Aberhart: A Theoretical Analysis

The combination of international economic crisis, drought, and political unpreparedness left many Albertans in a predicament due to a cycle of deficiency. First came the drought. Entire crops were ruined due to the drought, eventually not producing enough grain to repleshing seed supplies. Getting money from the banks to replace seeds was difficult, the provincial government was nearly impossible, while getting it from the federal government was overly bureaucratic, meaning if a farm ran out of grain, and money to buy more grain, they would no longer be able to grow crops and support themselves. For an example, in 1934-35 31% of farms in the district of Vulcan and 41% in Lomond had a negative income pg55, and the attempts at relief put the …show more content…
This was a time when the general undersetanding of politics was that the government which governs least governs best, but Aberhards speeches often talk about ways the government must get more involved in order to provide basic neccessities to its citizens. However, the extent to which Aberhart endorses these leftist beliefs is varried between sources. Some sources describe Aberhart as an extrimist who wanted to restrict citizens rights such as mobility and lead a revolt against the Canadian Government. Other sources prefer to show that his political ideologies were experimental, while his religious ideologies were extreme. The most radical element to Aberharts reign over Alberta was the speed with which he wanted the change to occure. It is undertsandable that people in times of crisis want their problems solved quickly, however only true radicals entertain the idea of a military led political coup to do so. At the time many of Aberharts initiatives were considered illegal, because they opposed the constitution and the contemporary divide of power between federal and provincial powers. He proposed an eighteen month plan which he would follow in order to get Alberta back on track in a timely fashion. After Aberhart was unable to complete his eighteen month plan on time many people believed it was his fault, not realizing that his reforms were keeping from being put in place by a government who which has “that particular attitude which fears to try anything that has not been proven by actual experience… it hinders all progress.” This lack of faith and understanding gave Socail Credit a massive drop in the poles in the 1940 election, however many of their ideologies still appealed to the people despite certain applications not