazine for Engaged Citizens. June 1, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
  29. Mardon, Ernest
    ; Mardon, Austin (1993). Alberta Election Results 1882–1992. Edmonton, A;berta: Documentary Heritage Society of Alberta., p. 99
  30. ^ Mardon & Mardon 1993, p. 33.

Further reading/other sources

Primary sources

External links