PRAIRIE FORUM

VoI.6,No.1 Spring 1981

CONTENTS

F.W.G. Haultain, Territorial Politics and the Quasi-party System Sta"nley Gordon

The WCTU on the Prairies, 1886-1930: An Alberta-Saskatchewan Comparison 17 Nancy M. Sheehan

Soldier Settlement and Depression Settlement in the Forest 35 Fringe of Saskatchewan John McDonald

The Conservative Party of Alberta under Lougheed, 1965-71: Building an Image and an Organization 57 Meir Serfaty

The Historiography of the Red River Settlement, 1830-1868 75 Frits Pannekoek

Prairie Theses, 1978-79 87

Book Reviews (see overleaf) 101

PRAIRIE FORUM is published twice yearly, in Spring and Fall,at an annual subscription of $15.00. All subscriptions, correspondence and contribu­ tions should be sent to The Editor, Prairie Forum, Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, Regina,Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S OA2. Subscribers will also receive the Canadian Plains Bulletin, the newsletter of the Canadian Plains Research Center.

PRAIRIE FORUM is not responsible for statements, either of fact or of opinion, made by contributors.

COPYRIGHT1981 ISSN0317-6282 CANADIAN PLAINS RESEARCH CENTER BOOK REVIEWS

paNTING, J.R. and GIBBINS, R., Out of Irrelevance 101 by D. Bruce Sealey

KROTZ, lARRY, Urban Indians: The Strangers in Canada's Cities 102 by Oliver Brass

KROETSCH, ROBERT, ed., Sundogs: Stories from Saskatchewan 104 by Donald C. Kerr

DURIEUX, MARCEL, Ordinary Heroes: The Journal of a French Pioneer in Alberta by Andre Lalonde 106

BOCKING, D.H., ed., Pages from the Past: Essays on Saskatchewan , History by Elizabeth Blight 107

OWRAM, DOUG, Promise of Eden: The Canadian Expansionist Movement and the Idea of the West, 1856-1900 110 by Donald Swainson

KOESTER, C.B., Mr. Davin, M.P.: A Biography of Nicholas Flood Davin by J. William Brennan 113

PRAIRIE FORUM: Journal of the Canadian Plains Research Center

Chief Editor: Alec Paul, Geography, Regina Associate Editors: Alan Anderson. Sociology, Saskatoon l. Crossman, English, Regina B. Freeze, Lethbridge Community College G. Granzberg, ,Anthropology, Winnipeg R. Gruhn.Anthropology, Edmonton W. Howard, English, Regina Raymond Huel, History, Lethbridge. M. Evelyn Jonescu, CPRC, Regina R.Macleod, History, Edmonton G. Mitchell, Biology, Regina F. Pannekoek, Alberta Culture R. Rounds, Geography, Brandon Coordinator of Publications: Barbara Jones, CPRC, Regina Editorial Page

With this issue my tenure as Chief Editor of Prairie Forum comes to a close. I have been involved with the journal in this way-apart from a one-year relief stint by Raymond Huel-s.ince the organiz­ ational beginnings in 1975.It has been a stimulating and learning ex­ perience for me, but now it is time for a change at the helm. We have made much progress since Volume 1in 1976.The journal has established itself as a sound publication, and I am convinced that in time it willdevelop into an excellent one. If I have one particular regret, if is that we have not fully lived up to our commitment to be multi­ disciplinary. Nevertheless, we have published articles on many varied themes and indeed have just produced our first special issue, on prairie architecture. I would especially like to thank the Editorial Board, our contrib­ utors and referees, and the CPRC's director, Evelyn Jonescu, and co­ ordinator of publications, Barbara Jones, for all their support and help. The financial backing' of the Universities of Regina, Lethbridge, and Alberta, and now the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Alberta Historical Resources Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. I wish Frits Pannekoek, the new ChiefEditor, continu­ ing good luck in the endeavour. Perhaps he will be able to sharpen up the geographical terminology of some of his historian colleagues by convincing them that "western Canada" does not end at the Rockies! I look forward to a continuing, if quieter, association with Prairie Forum as an ordinary member of its Editorial Board.

ALEC H. PAUL Chief Editor

PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, No.1

F. W. G. Haultain, Territorial Politics and the Quasi-Party System Stanley Gordon Department of History, University of Alberta

ABSTRACT. Attempts to trace the origins of the "quasi-party" system in western Canada have been less than completely satisfactory because they have uniformly either ignored the Territorial precedents or greatly undervalued them. This article contends that the system, far from being a post-war phenomenon as is usually argued, was inaugurated during the Territorial administration of F., w. G. Haultain. Originating in the desire for a strong regional government to press for re­ dress for western grievances and in Haultain's efforts to establish a stable Executive, the system was strengthened by the granting of responsible government in 1897 and passed virtually un­ changed into the provincial era after 1905.

RESUME Les tentatives pour retracer les origines du systeme de "quasi-party" dans I'Ouest Canadien ont ete un peu moins que completement satisfaisantes parce qu'elles ont uniformement ignore les precedents territoriaux ou les ont grandement sous-evalues, Cet article soutient que ce systeme, loin d'etre un phenomene d'apres guerre comme habituellement pretendu, a ete instaure durant radministration territoriale de F. W. G. Haultain. Originant du desir d'un gouvernement regional fort pour corriger les injustices commises a l'egard de l'ouest et des efforts de Haultain pour etablir un executif stable, le systeme fut renforci suite a l'instauration d'un gouvernement re­ sponsable en 1897 et s'est par la suite retrouve virtuellement inchange dans l'ere provinciale apres 1905.

Alberta's tendency to "quasi-party" government has attracted a good deal of attention since C. B. Macpherson first coined the term in 1953.1 Though by no means unique to that province, the system seems to exist in Alberta in a purer form than elsewhere in Canada. Opposi­ tion parties seem weaker, more divided and disorganized, less capable than their counterparts in the rest of the country of providing an alternative to a government moving imperturbably from one election victory to another. Critics and victims of the system seem more helpless before a remote and implacable authority, while the general public appears more complacently indifferent to evidence of administrative shortcomings. The normal functioning of responsible, parliamentary government seems to concern Albertans less than it does other Cana­ dians; as long as they can maintain their confidence in the integrity of their provincial government, they remain intensely loyal to it. Such loyalty is not unconditional, of course. When a government loses that confidence it is smashed beyond recovery, and replaced by another on the same pattern. This intriguingly simplified system has nevertheless frustrated all attempts to understand and explain it. Most such effo.rtshave argued that the roots of the system lie in western Canada's disillusionment with the traditional two-party system and its suspicion of central Canadian imperialism. Wartime political corruption, regional econ­ omic inequalities and the rise of radical reform movements among farmers and organized labour have all been seen as significant factors in the intense pressure for change.? But though these analyses provide 2 GORDON useful insights into the eccentric philosophies and distinctive organiza­ tions favoured by some prairie governments after the first World War, .they are not completely satisfactory explanations of the system as a whole. By suggesting that quasi-party government was something relatively new, they have casually dismissed a considerable portion of . western political experience and exaggerated the extent to which the achievement of provincial status marked a real change in the opera­ tion of western"government. Their tendency to oversimplify the political situation in the North-West Territories before 1905 is at. the bottom of much of the misunderstanding about the origins of the quasi-party system. The reasons for this simplification are clear enough. Most western his­ torians are preoccupied with the political and economic development of the provinces after 1905 or with the rise of regional parties; the earlier period, regarded as little more than a prologue, is usually dis­ posed of in the first few pages of their work. Extensive original re­ search for those pages is not customary; instead, the conclusions of secondary works are depended upon, supplemented if necessary by a handful of primary references.' Although a small number of theses, articles and books have sup­ plemented them in the past fifteen or twenty years, the most influential of these secondary works have been L. H. Thomas' masterful The Struggle for Responsible Government in the North- West Territories 1870-1897, published in 1956, and C. C. Lingard's Territorial Govern­ ment in Canada, which appeared ten years earlier.' Of the two, Lin­ gard's, dealing with the last five years or so of the Territorial period, has had the greatest effect. It is on his authority that the assumption of Territorial uniformity and unanimity in political and economic affairs has most often been made, and the extent to which the single question of provincial status preoccupied regional politicians most often exaggerated. His reverent treatment of F. W. G. Haultain's performance during the last years of Territorial government involves the elevation of the Territorial premier to the status of statesman sans peur et sans reproche while ignoring or denigrating all who opposed him, dismissing them as narrow-minded and foolish men willing to sacrifice the best interests of the Northwest to the petty advantage of section or party. Lingard's view has been reproduced so often by so many with so little variation that it has become the Authorized Version of that period of western history. Within its limits, Lingard's book deserves the pre-eminence it has enjoyed for so many years. It is still the best extensive analysis of the Territories' struggle for provincial status. But that is all it is. Despite itstitle it is not a comprehensive study of the government ofthe North­ West Territories. Historians who have assumed it was, and have applied in broad terms the generalizations and conclusions which HAULTAIN AND THE QUASI-PARTY SYSTEM 3

Lingard worked out of the very specific body of evidence that interested him, are more responsible than he is for entrenching a distorted view of the west's political development. For although the generalizations drawn from Lingard have become a staple in western Canadian politi­ cal history, the Territories were neither uniform nor unanimous, nor were they ever solely preoccupied with their status in confederation. Opposition to the shape and detail of Haultain's administration existed throughout his regime, and grew stronger as time went on. It was his effort, in the face of this undercurrent of dissent, to establish and maintain at least an illusion of Territorial unanimity for the sake of his negotiations with Ottawa> that led him, almost inadvertently, to develop a style of politics that has been much imitated by his successors. The political base of that style was non-partisan organization. Non-partisanship evolved almost naturally out of the conciliar period of Territorial government. Unanimity on major-or minor-issues was no more characteristic of Territorial politics than of any other, but though there was a tendency during the conciliar period to divide on national party lines during some debates, the absence of any signi­ ficantly divisive regional issue discouraged formal division on party lines when the first wholly elected Territorial administration took office in the fall of 1888. The small number of elected members and the overwhelming majority of Conservatives among those elected were additional factors in making party lines seem unnecessary in Territorial affairs, although the evident popularity of their party in both the national and regional elections of 1887-1888 prompted some Tories to resist the trend to non-partisan politics.s There were some attempts to organize popular support for partisanship and some sharp comments on the issue in the press, but despite early signs of strength nothing came of the movement at that time. It lacked consistent leadership and a real reason for being; until it could find both, advo­ cacy of party lines for the Northwest would remain a constant frus­ tration. For the next several years, while this and other issues were worked out, Territorial politics remained unstable. Dissatisfaction with the constitutional status of the Northwest became a cardinal concern during this time. In its early stages it functioned more as a disruptive than a unifying device." Although there was unanimityas to the end to be sought, there was less agreement about the means to be used to gain that end. The questions of who should provide the re­ gionalleadership and what kind of campaign should be planned were at the centre of the disagreement.! The Conservative majority effec­ tively disqualified two of the most obvious candidates for the leader­ ship. Frank Oliver ofEdmonton and James Hamilton Ross of Moose Jaw were both veterans ofthe conciliarperiod. Bothhad proved them- 4 GORDON

selves to be dexterous and determined politicians with a profound commitment to the advancement of the Northwest. Both were well known and widely respected. Both were also Liberals; and though the . bias was never made explicit in an Assembly that aggressively pro­ claimed its non-partisan constitution, their membership in the minor­ ityparty undoubtedly was a major factor in their uncharacteristic and consistent self-effacement. Instead of seeking the leadership them­ selves, they chose to lend their considerable talents to a Conservative­ Haultain-with whose platform they could agree. The question of the proper distribution of power between the Lieutenant-Governor and his Executive brought about the abrupt resignation of the Territories' first elected government in October 1889, within a year of its formation." The political crisis thus created by Haultain misfired, however; instead of forcing the capitulation of the Lieutenant-Governor, it split the Conservative MLAs into two virtually equal and hostile groups. One group, led by R. G. Brett of Red Deer, provided more or less steadfast support for the Lieutenant­ Governor and for what they regarded as the constitutional proprie­ ties; the other, led by Haultain, pressed for the immediate granting of responsible government.t? The Liberal MLAs supported Haultain throughout the crisis, giving him the voting edge he needed to defeat Brett, out-manoeuvre the Lieutenant-Governor.and return to powerin 1891. Thereafter, with the exception of a few months in 1892, when disagreement with his government's education policy provided the disorganized opposition with an issue they could exploit to oust him from office temporily, II Haultain's authority was never seriously challenged. It was a relatively simple task for him to settle his peculiar variant of the non-partisan system securely into place. -- .. - - - - After four years of rancorous political instability it was hardly necessary to demonstrate the need for a strong Territorial Executive, but Haultain left little to chance. Regional resentments at federal government insensitivity to western opinion and unwillingness to accede readily to regional demands had been skilfully exploited by the government leader during his efforts to regain power; now they were to be used to retain it. When Haultain reorganized his Executive Com­ mittee after the 1894 Territorial election, he introduced in primitive form a pattern that was to be refined and repeated in 1897, when he formed his first Executive Council, and in each of his subsequent ad­ ministrations. The salient characteristics of this pattern-the uncritical submission to the leadership of one charismatic personality, the granting to him of a strongand apparently permanent majority in the Assembly, and the deliberate manipulation of regional discontent, focussing it on one or two central issues in which Ottawa was or could be argued to be threatening an important regional right-were among those later to be identified with the, quasi-party system.P The repudiation of partisan organization in Territorial politics HAULTAIN AND THE QUASI-PARTY SYSTEM 5

was made explicit in 1894 with the appointment of the Liberal James Hamilton Ross to the Executive Committee, and confirmed in 1897 when Ross was named to the important post of Commissioner of Public Works in the first Executive Council. Although the adoption of non-partisan principles was virtually inevitable, given Haultain's preferences, the manner of their implementation was highly idiosyn­ cratic, particularly in the maintenance of a disproportionately in­ fluential Liberal representation on the Council after 1897.13 Since Haultain's relations with the national Liberal government after 1896 were not significantly better than with its Conservative predecessor, and since his evident preference for Liberals encouraged suspicion of his nominal Conservative loyalties among influential members of that party, the political benefits ofthis arrangement are difficult to discern. One is left with the suspicion that his persistent exclusion of Con­ servatives from his cabinet was derived largely from motives of per­ sonal ambition. As long as the Conservatives held a clear majority in the Assembly, no Liberal could challenge his leadership; and as long as he could deny them administrative experience and an op­ portunity to prove their competence, neither could any of the Conser­ vative backbenchers. By choosing a deputy who could not succeed him and by denying opportunity to all possible successors, Haultain was able to consolidate the growing impression of his own indispen­ sability and strengthen his firm grip on local political activity. Personal dominance was not enough to establish a stable ad­ ministration, of course, particularly in the early years before the disparate elements ofthe non-partisan movement had learned to work comfortably together. Some degree of discipline was required, as well as a clearly defined cause around which the voters could rally re­ gardless of their national party affiliation or their dissatisfaction with the detail of local administration.. Both requirements were met when Haultain resumed control of the government in 1893. The first meas­ ure, a previously unheard of requirement that any MLA nominated to the cabinet must be in agreement with its policies.t- was a necessary concomitant to the effective operation of responsible government. The fact that the principle was established several years before the granting of responsible government, and that its operation, by inaugurating de facto party discipline, rail at cross-purposes to the principles of non-partisanship only serves to emphasize Haultain's determination to lead a strong Executive. By 1894 he had, in effect, created an in­ choate government party whose central purpose was to wrest re­ sponsible government from Ottawa. During the several years ofstrug­ gle before that concession was finally won, this quasi-party shook itself into shape, sloughing off uncertainties, learning to ignore philosophical contradictions and acquiring a sense ofidentity and self­ confidence that made possible an almost casual transition from representative to responsible government in 1897. 6 GORDON

The transfer of powers from Ottawa to Regina in 1897 virtually completed the quasi-party system. This transfer is traditionally re­ ferred to as "the achievement of responsible government," a somewhat misleading description. The powers of the Lieutenant-Governor were severely cut back, and the Territorial Executive was freed of some of the restrictions formerly imposed on it by the federal cabinet; but the Territorial Executive was not made more responsible to anyone than it had been before 1897. The reverse was true. The Territorial Assembly, now theoretically in control of the Executive and capable of disciplining it, was in fact helpless, emasculated by its lack of control over Territorial revenue, 15 most of which was still derived from the annual federal grant, and by the absence of a viable alternative to Haultain. With virtually all Assemblymen of ability annexed in some measure to the Executive it is not surprising that the opposition, with little effective leadership and almost no popular support, could make little headway in the late 1890s against Haultain's juggernaut. Most members simply were not interested in ensuring that the Assembly enjoyed the full measure of authority assigned it in the normal opera­ tion of responsible government. As long as the Executive continued to allot public money for expenditure in his constituency, the average MLA felt his duty done. Budget debates were usually cursory affairs. Members might periodically go through the motions of asking for a return of expenditures on a particular project, but the matter was rarely pressed farther unless the questing MLA found evidence that a constituency other than his own was receiving more thanits fair share of government money. Provision had been made in 1895for the appoint­ ment of a Territorial auditor,but that official never tabled a formal audit of Territorial accounts, nor was any criticism of this oversight ever voiced.w Responsible government, in fact, came to the North­ West Territories in extremely rudimentary form, distorted by make­ shift borrowings and such adjustments as were thought necessary to accommodate the fumbling efforts of inexperienced Assemblymen and of insufficient numbers of adequately trained civil servants to administer it. Haultain, under the circumstances, naturally preferred Executive efficiency to responsibility, and no one could reasonably have expected him voluntarily to surrender power no one else seemed to want, or to invent machinery to keep his government in check. Inevitably a little corruption slipped in. A certain smugness, an apparent satisfaction with their own superior judgement became evident in the highest levels of the administration. The successful accomplishment of responsible government had eliminated the great cause, the central purpose that had held the group together. For a few years after 1897 there remained only party discipline, however lightly and imperfectly imposed, with no obvious purpose but to maintain the Executive in power. Haultain even missed the signifi­ cance of the first suggestion in the Assembly that the Territories HAULTAIN AND THE QUASI-PARTY SYSTEM 7

should now drive for provincial status, dismissing it as premature and indulging an increasing reluctance to consider seriously any ideas but his own.'? With no new cause to replace the old, the fragility of Territorial unity quickly became apparent. Local interests became assertive. Local jealousies resurfaced as journalists and politicians complained that their districts were not receiving their fair share of government expenditure. When Haultain, his freedom of action limi­ ted by a perennially inadequate budget, did not respond as they had hoped, his government was condemned as indifferent or arrogant, or too much under the influence of special interests in otherdistricts. The ranching community of southern Alberta, for instance, made sensitive by its diminished influence in Ottawa after the Conservative defeat in 1896, watched suspiciously for evidence that he was partial to the farmers of Assiniboia, fearing that the strong Liberal influence in his cabinet and the movement of his permanent residence from Fort Macleod to Regina had taken him out of touch with their special needs. Calgarians, irritated by the government's casual insistence that Regina was a satisfactory capital, supported the discontented ranchers and muttered about the need to cut their district away from the Territorial administration and to raise it to provincial status on its own.If When Haultain finally recognized the political appeal of a drive for autonomy and made it government policy in 1900, the need for a united front reasserted itself and much of the local restiveness sub­ sided. By that time, however, some damage to his authority had already been done. In 1899 an opposition caucus had been formed in the Assembly. Though led by a Liberal, it consisted largely of Conser­ vatives and was dominated by the brash and aggressive young R. B. Bennett, the newly elected MLA for Calgary West. There was never any possibility of its forming a government, but it could make trouble nevertheless, and frequently did so. Attacking the government for its centralist tendencies in Territorial affairs and criticizing some of the details of Haultain's proposals for provincial status, it continually fanned the embers of sectional discontent and weakened the premier's claim to speak for a united people.'? Troublesome as the opposition was, however, Bennett himself was even more so. One of the ablest, most ruthlessly ambitious men ever to sit in the Assembly, he launched vigorous assaults on Haultain's system in the House and on non-partisanship outside it. He objected to the concentration of authority in the hands of one or two people, and to the manner in which that power was being used. He was particularly concerned about the apparently limitless ambition of the Territorial Executive to gather into its own jurisdiction matters which he felt would be better left to the courts or civic and municipal councils, and frequently criticized the growing indifference of the government to expressions of the popular will.20 His attacks on this 8 GORDON centralist tendency were plentiful, forceful, and uniformly unsuccess­ ful. Too blatantly ambitious to win the support of the House and too clever to win its trust, he often found himself fighting alone in defence of principles that all others seemed to have dismissed as irrelevant. Despite his best efforts in the House he was rarely able to shake the complacent self-assurance of a government confidently in control of its supporters. Outside the House it was a different matter. Outside the House he was not attacking the quasi-party system itself but the foundation upon which it" rested: non-partisanship. As a politician he understood Haultain's loyalty to a system that had kept him in power for so many years. He appreciated the strengths of non-partisanship as a regional political movement. But as a Conservative politician with national ambitions he was also acutely aware of its shortcomings. As the fortunes of the non-partisan movement had risen, those of the Con­ servative party had declined. In 1896 the party had lost all but one of the Territorial seats in the Commons, and in 1900 it lost even that. Bennett did not blame non-partisanship for the Conservative collapse, but he saw in it an obstacle to the effective reconstruction of the party in the Territories. As he saw it, if the national Tories were ever to re­ gain the western seats they would have to sharpen their organizational techniques by practising them in Territorial as well as national cam­ paigns.>' When Haultain declined to be persuaded by such arguments, Bennett set out to circumvent him. . It was not easy. At first Bennett, though an accomplished politician, had difficulty generating any widespread support outside his own riding. He persevered, however, working quietly, exploiting partisan ambitions and regional jealousies and playing down his differences with the premier, until at last he began to win the support ofnewspaper editors and influential local politicians. Haultain cooperated by ignoring him, at least in public, even when Bennett began to make some headway in southern Alberta, always the bellwether of Terri­ torial politics. Winning the support of the powerful Calgary Herald'? was a major coup for Bennett, but it was not until he caught the ear of the new national Tory leader, Robert Borden, that he found the ad­ vantage he needed. Borden, working hard to rebuild his shattered party, grasped Bennett's arguments at once and called a Territorial Conservative convention to meet in Moose Jaw in March 1903.23 The convention was a disaster for Haultain and marked the be­ ginning of the end of his regime. After months of intensely hard work Bennett had managed to pack the meeting with delegates who shared his convictions or who, like the publisher of the Herald, agreed to support him even if they did not clearly understand what he was about. When it was over the convention had voted virtually unanimously, .despite Haultain's protests, to fight the next Territorial election on HAULTAIN AND THE QUASI-PARTY SYSTEM 9

partisan lines.>' Although Haultain publicly announced his refusal to be bound by the convention's decision, the effectiveness of his refusal was weakened by his simultaneous acceptance of the post of honorary president of the new Conservative organization. His Liberal supporters, more powerful now as their numbers in the Assembly grew; were startled and disillusioned ~y the premier's equivocation, and as they began to re-evaluate their position in the government the non-partisan basis of Haultain's political machine began to splinter and collapse.v Haultain's embarrassment was increased by the behaviour of his . own national party. Borden, groping for policies on which to cam­ paign in the approaching federal election, seized on the issue of provin­ cial status for the Northwest. Although Haultain would normally have been happy to receive additional support for his demands in Ottawa, Borden's intervention at this point made the question a party issue, which was just what the premier had been trying to avoid. Relations with Ottawa had been deteriorating over the past several years as Haultain had struggled to wring concessions from a government that was proving to be almost as dilatory as its Conservative predecessor. With Borden now repeating many of Haultain's arguments on the floor of the Commons, it was difficult for the latter to maintain con­ vincingly that there was no collusion. As the national Tories moved .closer to Haultain, the Territorial Liberals began to draw back, their growing suspicions of his motives and intentions apparently con­ firmed. Criticism of the premier became more widespread and intense among them, and for the first time a willingness to cut themselves free of him became evident. His every action in the ongoing autonomy negotiations was now scrutinized with critically partisan eyes, and inevitably satisfactory evidence was found that "proved" that he was working for the advantage' of the Tories. Piously outraged by his apparent duplicity, the Liberals reacted first by threatening the with­ drawal of their support in the assembly if Haultain did not adhere strongly to non-partisan lines, and then by secretly preparing their own partisan organization in anticipation of the day when they could move against him without danger to themselves.w Once started, the disintegration of the non-partisan movement progressed rapidly..Everything Haultain did seemed only to make matters worse. Distracted; by the collapse of his secret marriage, battered on all sides by his friends and former allies, beset with ulti­ mata and partisan rancour, preoccupied with the autonomy nego­ tiations he was determined to carry through to their conclusion, and worried about the sincerity of federal assurances, it is not surprising that he began to make errors of judgement. Feeling both Liberal and Conservative support slipping away from him and apparently unable to devise an effective strategy to get it back, he was forced at last to 10 GORDON

make a choice between them. Despite the spreading disillusionment with his leadership in the aftermath of the Moose Jaw' convention, many in the Liberal party were still willing to support him, provided only that he accept the party's policies for the Northwest. As late as January 1905 Prime Minister Laurier was even prepared to see him become premier of one ofthe new provinces." By that time, however, Haultain had become as suspicious of the national Liberals as the western Liberals were of him, and his shift toward the Conservatives had become so marked that he had effectively disqualified himself for that post. The shift had begun, in fact, as early as 1903 when, shortly before the Moose Jaw convention, he had broken his' own pattern by appointing a Conservative to his cabinet to replace a departing Liber­ a1. 28 In 1904, determined to win the best possible terms for the new provinces and convinced that the Liberals could not be trusted to grant them, he campaigned openly for the Conservatives in the nation­ al election.s? In 1905, when the autonomy bills were finally brought down in the House of Commons, he launched a blistering attack on the government's decision to retain control of public lands and its attempt to re-establish a dual school system that had virtually vanished from the Territories; and a few months later, in an unlikely partnership with R. B. Bennett, he fought the whole issue over again while cam­ paigning on behalf of the Conservative candidates in two federal by­ elections in Ontario.w After that, although" he still protested that the welfare ofthe new provinces was his sole concern and that he had been dragged unwillingly into the contests, it was clear that he could no longer claim to "be a non-partisan politician. Territorial Liberals withdrew their support entirely, and in the late summer of 1905 met to establish formally the provincial parties that would be asked, a few months later, to set up the first provincial administrations. The Con­ servatives, having failed to carry through with their convention's decision to organize on party lines, now belatedly and reluctantly gathered themselves to meet the Liberals in the first provincial elections. Lacking conviction, coherence and credibility, they stood" little chance in the contest. Only the extent of their defeat was a surprise." It is tempting to assume that the appearance of parties organized on national lines constitutes in itselfthe establishment of a traditional party system in the new prairie provinces, and that the success ofone of those parties over several campaigns is evidence of the acceptance of the new system by the electorate. To a limited extent such assump­ tions are valid. The ready movement of men and policies from one level to another "and the use of patronage on both levels for their mutual benefit was more marked during the Liberal regime than during periods when the provinces were governed by purely local HAULTAIN AND THE QUASI-PARTY SYSTEM 11 parties. But too much should not be made of mere labels. Voting pat­ terns are also important. Both parties on the prairies benefited from their connections with their national counterparts, but the results of the first several provincial elections suggest that, as far as the voters were concerned, the quasi-party system initiated by Haultain stillex­ erted a strong attraction. Governments were given the same crushing majorities; opposition parties, reduced to a token presence in the Assemblies, were rarely if ever taken seriously as alternatives to the incumbent administrations; and the cabinets quickly slipped into the old habit of taking a rather casual attitude toward the idea of Execu­ tive responsibility to the Assembly.V The achievement of provincial status had meant the multiplication of political and civil service posts available to westerners, but it did not mean that the persons holding the posts had a more sophisticated understanding of the proper opera­ tion of responsible government than had their Territorial predecessors. Constitutional status changed, but administrative function remained the same. -The quasi-party system remained intact. Thus the quasi-party system had its roots much earlier in western Canada's history than has usually been suggested, and the post-1905 Liberal administrations, far from breaking clearly with that tradition, actually shared many of its characteristics. But how do we explain the survival of this peculiar political preference and Alberta's tendency to an extreme version of it? On the whole the most familiar explanation, developed largely from an examination of postwar political patterns, remains the most attractive. The combination of a strong sense of local grievance with a fearful awareness of regional weakness has certainly exerted a potent influence on the shaping of political attitudes throughout most of western Canada's history. Whether pushing for re­ sponsible government, provincial autonomy, or any of the other political and economic nostrums favoured by the people of Alberta and Saskatchewan over the past ninety years or so, the need to con­ centrate their meagre strength has often been a paramount considera­ tion and at times has become an obsession. But to leave it at that would suggest that western Canadians generally, and Albertans in particular, have spent all their lives at the barricades, and that demonstrably is not true. Alberta's sense of dif­ ference from the rest of the west has always been strongly and proudly cherished, but even though it has at times been blatantlyexploited and distorted by politicians for their own ends, their periodic indulgence in extremist rhetoric has rarely found expression in extremist action. Albertans, whatever their political eccentricities, have never been separatists. They have, rather, been individualists for whom the best government was the least government, who have seen the role of their elected representatives as being primarily to engineer the bestpossible circumstances in which Albertans could pursue their own economic 12 GORDON interests with the minimum of interference in their daily lives. Having set out their demands, they have sought out the political organizations that have shown the most promise of being able to deliver the kind of government wanted. When they have been unable to find a wholly satisfactory system among those already in existence, Albertans have not hesitated to create one and to support it loyally, regardless of its eccentricities, as long as it fulfilled a need. In this simplified set of criteria, sophisticated political or economic analysis has been largely irrelevant, and the importance of political debate limited to periods when a replacement was sought for a worn-out administration. Effi­ ciency and productivity have been the principal criteria by which Alberta governments have been judged; as long as government pro­ vided both, the presence of an opposition, formal or informal, strong or weak, was as irrelevant in the Legislature as it was in a boardroom, ranch house or home. - Obviously this is not the kind of government that would normally be favoured by farmers who, with their large numbers, small land­ holdings and generally marginal economic circumstances, tend to prefer more thorough-going democratic and quickly responsive administrations. In its extreme form, the quasi-party system was not concerned with democracy, or with the provision of government assis­ tance to marginally profitable operations. With its roots in the Terri­ torial period, when most western Canadians still paid more than lip service to the robust individualism characteristic of the Victorian era, the attractions of the quasi-party system were always more evident to southern Albertans with their large-scale entrepreneurial economy than to small-holders elsewhere in the Northwest, and their loyalty to it was to prove more durable. The system's early ability to function effectively on a wider plane depended upon the popularity of its leader, its ability to define and exploit large, over-riding, unifying issues, and particularly on the lack of any considerable degree of political and economic self-consciousness on the part of the small­ holding farmer population as a whole. As that self-consciousness developed to the point where specifically farmers' organizations began to appear, and as the farmer-oriented policies of the Liberal party began to attract support, the Haultain system began to retreat. By 1905 it was essentially limited to the new province of Alberta. There, with a booming provincial economy to'sustain it, it flourished for another eight years, until a political scandal and the collapse of the boom ushered in a brief period of uncertainty and a tentative experimenta­ tion with the traditional two-party system." The experiment lasted for eight years, from 1913 to 1921; then, abruptly and decisively, the quasi-party system returned. It can be argued that its restoration was to a large extent fortuitous. Had the victory of the United Farmers of Alberta been less complete, or had HAULTAIN AND THE QUASI-PARTY SYSTEM 13 the Alberta farmer and his agricultural organization been restricted, as in other provinces, to the role of lobbyists in the Legislature, it is unlikely that he would have been attracted to a political system that promised such limited responsiveness to democratic influences even at a time when the pressures of unresolved grievances were unusually strong. But after 1921 the relationship of the Alberta farmer to his government was uniquely proprietary, and his perception of what was or was not desirable changed. With a powerful UFA majority in the Legislature, his farmers' organization became virtually an extra­ governmental caucus. After years of suffering the economic effects of the political influence of central Canadian interests, the attractiveness of a system of government that reduced the effectiveness of pressure groups other than his own quickly became evident. As long as his participation in the annual meetings of the United Farmers organiza­ tion guaranteed some degree of responsiveness on the part of the administration, his thirst for democratic control was satisfied; the relative uselessness of his provincial franchise, except as a means of renewing the government's mandate, was unimportant to him. When the quasi-party system was working for him rather than against him, the Alberta farmer, like the rancher before him, found it a desirable alternative to a system he saw, with some justice, as having been too vulnerable to pressures from interests inimical to his own. As long as the quasi-party system continued to work for him, it continued to receive his support. The system survived the transfer of power to Social Credit in 1935. Indeed, it was during the next decade, while Premier Aberhart wrestled with the problem of trying to implement his party's pro­ gramme, that the system first gained notoriety and definition as a peculiarly Albertan phenomenon. Once again, as in the case of the UFA, there is no evidence that the Social Credit party came to power intending to preserve the Haultain system, or indeed to function as anything other than a normal provincial government. But the jeering criticism that poured in upon the new government intensified both the traditional sense of regional vulnerability and the stubborn deter­ mination of Albertans to govern themselves as they saw fit-a deter­ mination that had first brought forth the system forty years earlier. Albertans under fire drew together, setting a united face against the rest of the world regardless of their internal differences. Adherence to the quasi-party system at this time was, as it had been before and would be again, a defensive mechanism, a means by which all of the limited authority at Alberta's command could be concentrated against an attack from without. As the threat diminished, the system relaxed. But it did not wholly disappear. Alberta's governments have, over the years, developed a suspicious nature, and are at times inclined to indulge a tendency to see threats where none exist, or to exaggerate those that do. The quasi-party system, however benign and unobtru- 14 GORDON sive it might become in good times, has consequently always been kept within reach. It is the principal weapon in the province's arsenal against real or imagined threats to its survival as a self-governing province defending, defiantly if somewhat forlornly, what its leaders have often claimed to be one of the last bastions of free enterprise in the modern world.

NOTES C. B. Macpherson, Democracy in Alberta, (Toronto, 1953). See, for instance: Paul Sharp, Agrarian Revolt in Western Canada, (Minneapolis, 1948); W. L. Morton, The Progressive Party in Canada, (Toronto, 1950) and his articles "The Western Progressive Movement 1919-1921" (1946), "Clio in Canada: The Interpretation of Canadian History" (1946), "The Social Philosophy of Henry Wise Wood" (1948) and "The Bias of Prairie Politics" (1955) reprinted in A. B. McKillop, ed. Contexts ofCanada's Past, (Toronto 1980), and "Direct Legislation and the Origins of the Progressive Movement" in the Canadian Historical Association Annual Report 1946; L. G. Thomas, The Liberal Party in Alberta, (Toronto, 1959); L. A. Wood, A History ofFarmers Movements in Canada, (Toronto, 1924); and W. K. Rolph, Henrv Wise Wood ofAlberta, (Toronto, 1950). . 3 See, for instance, the work of Macpherson, Morton and Thomas cited above, and David E. Smith, Prairie Liberalism, (Toronto, 1975). 4 L. H. Thomas, The Struggle for Responsible Government in the North-West Territories 1870-1897, (Toronto, 1956);Cecil C. Lingard, Territorial Governmentin Canada, (Toronto, 1946). 5 C. C. Lingard, Ope cit., and D. R. Owram, ed. The Formation ofAlberta: A Documentary History, (Calgary, 1979) provide the best accounts of these negotiations.· - 6 Edmonton Bulletin, Nov. 17, 1888; G. H. W. Richardson, "The Conservative Party in the Provisional District of Alberta 1887-1905" (Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Alberta, 1977) pp. 61-70, 79. . 7 L. H. Thomas, Ope cit. pp. 161-201. 8 Ibid. p. 176, 180. 9 Ibid. p. 180. 10 Ibid. pp. 188-201. II Ibid. pp. 216-25. 12 C. B. Macpherson, Ope cit. pp. 237-50. 13 Haultain's several ministries are most conveniently listed in the Directory ofthe Council and Legislative Assembly ofthe North-West Territories 1876-1905 (Regina and Saskatoon, 1970), though in deference to the prevailing notion that Territorial politics were non­ partisan, their national political affiliations are not noted. These can readily be discovered by examining the local newspapers, particularly during national election campaigns. The effects of the intrusion of national party lines into Territorial affairs have been examined more extensively in Stanley Gordon, 'lOR. B. Bennett, MLA, 1897-1905: The years of Apprenticeship" (Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Calgary, 1975) and in G. H. W. Richardson, Ope cit. 14 L. H. Thomas, Ope cit. pp. 213-16. 15 C. E. S. Franks, "The Legislature and Responsible Government" in N. Ward and D. Spafford, eds. Politics in Saskatchewan (Don Mills, 1968) pp. 22-28. 16 L. H. Thomas, Ope cit. p. 249; C. E. S. Franks, Ope cit. pp. 24-26. 17 D. R. Owram, Ope cit. pp. 83-107. 18 Ibid.; Stanley Gordon, Ope cit. pp. 6-18. 19 D. R. Owram, Ope cit. pp. 121-31, 188. 20 See, for example, reports of the Legislative Debates reprinted in the Calgary Herald, May 31, June I, 2, 1899; and May 13, 1901. 21 This pressure to rebuild the Conservative party in the Territories became even more intense when the results of the 1902 Territorial election showed a slight majority of identifiable Liberals elected to the assembly. Calgary Herald, May 23, 1902; Calgary Albertan, May 28, 1902; Indian Head Vidette, copied in the Calgary Albertan, May 28, 1902. 22 Calgary Herald, Nov. 22, 1902; Jan. 26, 28, 30, Feb. 23, 26, March 5, 1903. 23 S. Gordon, Ope cit. pp. 100-112; G. H. W. Richardson, Ope cit. pp. 146-54 offers a somewhat different, more traditional interpretation. 24 Canadian Annual Review 1903 (Toronto 1904) pp. 196-97; C. C. Lingard, Ope cit. p. 118; Calgary Herald, March 30, 1903. 25 D. H. Bocking, "Walter Scott: His Rise to Political Power" (Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 1959) pp. 59-66. 26 Ibid.; D. H. Bocking, "Political Ambitions and TerritorialAffairs, 1900-1905" Saskatchewan History 1965, pp. 7~71; David. E. Smith, Prairie Liberalism p. 6. HAULTAIN AND THE QUASI-PARTY SYSTEM 15

27 D. R. Owram, Ope cit. p. 366. 28 William Elliott, MLA for Wolseley, was named Commissioner of Agriculture on February 4, 1903. Elliott was one of the four Conservative MLAs at the Moose Jaw convention to support Haultain's defence of non-partisanship. See C. C. Lingard, Ope cit. p. 118. 29 C. C. Lingard, Ope cit. pp. 108-11; Canadian Annual Review 1904(Toronto, 1905)pp. 202-4. 30 D. R. Owram, Ope cit. pp. 292-94; 335-40; C. C. Lingard, Ope cit. pp. 234, 248-50. 31 S. Gordon, Ope cit. pp. 162-76; D. E. Smith Ope cit. pp. 16-24. 32 C. E. S. Franks, Ope cit. pp. 28-29. . 33 In 1913the Conservative party won 18 of 56 seats with 45.1% of the popularvote, and in 1917 won 19 of 56 with 41.8% of the vote. The Liberals in the same elections won 38 and 34 seats with 48.9% and 48.1% of the vote respectively. In 1921the era of multiple party membership in the Alberta legislature began. Although occasionally the total number of opposition MLAs reached respectable proportions compared with the government majority, at no time was any party ever within reasonable distance of the government party in terms either of the popular vote or seats won until 1971 when the Social Credit party, with 25 of75 seats and 41.1% of the popular vote, though defeated, seemed jn a strong position for recovery. The period between 1913and 1921 may therefore be seen as an uncharacteristic period in Alberta politics, during which Albertans, faced with Dafoe's choice between "the scarcely tolerable" and "the absolutely unbearable," hesitated in their choice and endured for a time an unusual form of government that resembled a weak, two-party system. (Statistics drawn from Thomas E. Flanagan, "Statistical Synopsis of Alberta Provincial Elections" in Carlo Caldarola, ed. Society and Politics in Alberta, (Agincourt, 1979) pp. 372-74.

PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, No.1 17 The WCTU on the Prairies, 1886-1930: An Alberta-Saskatchewan Comparison Nancy M. Sheehan Department of Educational Policy and Administrative Studies University of Calgary

ABSTRACT. This article examines the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in AI"- / berta and Saskatchewan during the years 1886-1930. Despite a common beginning under the' Territorial banner and the guidance of an international WCTU organization, the Unions in the two provinces eventually emerged as distinctly different entities. The WCTU in Saskatchewan stressed charitable and benevolent activities, while its Alberta counterpart became involved in reform activities in fields such as prohibition. female suffrage. and temperance education. Rea­ sons for these differences lie in factors such as local leadership, political differences, and con­ trasts in economy and settlement characteristics.

RESUME Cet article examine Ie "Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)" en Alberta et en Saskatchewan durant les annees 1886-1930. En depit d'un debut commun sous la banniere territ­ oriale et la gouverne d'une organisation internationale, les unions des deux provinces se sont eventuellement manifestees comme deux entites distinctes. Le WCTU de Saskatchewan s'est oriente vers des activites benevoles et de charite, par opposition avec son corrolaire Albertain qui s'est plutot consacre ades sujets tels la prohibition, Ievote des femmes, la temperance ... Les rai­ sons soutenantces ditferences se situent au niveau du leadership local, des differences politiques et des contrastes dans l'economie et aussi au niveau des caracteristiques de la colonisation. This article examines the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Alberta and Saskatchewan during the period 1886-1930. Although this organization originated under a Territorial banner, and in 1905 became the Alberta-Saskatchewan WCTU, it soon separated into distinct Alberta and Saskatchewan Unions. WCTU developments in the two provinces show considerable differences, a study of which forms the central focus of this article.

THE TERRITORIAL AND ALBERTA-SASKATCHEWAN WCTU (1886-1930)

The WCTU spread into Western Canada early, pushed by the de­ sire to have a truly national organization of women fighting the liquor traffic, and by the realization that the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) had rapidly opened the frontier to settlers, promoters and labourers. According to the temperance women, vice and intemper­ ance would prosper in the railway and lumber camps and from there infiltrate the small, inauspicious settlements. Here was territory that some saw as being ripe for the activities of the WCTU. In 1886 Mrs. Letitia Youmans, theDominion WCTU president, visited Morley, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Regina and Qu'Appelle. She appointed Mrs. A. A. Andrews of Qu'Appelle, wife of the Methodist minister and an active temperance worker, as superintendent of WCTU work in the North-West Territories, with the duty of organiz- 18 SHEEHAN

ing new unions and encouraging the existing ones to promote temper­ ance work. 1 Mrs. Andrews visited the towns on the CPR as far west as Calgary in 1887 and organized unions at Qu'Appelle, Wolseley and Broadview. In the next ten years unions were begun at Moose Jaw, Edmonton, Prince Albert, Moosomin, Maple Creek, Macleod, Leth­ bridge, Red Deer and Innisfail.? The superintendent tried to visit all the unions at least once a year, but distances were so greatand communic­ cation facilities so meagre that it was very difficult to maintain perma­ nent organization. Furthermore, the constantly changing population meant that WCTU leaders and workers were constantly on the move. Intermittent and permanently lapsed unions we're often the result." A number offactors made WCTU work in the Northwest discour­ aging. First, the WCTU came into the West at a very early stage ofset­ tlement and political development.' WCTU development thus natural­ ly took a back seat to more pressing political and economic matters. Concern for social and moral issues usually displayed itself in requests for schools and churches; charitable activities, specialized reform groups, and social welfare agencies were the hallmark ofmore mature societies. Second, immigration to the Prairies was relatively slow until after 1900; problems of intemperance, while frequent enough, were thus confined to comparatively small total numbers of people in the early days. A third factor in the slow growth ofthe WCTU in the 1880s and 1890s was the Territorial Prohibition legisiation of 1870 which was in effect until 1892. Although abuses were common, the law did pre­ vent open drinking; beer halls and saloons were prohibited; and the drinkingthat did take place was done more covertly.> A fourth point was the background ofthe early immigrants, most ofwhom were Anglo­ Saxons from Ontario and the other eastern provinces, often evangel­ ical in their beliefs. Their "middle class" respectability, the sparse rural settlement, and the slow urbanization process meant that they tended to view intemperance as a personal rather than a social problem. Mem­ bers of other ethnic groups were few in number. Thus a driving force of the WCTU elsewhere.s the perceived "need" to teach "aliens" good cit­ izenship, thrift, industry, and sobriety, was largely lacking on the prairies at this stage.. By the turn of the century, however, the conditions which had worked against a successful temperance movement had begun to change." In 1892 a Liquor License Ordinance had been put into effect for the Territories, replacing the old Prohibition Law of 1870. It grant­ ed licenses to hotels for on-premises drinking and off-premises sale, and to wholesale establishments. A local-option clause was included in the ordinance, and the number of licenses was restricted by the size of the population." This legislative change meant that drinking in public was legal and, instead of bearing a hush-hush aura, now had a ring of respectability. Two consequences should be noted: first, intemperance WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES 19

became more obvious as hotels and bars proliferated; and second, tem­ perance forces no longer had the symbolic status of a prohibition law on their side. About 1900 immigration began to increase markedly, particularly of non-Anglo-Saxon settlers.? Immigration, besides increasing the for­ eign element in the territories, swelled the general population so that towns began to enlarge. The availability of liquor, the hotel bar and saloon, the foreign population all coming together in towns and cities gave the temperance forces reasons for an increase in activity. It was generally felt among evangelical, middle-class, Protestant, Anglo­ Saxon settlers that they alone were abstainers. In 1903 Mrs. S. J. Craig, a strong WCTU worker from Quebec, moved to Olds, Alberta and was immediately appointed Supervisor of the WCTU in the North West Territories by the Dominion convention at Ottawa. Mrs. Craig, an energetic social reformer, was often referred to as a "veritable female David." She provided inspiration, revitaliz­ ation and organization to the local unions, which were small, languish­ ing and discouraged; they believed that "the liquor traffic wasbecom­ ing a power of evil in their midst.t"? She immediately opened corres­ pondence with all the unions and began agitating for a territorial organization and preparing for an organizational, fact-finding and in­ spirational tour. After all this correspondence and the travel tour, there were in 1904 twenty unions, with 308 members, holding 147busi­ ness meetings and 36 public ones, taking 51 copies of "Canadian White Ribbon Tidings," and operating sixteen departments of work.'! The Territories quickly became a vital temperance bastion just as immigra­ tion produced a virtual tide of newcomers, with various languages, cul­ tures and values. With Mrs. Craigat the helm, the WCTU in the North­ West Territories was ready and willing to withstand an assault on the dominant Anglo-Saxon views of propriety, morality, and temperance. From 1903 through the 1920s the WCTU organization on the Prairie did not look back; the membership increased each year, the number of local unions grew, and departments of work were added as interests broadened. The WCTU became involved in areas that were not prohibitionist in the strict sense, for example in lobbying for the Direct Legislation Act, whichallowed the people to decide an issue by referendum, and the Suffrage movement, which would extend the franchise to women. Both of these were political involvements, which in the end would aid the prohibitionists' cause. As L. G. Thomas put it, "there was a substantial coincidence between those interested in moral causes such as prohibition and political innovations such as direct leg­ islationand women suffrage, and those who gave a sympathetic ear to criticisms of the traditional parties for their failure to take bold action in the cause of progress."12 20 SHEEHAN

W. L. Morton believed the general reform movement of the early twentieth century in Canada to be a demand for positive state action on such matters as the prohibition of the sale of alcoholic liquor, the pro­ motion of social welfare and the cleansing of political life.13 The move­ ment was most active in the West, and achieved success there earlier, according to John H. Thompson, because of problems of immigration, rapid urban growth, and an expanding wheat economy. 14 The western WCTU, after 1903, was a part of this, participating in the demand for state action and contributingto the weakening of political partisanship and support for the traditional political parties. It issurely no mere co­ incidence that the West which legislated prohibition and female suf­ frage before the rest of the country would also opt for non-traditional political parties like the Social Credit and the Cooperative Common­ wealth Federation (CCF). Although the WCTU does not seem to have played a direct role in the political arena, it did help effect political change, through supporting legislation such as the Direct Legislation Act, by backing certain candidates for office, by having some of its members become candidates in provincial elections and by generally joining the chorus of reform and protest evident after 1900. A year after her arrival in the West, Mrs. Craig called a con­ vention of Territorial WCTU s in Calgary's First Baptist Church for October 1904.15 Of the twenty-one unions organized by this time (fourteen in the Alberta district and seven in Saskatchewan) fourteen sent representatives. Most of these were Albertan unions, a reflection of the long distances and the greater costs of travelling from Saskat­ chewan points. However, Saskatchewan unions were represented, with delegates from Regina and Grenfell. The convention agreed that a Territorial organization was needed, with an elected executive, sup­ ported by formal resolutions and a plan of work. With experienced WCTU members from Ontario, Quebec,and the United States in attend­ ance, an ambitious Plan of Work was adopted, reflecting the exper­ ience of the older provincial and national unions. Fifteen departments of work were established, each headed by a superintendent, again a reflection of the organizational dimension of the older WCTU parent unions. 16 This reflected the immaturity and small numbers of the NWT group, for the United States' unions listed as many as forty-five depart­ ments of work and in Canada the Dominion WCTU operated twenty­ six departments in 1891. 17 Presumably this also indicated that local WCTUs did not follow the older unions indiscriminately, but adapted the national/international program at the grass roots level to local cir­ cumstances and individual need and ability. The organizational structure of the NWT WCTU, established in 1904,guided the union through 1912. Although the number of depart­ ments of work increased as the union grew, and a change of name occurred in 1905, with the formation of the two new provinces, the WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES 21

"Alberta-Saskatchewan" WCTU continued in existence with the orig­ inal framework unchanged. Then in 1912,with ninety-five unions and 1,542active members the decision was made to form separate provin- cial unions. The growth of unions and their membership, and the vast distances involved suggested that a divison would be profitable; although the annual meeting places alternated between Alberta and Saskatchewan, the majority of delegates usually had come from the province in which the meeting was held." This division into two distinct organizations tended to highlight differences of interest between the WCTUs of the two provinces, differences which perhaps had been pre­ sent from the beginning but had been obscured by the umbrella-type organization. Once the separation occurred it became evident that the interests of the Alberta union' were in legislative and educational change, while the members in Saskatchewan concentrated on charit­ able and informal youth work.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SASKATCHEWAN AND ALBERTA WCTUs

The Franchise The extension of the franchise to women was a major issue in the early twentieth century. Wendy Mitchinson recently suggested that the unsettled newness ofthe prairies, the high rate of alcohol consumption and the preponderance of foot-loose males encouraged the women of the North-West Territories WCTU to support franchise work in order to establish a more stable environment in which to raise their families.19 WCTU interest in this question, however, appears to have been much greater in Alberta than in Saskatchewan. A Department of Equal Franchise and Christian Citizenship was established at the first con­ vention in 1904 and put in the hands of Mrs. Henrietta Muir Edwards of Macleod, Alberta who, in 1905, became Dominion Superintendent of the same department.v The activity in Alberta started slowly with interest in woman's dower rights, but blossomed into the extension to women of first mun­ icipal suffrage and finally full suffrage rights. Mrs. Edwards, who was ali expert on laws relating to women and children, was concerned that since 1887 no dower rights for married women had existed in the Ter­ ritories. They had been summarily removed in that year with no com­ pensation. Under the leadership of Mrs. Edwards, a petition concern­ ing women's dower rights, signed by nearly seven hundred prominent citizens,was presented to Alberta's first parliament. Although it was favourably received, no action was taken.s' While the dower act was in the hands of the government, Mrs. Edwards moved on to requests for municipal franchise. She drew up and circulated a petition asking for municipal franchise for married women owning property. Again no 22 SHEEHAN

action was forthcoming. These initiatives by the WCTU, however, did begin to attract attention, and slowly Local Councils of Women and then the United Farmers of Alberta got into the act. In 1914 the first petition for woman suffrage was presented to the Alberta legislature. In an address in 1929 Louise McKinney recalled that responsibility for signatures on the petition was divided three ways: "local council of women assumed responsibility for the cities, the WCTU for the towns, and the UFA for the rural portion of the Province...."22 The WCTU claimed responsibility for seven thousand of the twelve thousand sig­ natures. Premier Sifton had two 'objections to the petition: that it would be expensive to enlarge the electorate; and that the women in the rural areas were not asking to vote. He also told the delegation that"no contentious question would be introduced during the war...." The re­ action among WCTU members was that "the woman's vote and total prohibition ... will be recorded as two of the results of the European war."23 Thanks to the fledgling United Farm Women of Alberta and the continued support of the United Farmers of Alberta for their women the government was convinced and full suffrage for women took effect on July 1, 1916.24The WCTU did not rest on its laurels. More than ever the Alberta WCTU was convinced that it had the duty to prepare women for intelligent citizenship. A course of study in civics to be organized by the Franchise Department was suggested to interest all women-"the cultured and illiterate, the women of leisure and the wage earner, ...the English-speaking women and the foreign-born."25

The same long-term activity in the area of women's rights does not appear to be part of Saskatchewan's history, nordid the Saskatchewan WCTU take the lead in the franchise campaign. In 1909 one petition for the municipal franchise for married women, signed by "F. N. Darke arid others" was recorded.w Since Mrs. Darke was the president of a Regina union one can assume this petition followed Mrs. Edwards' plea to all unions to circulate her petition. The first interest in votes for women in Saskatchewan came late in 1913 and rather than the WCTU taking the lead, this campaign was led by the Women's Section of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association and by Homemakers' Clubs.i? Although the resolutions passed at the First Annual Conven­ tion of the Saskatchewan WCTU in 1913 included one which vowedto work for a woman's share of her husband's property, nothing came of it. Then late in 1914, Violet McNaughton of the Women's Section of theSGGA attended the WCTU convention to urge the women to send delegates to a Provincial Suffrage Board which would press the gov­ ernment for the franchise." Although the Saskatchewan WCTU nom­ inated delegates to the Provincial Suffrage Board, and many "urban" petitions and interest in suffrage came through WCTU members, it was not the leader in the campaign. Christine MacDonald argues that the suffrage movement in Saskatchewan was one of farm and small- WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES 23

town women and that in the 1913 petition to the legislature organized by the SGGA "the work was done almost entirely by farm women and the majority of names were those of farm women."29 Finally, in the spring of 1916 the women of Saskatchewan received a favourable de­ cision from the provincial government and the franchisefor women was obtained. Following this success the WCTU Franchise Depart­ ment indicated that it would continue to work through the Provincial Franchise Board.w Regardless of the kind of role the WCTU played in either province, its purpose in promoting the franchise for women was to achieve prohibition." Prohibition The efforts to secure prohibiton by an Act of the legislature fol­ lowed the same pattern in Alberta and Saskatchewan as did the cam­ paign to win thefranchise. In her presidential address at the 1905 con­ vention, Mrs. S. J. Craigimplored: "Let us keep before us the standard of Total Abstinence for the individual and Prohibition for the nation, beginning the training in the home.... No compromise with the traffic is our battle cry."32 In 1913 the WCTU became the first organization in Alberta to announce a prohibition campaign: "Recommended that the local unions of Alberta join in a campaign to bring about Provincial Prohibition in the near future. This campaignis to consist principally in educating the public along the lines of prohibition and in raising funds necessary to supply literature for this purpose to be distributed free in all parts of the province."33 In the meantime, the Temperance andMoral Reform League ofAlberta, formed in 1907 as a centralized organization representing Protestant Churches and other interested associations, held mass rallies, drummed up support, and kept interest in prohibition high. The success of the Temperance and Moral Reform League was probably due to its organization and the manner in which individual groups, like the WCTU, could work with the League and still continue as independent agencies. Although the league claim­ ed responsibility for the Direct Legislation Act of 1913,Robert MacLean in his thesis on prohibition in Alberta credits Mrs. Craig and the WCTU with turning around the fortunes of prohibitionists in Alberta, with launching the "grass roots" drive for a Direct Legislation Act, and with being the backbone of the temperance and prohibition movement." In effect the WCTU was the one organization that appeared central to the growth of prohibition reform in Alberta. It initiated the movement, was involved at all stages, co-operated with other groups and did much of the routine work necessary to the cam­ paign. Although the WCTU members were not in chief executive posi­ tions in either the earlier Alberta Prohibition Committee or the larger League they were the catalyst that supplied the spark and kept the campaign heated. Shortly after the WCTU resolution on Provincial Prohibition in 1913, the League also adopted the policy and the cam- 24 SHEEHAN paign was under way. Presented with a petition asking for a referen­ dum under the Direct Legislation Act the government authorized the vote for July 21, 1915..A plurality of 58,295 votes in favour ofProhibi­ tion resulted in "dry" legislation effective July 1, 1916.35 The input of the WCTU in Saskatchewan to the milder "Banish the Bar" movement was nowhere near as crucial to its positive out­ co~e. A perusal of the WCTU convention reports and of the minutes of Saskatchewan locals shows few references dealing with legislative matters before 1913-1914.The majority of unions which sent in activity reports were doing benevolent and educational work. They were not engaged in "aggressive" temperance activity, such as petitioning, lob­ bying, and holding mass temperance rallies. Resolutions for the years leading up to Prohibition showed a stress on moral suasion, benevo­ lence and youth work. The more radical resolutions were found in Alberta minutes. The Presidents' Reports, included in the minutes of the Saskatchewan yearly conventions, do not mention legislative changes." Probably the difference between Alberta and Saskatchewan in this matter was at the provincial level. The Saskatchewan provincial executive did not push for legislative change, nor actively seek out other groups for support. This.lack of leadership would necessarily in­ fluence activity at the local level.

Temperance Education ------_. --- The third major area of WCTU concentration in Alberta was in the realm of education, particularly public school education. Through Departments of Scientific Temperance Instruction (STI), the WCTU members worldwide hoped to reach all children with their temperance message. They believed that proper education given at an early age could offset a bad influence, change the wayward parents and teach the youngsters to avoid short-term pleasures of drink for better, longer­ term prospects ofa decent, honourable life. Various methods of getting STI courses into the schools were attempted in Alberta. The Superin­ tendent of STI began in 1905 by petitioning for a curriculum change in the schools, then had personal interviews with the Premier and educa­ tion officials who in 1910 promised to introduce the texts "shortly.'?" In the meantime, the WCTU also enlisted other groups to help in this campaign; the University of Alberta, the Alberta Council of Educa­ tion, the Temperance and Moral Reform League of Alberta and the United Farm Women of Alberta were among the agencies asked for support. The women also spoke at teachers' association conventions and appeared before curriculum review committees.v Besides involve­ ment in curriculum change the STI department introduced essaycontestsin 1915, approached teachers and school boards at the local level, distri­ buted STI literature, and donated books on the subjects of alcohol and WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES 25 tobacco to local schools libraries. This local activity was particularly strong in the post-war years. The Saskatchewan interest in STI developed very late. Except for a few local efforts, such as that of the Regina Central Union in persuad­ ing the School Board in 1904 to allow temperance to be taught in the schools after four o'clock.t? the only early efforts at STI were those of Mrs. McKinney, the STI superintendent for the Alberta-Saskatchewan WCTU who later became its president. After the 1912 separation, STI seems to have taken a back seat in Saskatchewan. For example, the Regina West End Union kept appointing a superintendent for STI but no reports were ever made.w The closing sentence of the History of Saskatchewan WCTU, 1912-1962 said that"ourbest efforts have been educational work with ouryoungpeople." But public school education was not mentioned in the account until 1922.41In 1924 the Northside Regina Union, in reporting on STI, indicated that "this is a new depart­ ment for Northside Union."42 Essay contests did not begin until 1922. In general, temperance activity in the schools only became noticeable in the last half of the twenties. Charitable Activities If the Saskatchewan Union was not very active in STI work (or indeed in legislative or suffrage issues), where did they concentrate their efforts? The Flower, Fruit and Delicacy (FFD) Department, the Loyal Temperance Legion (LTL), and social work generally seemed to ben­ efit from the ladies' efforts. FFD was the largest departmental report, most locals indicating work ill.this field. With the motto "bear ye one another's burdens" it was considered a necessary department of every live Union, and the "peculiar bond which connects it with the outside world, and brings it in contact with rich and poor, with the ignorant and the learned, makes it of special importance."43 Saskatchewan FFDs reported that they gave special emphasis to the tubercularwards in the hospitals and performed "great heroism and service" during the influenza epidemic of 1918. The Superintendentindicated that this was the "best and most universally worked department of all the depart­ ments as every union has a superintendent for this department who does valiant service."44 Alberta also was involved in FFD and in 1922 reported a total of"526 bouquets, 22 potted plants, 14 bales of clothing in addition to quantities of fruit, vegetables, eggs, pickles, etc."45 The difference between Saskatchewan and Alberta is the number ofunions involved (less than half in Alberta, all of those in Saskatchewan) and the encouragement given by the provincial executives toward this work. It was much less' enthusiastic in Alberta. The Loyal Temperance Legion was the youth department which took children about the age of seven, and through meetings, games, activities of various kinds, introduced them to temperance principles 26 SHEEHAN and practices. This work received much energy in Saskatchewan and LTL locals were plentiful. Alberta stressed instead the STI department, perhaps to the detriment of LTL work. The national banner for LTL work was won by the Alberta-Saskatchewan Union in 1912. However, figures for the separated groups showed that the bulk of LTL activity took place in the Saskatchewan region. The LTL report in the minutes of the Saskatchewan conventions was the longest, most detailed report of any department, and constantly mentioned what a thriving area the LTL was. This, of course, was educational work, but of an informal nature. The LTL appealed to the children directly rather than through the public school." The Saskatchewan WCTU ran a Social Service Department whose counterpart was not found in the Alberta Union. Generally, the Social Service Department collected information and suggested ways of deal­ ing with problems of child welfare, the mentally defective, disease and the fight for morals." The Bethany Hospital in Saskatoon was a prime example of Social Service work. In this hospital unwed mothers, poor women and police cases could be looked after away from the prying eyes of a public hospital. This venture took almost all of the efforts of the Saskatoon local and they called on other unions in Saskatchewan for financial help." As a member of the Social Services Council in Sas­ katchewan, the WCTU gave interested and active support to the Council in its pursuit of general human welfare policies.

REASONS FOR THE DIFFERENCES

The Alberta and Saskatchewan WCTUs had a different emphasis both before and after the separation of 1912. One reason for this might be found in the leadership. The two presidents of the Alberta-Saskat­ chewan WCTU both came from Alberta. The first, Mrs. Craig, was from Olds and the second, Mrs. McKinney, who continued as the only president of the Alberta Union through 1930, lived in Claresholm. Both of these women were dynamic leaders and their influence on the Alberta organizationaffected its philosophy. Mrs. Craig began the agi­ tation for the Direct Legislation Act in 1905, thus introducing the Al­ berta Union to more direct and radical procedures. Mrs. McKinney, with a knowledge of successful Scientific Temperance legislation in the public school systems of most states in the U.S., began working to in­ fluence the public school in the Northwest. Her closeness to Alberta schools and to her own Alberta MLA would inevitably mean more effort put into STI in her own province. Even after she became presi­ dent her interest in the STIdepartment continued.s? Mrs. Edwards, the leader of the franchise movement, also resided in Alberta, in Macleod. With the active encouragement of both Mrs. Craig and Mrs. McKinney, she systematically moved the Alberta-Saskatchewan Union from an WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES 27 interest in dower laws to campaigning for the municipal and ultimately the provincial franchise. The three most activist movements within the Alberta-Sask­ atchewan WCTU thus were all headed by Albertan women: Mrs. Craig, Mrs. McKinney and Mrs. Edwards. Of the "famous five" Alberta women, three were active WCTU workers, and a fourth was an advo­ cate of temperance; in addition, Mrs. Bulyea, the wife of the Alberta Lieutenant Governor, was also a WCTU leader, having formerly been president of the Regina Union. She refused to serve wine or alcoholic beverages at Government House. The Alberta WCTU locals certainly had dynamic leaders to follow, leaders who were visible, energetic, able to speak well, argue forcibly, assemble scientific facts and plead their case to the highest authority. These leaders were not satisfied with the missionary, charitable, benevolent aspect of WCTU work. With women like McKinney, Craig and Edwards leading the way, the Alber­ ta WCTU was a fairly militant organization in its early years, advoca­ ting changing laws and legislating in the private affairs of individuals as well as 'urging the government to become involved in private enter­ prise by restricting certain activities." This dynamic leadership con­ tinued in later years as Nellie McClung became an Alberta resident, bringing her talents to the aid of the WCTU, 51 and Emily Murphy, the first female judge in the country, supported the WCTU and made suggestions for reform activities.V This same type of militant leadership was not found in the Sask­ atchewan WCTU. The several departments of the Alberta-Saskat­ chewan Union headed by Saskatchewan members tended to focus on charitable- and benevolent activity." Although Mrs. W. W. Andrews of Regina became very active in the franchise movement after 1913, and was, like the Alberta women, well-educated, active and dynamic, she had not moved to Regina until 1910.54 Without the same kind of leadership as in Alberta, the Saskatchewan unions held more to the charitable activity, traditionally associated with women. The leading reform woman to come out of Saskatchewan was Violet McNaughton, the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association Women's Leader. It was Mrs. McNaughton and the farm organization which took the leader­ ship among women in Saskatchewan. The predominance of the wheat economy meant that the Grain Growers Association was the central organization in the province and the Women's Section important to reform development. McNaughton, for example, led the suffrage campaign." .The urban-rural split also made a difference, especially the rela­ tively larger size of Alberta's two cities-Calgary and Edmonton. The worldwide cry for temperance grew as countries urbanized and the problems of bars, brothels, and slums became more visible. In a rural society, although these problems certainly existed, they were not as 28 SHEEHAN noticeable. Saskatchewan, with a somewhat more rural population than Alberta (19% of Saskatchewan residents lived in cities and towns, compared to 34% in Alberta), had a smaller and less conspicuous drinking problem. Its women were not aroused to the heights of tem­ perance reform found among the women of the Alberta WCTU.56 They were more concerned with the everyday problems of illness, lone­ liness, poverty and poor crops. Although Saskatchewan's total popu­ lation was greater, the WCTU membership in 1914 was about a thou­ sand in Saskatchewan compared to Alberta's fifteen hundred, perhaps a further reflection of the urban base ·of the WCTU and the greater proportion of rural population in Saskatchewan." Another difference between the provinces was in the immigration pattern, particularly in terms of immigrants from the United States where a strong WCTU movement had been under way since 1874. This movement was very active in the west and had a radical flavour. In total numbers, more Americans came to Alberta than to Saskat­ chewan.'" given Saskatchewan's greater total population, the Ameri­ can influence in Alberta would presumably have been a little greater. Mrs. McKinney, although born in Ontario, had lived in North Dakota for many years and had been a State Evangelist for the North Dakota WCTU. Her influence, enhanced by the North Dakota experience, was very evident in the Alberta WCTU. The Mormon population in south­ ern Alberta may also have acted as a catalyst on the WCTU members. WCTU literature shows a great deal ofconcern for the Mormonwomen who were taught by the male elders that "polygamy is sacred and fun­ damental."59 Rapid immigration also had a profound effect on the population in rural areas, particularly in Saskatchewan. Here, the "foreign prob­ lem" was more acute than elsewhere as homestead after homestead was claimed by non-English-speaking settlers. By 1916 approximately one­ sixth of the Saskatchewan population had been born in continental Europe.w David Jones, in a recent article on the Better Schools Day Crusade in Saskatchewan, concludes that this immigration had a pro­ found effect on the country life movement. The proponents of this movement, concerned about rural depopulation and degeneration, sought to enhance rural life by introducingimprovements and by evok­ ing a deferential attitude towards agriculture. Saskatchewan residents, concerned by the influx of foreigners, began to develop an interest in reform.s! The-WCTU, however, an organization drawing most of its support from towns and cities, does not seem to have profited from this perceived need for reform among the foreign population or in the farming community. The WCTU did have a very active Work Among Foreigners Department, but its work in Saskatchewan was mostly charitable-supplying food, clothing and household goods to foreign families. In Alberta, on the other hand, the WCTU supported "com- WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES 29 munity centers," hired "foreign" workers, and encouraged "Christian missionaries" as a means of educating the foreigners to temperance principles.s- References to charitable donations were few and far be­ tween in Alberta. Coupled with these differences was a belief, in Saskatchewan, in an agrarian destiny, a belief that was both stronger and more basic than was the case in Alberta. If this destiny was to be fulfilled, careful moulding and reform would be required. The country life movement, suffrage, health and temperance, and education reform all seem to have found an active following among political, educational, and re­ ligious leaders in Saskatchewan. These leaders were men. Women's groups such as the WCTU were thus largely pre-empted from the re­ form movement in Saskatchewan by the more progressive men's or­ ganizations. We may illustrate this point with reference to the campaigns for temperance, suffrage and educational reform. The Saskatchewan Pro- hibition League and the Banish the Bar movement, although led by Presbyterian and Methodist churchmen, also included educators, such as W. C. Murray, President of the University of Saskatchewan, E. N. Oliver, professor ofhistory and economics at the university, and W. W. Andrews, of Saskatchewan College in Regina.P Politicians on both sides of the house took an active interest in temperance and prohibi­ tion as wel1.64The extension of the franchise to women had been accep- ted "inprinciple" by the Saskatchewan legislature as early as 1913,long' before there was any groundswell of activity among the women. W. R. Motherwell, Minister of Agriculture, and the Honourable George Langley' had ledthe government debate on woman suffrage. Nellie McClung commented that "because woman suffrage came easily, it is in danger of being held in light esteem,"65 surely an indication that the women in Saskatchewan had not had to fight as women had fought elsewhere. Educational reform in Saskatchewan was promoted through the Saskatchewan Public Education League, prodded into being by the Premier, Mr. Scott, and the Opposition Leader, Mr. Willoughby. The League encompassed leading educational, religious and business people, many of whom were also involved in the prohibition and suf­ frage movements.w The resulting Better Schools Day campaign and the Foght Report on educational reform highlighted the efforts of the League. This same reform interest on the part of male leaders was not as prevalent-in Alberta, and the prohibition and suffrage forces had to work harder in that province to achieve their goals. Cleverdon called the suffrage campaign in Alberta the result of "unremittingtoil" on the part of thousands. Educational reform was not a big issue in Alberta until the twenties and thirties. There was no equivalent of the Better Schools Day Crusade or the Foght Report. Although politicians, edu- 30 SHEEHAN cators and churchmen showed some concern about prohibition and suffrage, it was the Alberta WCTU with its strong reform-minded women which provided the early leadership and the continual grass roots support.

CONCLUSION

The WCTU in the Northwest was part ofa worldwide movement to prohibit the use of alcohol, at first by persuasive means and later by prohibitive legislation. However, the highly centralized bureaucracy of the international WCTU encompassed a far-reaching, practical pro­ gram of both charitable activities and social reform. The departments of work were many and covered interests from prison reform and im­ proved sex hygiene to bible reading and school savings banks, as well as the more familiar WCTU activities. Since unions at the national, provincial and local levelsmade the decisions to concentrate on certain types of activities, this meant that the individual union could suit the work it did to the talents of the members and the needs of the area. It also meant that the union could attract supportfrom women who might not be so willingto work exclusivelyfor legislativechange. The WCTU, then, was an organization broad enough to encompass the vagaries in the provincial spirit caused by industrial development, urbanization. trends, immigration patterns, and reform sentiment. As the WCTU grew and prospered on the western prairies, a div­ ision in philosophy became apparent. The Alberta WCTU adopted a more progressive philosophy, opting to stress legislative and suffrage work, and to push for scientific temperance instruction in the public schools. In Saskatchewan the emphasis was more on charitable and benevolent activities. This difference was in part a result of the nature of the WCTU itself, and in part of factors affecting the settlement and development of the two provinces. In Saskatchewan the WCTU, sticking to traditional, charitable activities at a time when reform was popular elsewhere, was largely pre-empted by the more progressive male leaders and by the Saskatch­ ewan Grain Growers Association Women's Section. The Alberta WCTU, led by a phalanx of dynamic women, was able to capture much of Alberta's reform spirit. In the final analysis, however, these differ­ ences do not seem to have mattered. The means of the two WCTUs were different but the ends were the same. Legislated prohibition, the extension of suffrage to women, and scientific temperance instruction in the public schools came to pass in both Alberta and Saskatchewan. WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES

NOTES I would like to thank David C. Jones and Robert M. Stamp, both colleagues at The Univer­ sity of Calgary, for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. 1 See Letitia Youmans, Campaign Echoes: The Autobiography ofLetitia Youmans, Toronto: William Briggs, 1893, Chapters XIX and XX; Alberta WCTU, The Story of the Years, WCTU papers, Glenbow, Calgary, p. 7; Saskatchewan WCTU, A BriefHistory ofthe WCTU in Saskatchewan, WCTU papers, Archives of Saskatchewan, Regina (hereafter AI S ,(R).) 2 The actual 'number of unions in existence by 1903 is unclear. Mrs. Craig, superintendent of the WCTU in the North West Territories, said in her 1904 address to the first Territorial con­ vention that there were seventeen unions, five of whom were inactive. In this group were Pincher Creek and Yorkton which were not mentioned in A BriefHistory . ... Fern L. Barnes in A Centennial Mosaic, 1874-1974 (a pamphlet by the Canadian WCTU, circa 1977-1978) claimed that there were twenty unions. See both A Brief History . . . and The Story ofthe Years. In themid-eighties when the first WCTUs were formed in the West, the entire population of the N. W. T. was 28,192 exclusive of Indians; the first school legislation was not passed by the Territorial Council until 1884; even communities like Calgary did not have a town council until 1884; the mechanism had not been established for borrowing money or receiving grants; and the election of members to the territorial council proceeded slowly. See L. H. Thomas, The Strugglefor Responsible Government in the North- West Territories, 1870-97, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1956, p. 104; A. D. Schinger, "Contributions of D. J. Goggin to the Development of Education in the Northwest Territories, 1893-1902," M.Ed. thesis, University of Alberta, 1960;and Robert M. Stamp, "The Response to Urban Growth: The Bureaucratization of Public Education in Calgary, 1884-1914," The Journal ofEduca­ tional Thought, Vol. 10, No. I, pp. 49-61. 5 Report ofthe Royal Commission on the Liquor Traffic, "North-West Territories," pp. 175ff. Canada Sessional Papers (No. 21), 1895. 6 Marcia McGovern, "The Woman's Christian Temperance Union Movement in Saskatchewan 1886-1930: A Regional Perspective of the International White Ribbon Movement," M. A. thesis, University of Regina, 1977, p. 102. 7 Alberta WCTU, The Story of(he Years, p~ 7 and Report ofthe First Annual Convention of the Northwest Territories Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1904, p. 15, Glenbow (hereafter NWT, WCTU, AR, 1904). Report ofthe Royal Commission on the Liquor Traffic, pp. 184-86. L. H. Thomas indicated that French, Hungarians, Ukrainians, Scandinavians, Icelanders and Germans had begun to settle in western Canada during the I 890s, and that the rate of settlement increased dramatically after 1900. Lewis H. Thomas, The North West Terri­ tories, 1870-1905, Canadian Historical Association Booklets, No. 26, Ottawa, 1970, p. 14~ 10 R. McLean, "A Most Effectual Remedy-Temperance and Prohibition in Alberta, 1875­ 1915," M. A. thesis, University of Calgary, 1969, p. 44; NWT, WCTU, AR, 1904, p. 15; and McGovern, "The Woman's Christian Temperance Union Movement in Saskatchewan," pp. 120, 121. 11 NWT, WCTU, AR, 1904, p. 22. 12 L. G. Thomas, The Liberal Party in Alberta: A History ofPolitics in the Province ofAlberta, 1905-1921, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1959, p. 157. 13 W. L. Morton, The Progressive Party in Canada, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1950, pp. 27-28. ' 14 J. H. Thompson, "The Beginning of Our Regeneration: The Great War and Western Canadian Reform Movements" in Samuel Clark, J. Paul Grayson, Linda Grayson(eds.)'-Prophecy and Protest: SocialMovements in Twentieth-Century Canada, Toronto: Gage, 1975,pp. 87-104. See also Thompson's The Harvest of War: The Prairie West, 1914-1918, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1978. 15 NWT, WCTU, AR, '1904, Cover. 16 Ibid, pp. 5-29. The Report of Committee on Plan of Work, p. 27, lists fourteen departments, omitting the "Y" WCTU. Presumably this is a clerical error as there is a superintendent, Mrs. Geo. Powell, of Grenfell, named to this department. Mrs. Craig mentioned sixteen departments, including the White Ribbon Tidings reporter as a department superintendent. 17 Report ofthe Annual Convention ofthe Dominion Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1891, p. 6 (hereafter Dominion WCTU, AR, 1891, p. 6); and John Kobler, Ardent Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973. 18 A perusal of the Annual Reports for the years 1905through 1913shows the name change, the separation, and the resolutions and plans of work. 19 Wendy Mitchinson, "Aspects of Reform: Four Women's Organizations in 19th Century Canada," Ph.D. thesis, York University, 1977, p. 216. 20 NWT, WCTU, AR, 1904, p. 6 and Dominion WCTU, AR, 1905. 21 Report of the Annual Convention of the Alberta and Saskatchewan Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1906, p. 36, Glenbow (hereafter Alta. & Sask. WCTU AR, 1906, p. 36). Also, Alta. & Sask. WCTU AR, 1907, p. 23. According to the Resolutions Committee of 32 SHEEHAN

1908 what the women wanted in a Dower Act was "not merely that the wills of married men should be under restriction in favor of their wives, but also that married women have a legal right to some share of their husband's property while both are living." Alta. & Sask.WCTU AR, 1908, pp. 48-49. 22 Alta. WCTUAR, 1929, p. 37. . '23 Report ofthe Annual Convention ofthe Alberta Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1915, p, 63, Glenbow (hereafter Alta., WCTU, AR, 1915, p. 63). See also Catherine Clever­ don, The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada, Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 1950, p. 69. 24 Cleverdon, The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada, pp. 71-72. The suffrage bill and the prohibition bill proceeded together through the Spring 1916 sitting of the house and both took effect July 1, 1916. 2S Alta. WCTU AR, 1916, pp. 33, 34. 26 Cleverdon, The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada, p. 75, and McGovern, "The Woman's Christian Temperance Union Movement in Saskatchewan," pp. 130, 131. 27 Ibid. See also June Menzies, "Votes for Saskatchewan Women" in Norman Ward and Doug Spafford (eds.), Politics in Saskatchewan, Don Mills: Longmans, 1968, pp. 78-92. 28 See Report ofthe Annual Convention ofthe Saskatchewan Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1914, p. 79, Record 158, Box 3, File IF. A/S(R). (hereafter Sask.WCTU, AR, 1914, p. 79, R158, B3, FIF); Grain Growers' Guide, Oct. 28 and Nov. 25, 1914. 29 Christine MacDonald, "How Saskatchewan Women Got the Vote," Saskatchewan History, I (Oct. 1948), 1-8. 30 Sask. WCTU, AR, 1917, p. 30. 31 Cleverdon, Menzies, and MacDonald argue this for the respective provinces. See also Barbara Jean Nicholson, "Feminism in the Prairie Provinces to 1916," M.A. thesis, University of Calgary, and- Paul Voisey, "The 'Votes for Women' Movement," Alberta History, 23 (Summer, 1975), 10-23. 32 Alta.-Sask. WCTU, AR, 1905, p. 29. 33 Alta. WCTU, AR, 1915, p. 29. 34 Robert McLean, "A Most Effectual Remedy," pp. 44, 51, 52. 3S Alta. WCTU, AR, 1929,p, 38, and E. H. Oliver, The Liquor Traffic in the PrairieProvinces, Board of Home Missions and Social Service, Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1923, pp. 298-300. 36 See Alta. & Sask. WCTU AR, 1905-1912: President's Reports, Reports of the Corresponding Secretary and Departmental Reports. See Sask. WCTU, AR, 1913 and 1914. References to legislative. changes were found in the Resolutions, but no other reference to prohibitory legislation is made. 37 See Alta. & Sask. WCTU AR, 1906, p. 40; AR, 1908, p. 52; AR, 1909, p. 39; and Calgary Observer, May 1, 1905, Part 1, No.5, p. 4. (Published by the Herald Co. Ltd. for WCTU of Calgary, this is believed to be the only publication attempted by a local union. Glenbow has this edition only.) 38 Alta. & Sask. WCTU AR, 1908, p. 56; AR, 1909, p. 39; Edmonton Bulletin, April 27, 1916; and Alta. WCTU, AR, 1922, p. 29. 39 Regina Union Minute and Report Books, A/S(R); and Letter to J. A. Calder, Minister of Education, Saskatchewan, Nov. 20, 1909 from Isabelle Burbeck,Corresponding Secretary of the Alberta and Saskatchewan WCTU, asks to have a text book on STI introduced to the schools. Calder papers, 23, Archives of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon (hereafter A/S(S).) Burbeck sent the .letter to officials in both provinces after Mrs. McKinney requested such letters at the 1909 Annual Convention. See Alta. & Sask. WCTU AR, 1909, p. 39. 40 West End Minute Books, 158, Box 7, A/S(R). 41 A Brief History ofthe WCTU in Saskatchewan. 42 Northside Union Regina, Minute Book, 158, Box 7, A/S(R). 43 Dominion WCTU, AR, 1905, pp. 90ff. 44 Sask. WCTU, AR, 1919, p. 77, and Dominion WCTU, AR, 1922, p. 135. 4S Alta. WCTU, AR, 1916, p. 49 and Dominion WCTU, AR, 1922, p. 135. 46 See LTL reports in Sask. WCTU, AR, 1913, 1914, 1915, etc. In 1912 Alberta and Sask­ atchewan combined had 37 LTL unions operating. In 1914 Alberta had only 5. 47 See Sask. WCTU, AR, 1916, pp. 44, 45 and AR, 1919, pp. 74-76. 48 See "Bethany Hospital and how it came into existence." WCTU, 1.1-K(6), Box 5, A/S(R). See also, Sask. WCTU, AR, 1919, p. 49. 49 See Alta. & Sask. WCTU, AR, 1905, pp. 27-30; J. Willard McKinney, Louise C. McKinney, London: Dominion Literature Depository, n.d., WCTU files, A/S (R); Louise McKinney papers, Glenbow and Alberta Provincial Archives; and her president's addresses in the WCTU convention reports, 1909 through 1930. 50 The famous five, Henrietta Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Emily Murphy and Irene Parlby were involved in the Persons Case, which in 1929saw the Privy Council decide that women were "persons" and eligible to sit in the Senate in Canada. Murphy was not a member of the WCTU but advocated prohibition. Mrs. Bulyea refused to serve wine or a~- WCTU ON THE PRAIRIES 33

coholic beverages at Government House, and before moving to Edmonton had been presi­ dent of the Regina Union. 51 See Gwen Matheson and V. E. Lang, "Nellie McClung: Not a Nice Woman," in Gwen Matheson (ed.), Women in the Canadian Mosaic. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, 1976, pp. 1-20; Cleverdon, The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada, and WCTU (E) files, Glenbow. 52 See Letters: Murphy to WCTU, September 29, 1918 and October 31, 1918, Emily Murphy Papers, BI, F22, City ofEdmonton Archives. See also Byrne Hope Sanders, Emily Murphy: Crusader ("JaneY,Canuck"). Toronto: MacMillan Co. 1945. 53 In 1907the Loyal Temperance Legion, SundaySchool Work, Purityand Mother's Meetings, Flower, Fruit and Delicacy and Railway Work were led by women from Saskatchewan unions. Alta.-Sask. WCTU, AR, 1907, p. 8. 54 Women in Saskatchewan file, A/S(R). 55 MacNaughton Papers, A/S(S). 56 Robert E. Popham and Wolfgang Schmidt, Statistics ofAlcohol Use and Alcoholism in Canada, 1871-1956, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1958, Appendix I, pp. 54-70. See also Robert McLean, "A Most Effectual Remedy," p. 42, and Census ofthe Prairie Provinces, 1916, p. XXI. 57 Sask. WCTU AR, 1914, p. 34, and Alta. WCTU AR, 1915, p. 9. 58 In 1906, 43,251 of 185,412 Alberta residents had been born in the United States. The figures for Saskatchewan show that 35,464 of 257,763 residents had been bornin the U.S., Census of Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, 1906,p. XLV. In 1911,21.7 per cent ofAlberta residents and 14.1 per cent of Saskatchewan's had been born in the United States, Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1916, p. XXX. 59 White Ribbon Tidings, March 1922, p. 55. 60 Census ofthe Prairie Provinces, 1916, p. 217. 61 David C. Jones, "Better Schools Day in Saskatchewan and the Perils of Educational Reform," Journal ofEducational Thought, Vol. 14, No.2, August 1980, pp. 125-137. 62 Every report ofthe Work Among Foreigners in the Saskatchewan files mentions these kinds of activities. See the Alberta reports for 1918, 1919, 1922, 1923, and 1927. 63 Jones, "Better Schools Day in Saskatchewan ...." 64 See "The LiquorTraffic and the Saskatchewan Government," Conservative Party#12, File­ Pamphlet, Bradshaw Papers, A/S(R); "Chronicle of Alcoholic Beverages in the North West Territories and Saskatchewan," Prohibition File, AIS(R);and Erhard Pinno, "Temperance and Prohibition in Saskatchewan," M. A. thesis, University of Saskatchewan, Regina, 1971, p. 4. 6S "How Saskatchewan Women Got the Vote: A briefhistory which every Saskatchewan woman should read," a pamphlet ofthe Provincial Liberal Party, Women-Societies and Clubs File, A/S(R); and Cleverdon, The Woman Suffrage Movement in Canada, pp. 75-82. 66 David C. Jones, "Better Schools Day ...."

PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, NO.1 35 Soldier Settlement and Depression Settlement in the Forest Fringe of Saskatchewan John McDonald Box 1030, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

ABSTRACT. Agriculture in the forest fringe of the prairies developed slowly. Yet the population of this region was rapidly increased by two important in-migrations of settlers who expected to make a living from agriculture. These were the soldier settlement of veterans returning from World War I and the settlement of refugees from the drought and depression of the 1930s.This article ex­ amines these two movements in the province of Saskatchewan. The settlement of returning vet­ erans posed some problems, but these were entirely overshadowed by the trouble with the in­ migration of the 1930s.A major contributor to these problems was the over-optimistic perception of the agricultural capabilities ofthe forest fringe on the partof bothgovernmentsand the general public. In the early 19308especially, the rapid influx of settlers took place in the absence of cohes­ ive government policy. Things improved with the formation of the Northern Settlers Re-estab­ lishment Branch in 1935, but it was the Second World War which finally dissipated the excessive population of the forest fringe.

RESUME L'agriculture al'oree de la foret des prairiess'est developpee lentement. Deja la population de cette region s'accroissait rapidement suite a deux importantes migrations internes de colons espe­ rant gagner leur vie grace a I'agriculture. Cex deux mouvements etaient: la colonisation par les soldats, veterans revenant de la premiere guerre mondiale et la colonisation par les refugies, vic­ times de la secheresse et de la depression des annees 1930. Cet article examine ces deux mouve­ ments dans la province de Saskatchewan.' La colonisation par les veterans de la premiere guerre a comportee certains problemes, cependant iIs ont ete entierement voiles par les troubles occas­ ionnees par la migration interne des annees 1930. Lei. perception optimisteexcessive des capacites _ agricoles en bordure de foret par Ie gouvernement et Ie public en general a contribuee al'avene­ ment de ces problemes, Specialement au debut des annees 1930, I'influx rapide de colons a eu lieu en I'absence d'une politique gouvernementale cohesive. Les choses se sont cependant ameliorees suite a la formation du "Northern Settlers Re-establishment Branch" en 1935, mais c'est finale­ ment la deuxieme guerre mondiale qui a dissipe la population excessive a l'oree de la foret,

INTRODUCTION

This article provides a review of soldier settlement and depression settlement in the forest fringe of the prairies, and especially Saskatch­ ewan (Figures 1&2), between the two World Wars. Although a certain amount of research has been done into this topic, there has been much more emphasis on the grasslands and park belt. This study reviews ex­ isting information on the two rapid influxes to the forest fringe which eventually resulted in considerable overpopulation relative to its true agricultural potential. Much poverty was experienced here in the 19308, largely as a result of over-optimistic appraisal ofthe quality of farmland in the region.

BACKGROUND The role ofagriculture in the forest fringe along the northern ex­ tremities of the "park belt" of the prairies prior to World War I was minimal. Only in the Shellbrook and Preeceville districts (Figure 1) of Saskatchewan had any substantial progress been made. In these dis­ tricts wheat was produced for export, but all other districts in which 36 MCDONALD

Makwa L. . Meadow Lake . . Big River St. Walburg. Turtleford

I in. equals approx. 32 mls. . • Regina Moose Jaw ~------.-.- -- _.-

Figure l-Saskatchewan Location Map any farming had emerged were dominated by the production of oats and barley for local consumption; the lumber trade remained an important occupation. Little interest was shown in the encouragement of extensive settlement in the forest fringe of Saskatchewan prior to World War I, and the Great War slowed settlement in the forest lands almost to a standstill. During 1913-1919 no new rail was laid on the pioneer fringe of Saskatchewan although construction remained active in both the Peace River district ofAlberta and the Interlake region of Manitoba.' In Saskatchewan, extension of the existing rail network was contemplated but the railways were hesitant to invest capital in lines which would serve only a small, scattered population. Nevertheless, during the war both the Dominion and provincial governments conducted surveys whereby the agricultural potential of SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 37

Paddockwood...

., Henribourg

Mistatim Melfort• • • Tisdale Crooked• River

Figure 2-Prince Albert-Nipawin Area

unsettled lands across western Canada was assessed. As the availability ofarable land on the prairies and in the park belt diminished, the agri­ cultural.role of the forest fringe in Saskatchewan would soon increase. Optimism was high in regard to the forest fringe, as officials were gen­ erally convinced that problems encountered prior to the war had been caused mainly by the settlers' own ineptitude. Despite a greateraware­ ness of the conditions peculiar to the north it was believed in official circles that these could be easily overcome, and that rapid and success­ ful settlement was possible along the forest fringe.

SOLDIER SETTLEMENT As the Great War drew to a close, the Dominion Government rec­ ognized that both the Canadian economy and the returning veterans would be subject to a period of readjustment. Concerned about the potentiallyhigh rate ofunemployment amongst returned soldiers, the Dominion Government promulgated plans whereby many of them could be settled on the land. An outcome ofthis wasthe passing ofthe Soldier Settlement Act in 1917 which was described as: "An Act to assist returned soldiers in settling upon the land and to increase agri­ cultural production." This Act provided for a maximum loan of$2,500 which wou'd be used to assist soldiers in settling on free Dominion lands, on lands already owned by soldiers, or on land purchased on their behalf. Twenty years were allotted for repayment of the loan which was to be used only for the following purposes as prescribed in the Act: 38 MCDONALD

a) The acquiring of land for agricultural purposes; b) The payment of encumbrances on land used for agricultural purposes; c) The improvement of agricultural land; d) The improvement of farm buildings; e) The purchase of stock, machinery and equipment; and f) Such other purposes as the board may approve.?

During 1918 the Soldier Settlement Board was established and Dominion lands were reserved for soldier settlers. Eleven district offices to deal with applications were opened across the nation, three of which were in Saskatchewan, at Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert. By the fall of 1918, these offices had issued loans in excess of one million dollars. The Board had initially stated that it did not "... contemplate the settlement of soldiers as pioneers in remote locations or under isolated conditions, removed from markets, in virgin forest lands, or on lands not cultivable without reclamation or other development."3 Despite the reservation of all Crown lands within fifteen miles of every railway for the exclusive use of soldier settlers, however, it was soon apparent that a land shortage existed. This condition had been acknowledged by the Saskatchewan government as early as 1916 when it declared that: "There is considerable doubt as to the availability of good land in northern Saskatchewan.... Transportation facilities are poorly dev­ eloped and it is almost impossible to get a good homestead within reasonable distance of a railway."4 The shortage, accentuated by spec­ ulation, and also acute in the Peace River district, led to demands for the allocation of land from sources outside the confines of the existing Act, and to the eventual distortion of the Board policy quoted earlier. The federal government was forced to announce as early.as November 1918 that land contained in the Pasquia Hills and Porcupine Forest Reserves was to be allotted for soldier settlement. This move was "just­ ified" by declaring the land to be of the finest quality and within close proximity to rail transportation.! Although these were indeed good lands, they required much clearing, and transportation facilities were seriously lacking. The placement of soldier settlers at Pouce Coupe and Sunset Prairie in the Peace River district, however, was preposterous; the minimum distance to a railway was 80 miles and grain could be moved only over winter trails. Under these conditions land abandon­ ment was exceedingly common. The federal government also decided that lands held by private owners should be made accessible to returned soldiers under a pur­ chase policy. This was determined to be a federal matter, and conse­ quently the federal government was given full purchase powers under the War Measures Act by Order-in-Council on February 11, 1919. Legislation to this effect in July 1919 also authorized the Soldier SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 39

Settlement Board to acquire uncultivated Indian lands and school lands, and to withdraw land from Forest Reserves.s A distinctive trait in the pattern of soldier settlement stems from the withdrawal of lands from these sources, particularly in the forest fringe. In the grasslands and park belt, the only new tracts of land opened for settlement were the Indian Reserves. However, in the forest fringe block settlement of soldier settlers was more frequent, since free Dominion lands were more readily available and land was also/withdrawn from Forest and Indian Reserves. Land purchased by the Soldier Settlement Board in the forest fringe was also generally a little cheaper than lands pur­ chased further south-probably a reflection of the inability of the for­ ested land to quickly produce a cash crop. Soldier settlers were involved in a considerable degree of pioneering activity along the forest fringe of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. In Manitoba pioneering was particularly common in the Interlake region, north and east of Dauphin Lake and along the fringes of the Swan River district." Much of this land was partially wooded and in many cases stony, particularly between Lakes Winnipegand Manitoba. where settlers were also blessed with frequent untimely frosts. Pioneer­ ing by soldier settlers in Alberta was particularly common in the Peace River district but was also found north and east of Edmonton. In Sask­ atchewan, soldier settlement across the park belt and the forest fringe took place to the north and south of Tisdale and Prince Albert, in the Porcupine Forest Reserve and at Melfort, Shellbrook, Battleford and Turtleford." The settlement at Paddockwood north of Prince Albert and particularly that on land withdrawn from the Porcupine Forest Reserve involved pioneering. The latter case is used here as an illus­ tration of the conditions experienced. The Porcupine Soldier Settlement was created in 1919 on 200,000 acres of land which had been withdrawn from the north, northwest, ·and southeast sections of the Porcupine Forest. Although the Domin­ ion advanced the necessary loans to enable the rudimentary beginnings in agriculture, further aid to the community was limited, such that"the building of schools, churches, a hospital and any progress made, could be achieved only by their own individual and/or collective effort."? The lack of familiarity with the forest fringe environment displayed by many authorities of the Soldier Settlement Board is exemplified by the comment of R. J. Shore, its Assistant Director of Lands, that "while some of it (the Porcupine Forest) is heavily timbered ... there is a way of clearing this without very much trouble by employing fire"Io-an unrealistic comment as far as much of the area was concerned. The land was predominantly characterized by stands ofpoplar, willow and scattered spruce interspersed with innumerable swampy sloughs which posed a frost hazard and necessitated draining. Consequentlythe years 1919-1925 were characterized by the initial clearing and breaking of 40 MCDONALD the land. By December 1920 there were 101 established settlers and by December 1923, 175, of whom twenty-five had abandoned their pro­ perty. Only one hundred of these settlers were actually in residence on their property.'! This can probably be attributed to the lack of clearing and the subsequent reliance upon lumbering during these early years. Indeed, settlers were encouraged to obtain outside employment in order to supplement their finances. Through the efforts of the Soldier Settlement Board many were able to find employment in the lumber camps along the railway between Tisdale and Hudson Bay Junction. By 1925 the Porcupine Plain settlement found itself in difficulty in its attempt to finance a school, due in part to owner absenteeism and to the fact that not enough soldier settlers had arrived to create an equit­ able tax base. Considerable criticism was consequently directed to­ wards the Soldier Settlement Board for not permitting the area to be opened up to settlers other than returned veterans. This criticism dis­ appeared when the federal government ultimately annulled the exclu­ sive settlement rights of soldier settlers in the Porcupine Forest Re­ serve in February 1926. This move was prompted by the fact that, whereas settlement had earlier peaked at 355 settlers, by October 1, 1925 there had been 216 abandonments, leaving only 139 settlers. The major problem had been the settlement's distance to market, coupled with the fact that "priorto 1929 not a road worthy of the name (existed) in the whole district."12

PROGRESS OF SOLDIER SETTLEMENT

By the end of November 1920, 19,771 soldier settlers had estab­ lished themselves on the land in Canada, about 70 per cent of them in the three prairie provinces. There were 3,231 in Manitoba, 4,927 in Saskatchewan and 5,785 in Alberta. 13 Although these figures are by no means overwhelming, difficulty in finding suitable land leads one to believe that government officials were on the whole over-optimistic about the agricultural potential of the north. In 1916, for example, the Saskatchewan government, although acknowledging that there was a shortage of agricultural land in the vicinity of railways, "believed that 100,000 homesteads may be available-almost entirely inthe north."14 However, the difficulties encountered in placing the soldier settlers upon the land probably did much to dispel the myth of the north's vast agricultural potential. On May 1, 1921 the reservation for soldier settlers of all Domin­ ion lands within fifteen miles ofa railway in the four western provinces was annulled. This annulment was, however, exclusive of the lands withdrawn from the Porcupine and Riding Mountain Forest Reserves, Hudson Bay Lands, Doukhobor lands and any other lands specially reserved for soldier settlement purposes. IS Although the soldier settlers SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 41 had been more or less successfully settled, they were no less immune to problems and setbacks than were ordinary settlers, and the period after 1921 was a difficult one. The post-war economic depression had the effect ofdeflating the artificially buoyant economy of the pioneer fringe. There followed a time of retrenchment. Across the northern agricultural frontier, land had been purchased for soldier settlers when prices were at their peak. Deflation associated with the post-war recession had, by 1921, made it exceedingly difficult for many veterans to payoff their loans. Their property devalued until it was worth less than the government had charged them for it. Stock purchased prior to 1921had a value of$13~ million but by 1925its value had fallen to lessthan halfof thatamount. 16 In contrast, there was little or no decrease in the cost of implements and building materials. As the 1920s evolved and soldier-settler tenure became longer, there were fewersoldier settlers on the land each year. Economic and environmental problems took a large toll. The failure rate of soldier settlers, for all reasons, rose from 7 per cent in 1921to 21 per cent in 1924, and to 31 per cent by 1926. In response to demands by the soldier settlers for a solution to the cost-price squeeze, the Dominion government passed"an amendment in 1922 which enabled the Soldier Settlement Board to consolidate all indebtedness into one loan payable over twenty-five years and to grant an interest exemption of from two to four years depending upon the date of occupancy of the land.!? Not until the 1927 session of Parlia­ ment was the long-awaited amendment to the Soldier Settlement Act which provided for the revaluation of soldier-settler lands finally passed. It applied only to those settlers who were still in active occu­ pancy of their lands; an average devaluation of 24 per cent was achie­ ved for those eligible for readjustment under the terms of the amend­ ment. Further changes continued to be made in response to adverse conditions in the forest fringe, particularly after the onslaught of the "Dirty Thirties." As the 1920s progressed, the Soldier Settlement Board's respon­ sibility to the veterans was diminished as the successful settlers became established and the unsuccessful ones were weeded out. On August 17, 1923the Board was transferred from the Minister of the Interiorto the Minister of Immigration and Colonization, and was given new responsibilities. Knowledge gained by the Soldier Settlement Board could be pas­ sed on in the form of a 'Land Settlement Service' to newcomers whereby the inexperienced immigrant has a disinterested source of advice on farming districts and land values which will afford him a means of protection, which in the past he has been without, against unfair exploitation and his own Ignorance oflocal condi­ tions." 42 MCDONALD

By 1926 this new Land Settlement Branch of the Department of Immigration and Colonization had become involved in a series of set­ tlement schemes and other activities, including the investigation of applications by aliens or on behalf of aliens for entry into Canada.'? Despite the influx of soldier settlers into the Saskatchewan forest fringe, the region still represented only about 4 or 5 per cent of the provincial total population in the 1920s.20 Homesteading had become common near Meadow Lake and Makwa Lake in the lower valleys of the Torch and Whitefox Rivers east of Prince Albert. Yet by the mid­ 1920s, apart from the Turtleford Plain, parts of the Debden-Big River Plain, Upper Swan-Upper Assiniboine Plain and to a lesser extent the Saskatchewan Lowland, the forest fringe was primarily dependent upon alternative sources of income in lieu of market-oriented grain production. For the majority of settlers, conditions had not substan­ tially improved over those of the pre-war era. The predominance of oats and barley as the primary crops was indicative of the continued persistence of subsistence farming. Indeed, throughout the 1920sover 85 per cent of the settlers did not usually market a crop. Bartering, such as that at Porcupine Plain in the form of "cordwood currency," was very common, and relief payments were made throughout the decade. Requests were also made to hunt game out of season in order to supple­ ment food supplies." However, for the most part there was little ser­ ious deprivation or suffering. During the 1920s the greatest concentration of failure of soldier settlers was in Manitoba, due in all probability to the marginal condi­ tion of the land. The instability of the northern agricultural fringe in Manitoba was highlighted when in its Eighth Report in 1929 the Sol­ dier Settlement Board complained thatthere was a good deal of aban­ doned land which was depressing prices and that the municipalities were dumping farms at only a fraction of their value.P All in all, however, the introduction of over ten thousand soldier settlers into the northern agricultural fringe had been accomplished relatively successfully. By the end of the 1920s their transformation into farmers was all but complete, and the civilian succession of soldier settlement was well under way. Soldier Settlement loans fell from a high of 12,695 in 1919 to 29 in 1927. Although the degree of scientific planning which had both preceded and accompanied the soldier Set­ tlers was questionable, the cumulative total of soldier settlers did not, in the main, exceed the capabilities of the government to secure them land through one source or another. Where suitable Dominion lands had been lacking the shortage had been met with privately purchased land, uncultivated Indian Reserve lands, Forest Reserve lands, and Doukhobor, Hudson Bay and school lands. Through its ability to ob­ tain suitable land, the Board was largely successful in limiting the ad­ vance of the soldier settlers on to the poorer grey-white podzolic soils. SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 43 This movement, however, in combination with that of the civilian set­ tlers, had enveloped the vast majority of agriculturally suitable land in the forest fringe. Although a quiet optimism existed in regard to the future, the succeeding decade would witness an uncontrolled land rush which would tax the forest fringe beyond its potential agricultural cap­ ability.

PRELUDE TO THE DROUGHT MIGRATION By the end of the 1920s, the transfer of jurisdiction over the nat­ ural resources of the prairies from the Dominion to the provincial gov­ ernments was imminent. In September 1929the Department of the In­ terior withdrew all unoccupied Crown Lands from homestead entry in order that each of the three prairie provinces might promulgate a poli­ cy toward northern settlement. When the transfer of jurisdiction was made, the consensus of opinion was that, whereas the free homestead system had been useful in the past, "most of the land which could be selected by individualsettlers without the guidance of the government had been taken Up."23 Consequently Saskatchewan and Manitoba dis­ carded the policy of free homesteads in 1930. The retention of the free homesteading system in Alberta was indicative of the fact that the maj­ ority of the remaining agriculturally suitable land in the prairies lay within that province, particularly in the Peace River district. The cessation ofthe homestead policy in Saskatchewan was based on the report of the Saskatchewan RoyalCommission on Immigration and Settlement, 1930, which recommended "thatthe remaining Crown Lands where immediately available for agriculture be sold (a) to resi­ dents of the province (b) to other Canadians (c) to British settlers (d) to other immigrants."24 The Saskatchewan Government subsequently refused to subsidize any new migrants and all remaining former home­ stead lands were to be classified and disposed of at a minimum price of one dollar per acre. The remainder of the Crown Lands were to be permanently closed to settlement. Yet despite these regressive policies the same Royal Commission optimistically concluded that settlement could, perhaps, eventually extend as far north as a line drawn north­ west from Amisk Lake and runningjust north of Ile a la Crosse.> a line far to the north of the belt of reasonably fertile black and transitional soils. Despite the recommendations of the Royal Commission for planned and orderly settlement in combination with detailed investiga­ tions pertaining to soil, climate, and topography, the northern settle­ ment of the 1930s, much of it spawned by the Depression, would pro­ ceed in an ad hoc fashion. The consequence of this was the placement of many settlers on submarginal lands which bred both turmoil and deprivation for years to come. The migration to northern Saskatchewan was, in part, based on the belief that the land was capable of allowing someone a new start. 44 MCDONALD

Many half-truths about conditions in the north continued to be circu­ lated, engendering an optimism in many drought-stricken farmers which was based on a distorted image of true environmental conditions in the forest fringe. "There was no doubt in the minds of some farmers, even before 1930, particularly those from southwest Saskatchewan, that the north came to be regarded as some type of mecca in which sol­ utions to all problems could be found."26 There was some foundation for this optimism. Whereas in 1931 crop returns in the four large south­ ern crop districts averaged between 1.8and 5.7 bushels per acre, in the Carrot River Valley and North Battleford districts crops of23 bushels per acre were harvested.P In June 1931 a report from the Nipawin­ Tisdale area stated that: "pastures are good, and there is a good supply of water."28 Nevertheless, the migration of drought-stricken farmers was only a trickle at first. It took some time to shake the faith of the population at large and to uproot any significant segment of it. Consequently, although immigration to the northern agricultural fringe steadily increased from 1929 to 1931, little of it was due to drought. However, by the fall of 1931 the movement of drought-strick­ en southern farmers had become the most important segment of the northern migration. NORTHERN SETTLEMENT DURING THE DROUGHT ERA

In Saskatchewan at least, the period commonly referred to as the' "Dirty Thirties" can be divided almost equally into two distinct phases. The first half of the decade witnessed a relatively uncontrolled and con­ tinuous in-migration to the northern agricultural fringe. In contrast the latter half of the decade witnessed the implementation of cohesive government policy which sought to revive the equilibrium of environ­ ment and settlement, and which resulted in a process of population consolidation accompanied by an out-migration. The deterioration of conditions across the prairie and park belts created a renewed interest in the forest fringe. Yet the people who were drawn to this region came from a variety of sources. Some were the unemployed from the lumber camps, the rural communities or the cities. "A great many people who had homesteaded within the forest years before were now forced back to the land by urban unemploy­ ment."29 This diversity in background, combined with the shortage of agriculturally suitable land which was under increasing pressure from an ever-growing number of would-be settlers, eventually culminated in widespread deprivation as bad as that which the settlers had sought to leave behind. By the fall of 1931 the migration of drought-stricken farmers necessitated the promulgation of more comprehensive relief measures. Through the initiation of these early settlement schemes it was hoped that the relief problem in southern Saskatchewan could be alleviated Of, depending on the success of the scheme, even solved. SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 45

However, these schemes were invariably designed around the assump­ tion that the settlers would locate on agriculturally acceptable land. Yet conditions in the north dictated that farming practices must differ from those in the south. "Often non-agricultural opportunities were neglected, the result, at least in part, of misdirected encouragement given in the first years of occupancy."30 Despite the grim realities of the forest fringe, the attraction of an ever-increasing number of migrants indicated that optimism was buoyant in relation to the perceived capabilities of the region. Between 1929 and 1931 several crucial raillines were completed which greatly facilitated the movement of settlers into new parts of the forest fringe. The Nipawin-Henribourg line, the Carrot River and Arborfield branch lines and the line to Meadow Lake, which was completed in 1931, opened up vast stretches of territory (Figure 1). D. P. Fitzgerald, in Pioneer Settlement in Northern Saskatchewan, credits the comple­ tion of these lines with the altering of the pattern of populationdistrib­ ution." The most rapid development of new farms on the forest fringe took place on the Beaver Plain, between the Torch River. and the Whitefox River and east of the Copeau River, accessibility to each of these areas being directly associated with the completion of the new rail lines. Yet, despite the obviously beneficial impact of the railroad, the volume of passengers and their possessions transported fell between 1933 and 1935.· This was caused by the fact that, as the Depression dragged on, new arrivals were less and lessable to pay for either the rail fare or for the freight charges, even at subsidized rates. Despite the declining rail traffic, the importance of the railroad was indicated by the clustering of settlement within twenty to thirty miles of the rail­ head, with the exception of Big River which was surrounded by poor soil and dependent on the .lumber trade. The vast influx of settlers tended to increase the population all across the forest fringe, with the exception ofalready established dis­ tricts such as that around Shellbrook. Settlers who came on their own took up land all across the frontier, and as their numbers increased small service centres such as Carrot River, Garrick and Mistatim de­ veloped in order to serve them. In eastern Saskatchewan the agricul­ tural frontier was extended to the east into the forested lands between the Carrot and Assiniboine Rivers. Farther to the north, the Carrot River valley also attracted settlement, as did the Whitefox River valley between Prince Albert and Whitefox. Big River, to the north-west of Prince Albert, and Crooked River, east of Tisdale, attracted settlement because they were established lumbering centres although the agricul­ tural quality of the land was poor.v The majority ofmigrants located underthe various assisted settle­ ment schemes were placed on improved or partly improved lands. Thus in this case the availability of Crownlands was notas critical as it 46 MCDONALD was with the drought refugees. Settlement under these schemes tended to occur wherever idle farms were available, thus nullifying to a great degree the extension of the frontier on to new lands. The Beaver River valley of Saskatchewan and Alberta was, however, the scene of much intermingling between assisted settlement and the arrival ofunassisted drought refugees. The settlement of relief recipients through the Saskatchewan Re­ lief Commission was a very important feature in the extension of northern settlement. The Meadow Lake region was host to a great in­ flux, as was the Loon Lake area on the eastshore of Makwa Lake. The Pierceland-Goodsoil area north of the Beaver River contained excel­ lent soils but was even more isolated than was Loon Lake, for it was served by railheads at Meadow Lake and St. Walburg in Saskatchew­ an and Bonnyville in Alberta. Extensive settlement in this region had, by 1935,forced homesteading beyond the Beaver River as far north as Cold Lake and as far west as the Alberta boundary.P Group .settle­ ments such as those found near Turtleford, St. Walburg,Pelly and Loon Lake were also associated with the arrival of relief recipients. Government schemes associated with these movements, particularly the one to the Loon Lake area, did much to place newcomers beyond the limits of the agricultural frontier as it then existed. The impactofimmigrants upon the northwas minimal atthis time due to the restrictive immigration policies of the government e : How­ ever, twenty German families arrived in the Loon Lake area in 1929, encountering extremely heavy bush, contrary to what they had been led to believe. By 1938almost all of themwere still on relief, whereupon they returned to Germany, theirfarms being purchased by German ref­ ugees forced from the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia following its annexation by Germany.>' The Beaver Riverarea in total witnessed the arrival of several hundred German immigrants who settled on Crown Lands. Despite the influx of settlement into the forest fringe, the growth in population cannot be entirely attributedto in-migration. The spread of settlement was, in some instances, associated with the indigenous growth and expansion of previously established localities. This was particularly important in the case of central Europeans such as Ukrain­ ians who tended to cluster in tightly knit communities. The expansion of second-generation Ukrainians on to unalienated land was respon­ sible for a large proportion of the population increase in certain areas. In Saskatchewan the Hudson Bay Junction and Sf. Walburg areas were affected, as was the Beaver River valley of Alberta and Sas­ katchewan where by 1935 nearly one third of the population was of Ukrainian origin, 35 The impact of the in-migration upon the population density of the forest fringe was uneven, such that although the average density had SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 47 been pushed to between two and five people per square mile it ranged as high as seventeen people per square mile in certain areas. Land in the vicinity of Prince Albert, west of Nipawin and around Preeceville and Meadow Lake was inundated in this manner.v The impact of this settlement upon the north was such that 154 new school districts were formed through homesteading, with school enrolment reported as 4,801-an average of about thirty students per school." This deluge of population into an environment with which the majority were unfamiliar was accompanied by a host of problems. Whereas in the early 1920s the government had made every effort to purchase land directly for the soldier settlers, thus limiting the role of the intermediary, such was not the case during the "Dirty Thirties." In many instances settlers found themselves on unproductive land due to insufficient caution and, in part, to the unscrupulous habits of real estate agents who easily misled many of the drought refugees." Per­ haps the greatest hindrance to progress was the inability of the settler to clear and break an adequate amount of land. Many settlers arrived in the north destitute. Prior to 1935 there was no direct government assistance given in clearing the land, and thus the settler became depen­ dent, in many cases, upon relief for survival. "A policy ofdirect relief, fat from providing an effective remedy, had served to aggravate the worst features of the situation. Direct relief, although suited to the south, was totally inapplicable to northern settlement where even the basic rudiments of farming necessities were lacking."39 Consequently the removal offorest cover was slow, indeed negligible, across much of the forest belt. The settler's inability to utilize the natural resources of the land (such as fish, game, fur and timber) which were undoubtedly beneficial and in some cases vital to his survival, was limited by his own lack of resources. Often there was a lack of sugar needed for preserving pur­ poses, and many could afford neither ammunition nor a gun for hunt­ ing game. Destitution was further enhanced as prairie-bred horses died ofswamp fever and as crops were destroyed by recurrent frost, rust and sometimes even drought.40 Indeed, some of the worst cases ofdepriva­ tion during the 1930s occurred in the north, accompanied by extreme cases of loneliness caused by isolation. It was noted by a former prov­ incial civil servant that northern settlers had a "regular route to the mental institution at North Battleford."41 By 1934 conditions in northern Saskatchewan were chaotic. The period was marked by destruction of survey stakes, refusals to pay tax­ es, illegal entries on homesteads, school and grazing lands, and an in­ creasing incidence of attempted eviction being met by force. The tre­ mendous surge of people into the forest fringe strained the capacity of its environment. There was a distinct relationship between the vast in- 48 MCDONALD flux of migrants and the serious depletion of fish and fur-bearing ani­ mals, as well as the loss of much valuable timber due to forest fires. Whereas the reaction of local inhabitants had originally been one of sympathy and surprise as to the size of the migration, this attitude eventually turned to one ofanger as the ever-increasing number of mi­ grants taxed the resources of the land and the ability of the municipal­ ities or Local Improvement Districts to meet their needs.t- With the continuation of the Depression and the land shortage the number of people on relief continued to rise. The number of families in Saskatchewan receiving direct relief including food, clothing and hos­ pitalization rose from 3,789in September 1934, to 5,911 in September 1935. Consequently in the fall of 1935 requirements for the acquisition of land were reduced, so that land could be obtained without a thor­ ough survey. The establishment of the 1935 Homestead Act was fur­ ther indicative of the acute land shortage and the need to alleviate it. By the time the Northern Settlers' Re-establishment Board assumed juris­ diction in 1935 it was determined that 40 per cent of the Saskatchewan forest-fringe settlers were in the Meadow Lake-Loon Lake region,40 per centwere northeast and northwest of Prince Albert, and the remain­ ing 20 per cent were in the Hudson Bay Junction area. The 1941 Census of Canada later revealed that the population of the forest fringe exclu­ sive of Prince Albert exceeded 80,000, just over half of whom had mi­ grated north during the 1930s.43 By 1937 virtually all of the available Crown and private lands in Saskatchewan had been settled. Although the cancellation of home­ stead entries began to grow in Saskatchewan at this time, the majority of those cancelling did not leave the north but rather were re-located through efforts of the Northern Settlers' Re-establishment Board.s­ However, as conditions slowly improved elsewhere, the hardships of life in the forest fringe began to loom larger. The cost and labour of breaking land, the lack of services, the unpredictable climate, coupled with forest fires, disease and the increased costs of marketing a crop, slowly engendered a feeling that perhaps life could be more pleasant elsewhere. The resulting outward migration, although not very con­ spicuous until after World War II, witnessed the depopulation of the forest fringe as people foresook their temporary refuge and again returned to the farms and cities of the south. This movement helped to restore an equilibrium between the forest-fringe population and the supporting environment. It was with this equilibrium in mind that gov­ ernment policy in the form of the Northern Settlers' Re-establishment Board approached the problems of the south in the late 1930s and launched the north on the road to a long overdue recovery through planned utilization of the area's resources. SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 49

GOVERNMENTAL ACTIVITY IN RESPECT TO NORTHERN SETTLEMENT DURING THE "DIRTY THIRTIES"­ THE CASE OF SASKATCHEWAN

In 1929-30 the Saskatchewan government had guaranteed munic­ ipalloans for relief to the amount of $1,731,717. The adversities of 1930-31 caused the municipalities to advance a further $2,725,683 for relief." In December 1930, in response to the rapidly deteriorating conditions, the government announced the new Relief Settlement Plan, the aim of which was the transfer of people on relief to farms in .the north." Potential settlers were not required to have had previous agri­ cultural experience, and a grant of up to $300 was made available for each successful applicant. The United Farmers of Canada (UFC) were responsible for the administration of relief in the northern half of Saskatchewan. Conse­ quently they were one of the first groups to show concern for the move­ ment by the government of destitute settlers into the north and thus into their domain of responsibility. Although UFC officials sympa­ thized with the government over the issue of unemployment, they were nevertheless opposed to further settlement in the north until an impar­ tial yet thorough investigation of agricultural conditions had been con­ ducted. As early as 1931, A. J. Macauley, the UFC president, warned that much of the land being occupied was unsuitable for farming and predicted, very accurately, that some of the settlers would be worseoff than ifthey stayed in the south." He was further critical of the small amount of assistance given to families who moved from the cities. The need for further assistance to settlers after their arrival led to the passing of the LandSettlement Act, a jointfederal-provincial effort which came into effect in May 1931.The purpose of this Act was to ad­ vance the capital needed to assist Saskatchewan citizens who were ex­ perienced in farming to settle on provincial lands. In the first month 231 farmers took advantage of this scheme." Concentrations of mi­ grants ultimately occurred at Loon Lake and in the Pelly district, set­ tled by people from the Saskatoon and Moose Jaw districts respective­ ly. The summer of 1931 also witnesseda withdrawal of land from the pro­ posed Candle Lake Indian Reserve and from the Pasquia and Porcupine Forest Reserves in an attempt to fulfil the need for more land. Despite these efforts the shortage of suitable land led to the penetration of settlers on to parts of the Missouri Coteau and the Shellbrook-Meath Park Platn, both areas which had be.en formerly avoided.s? The attitude of the federal government played an important role in the determination of provincial.relief policy, due to the fact that the provincial government was dependent upon Ottawa for financial sup- 50 MCDONALD

port. Relief of poverty had traditionally been a municipal concern. Thus the federal government in the Depression assumed only a "tem­ porary" role in contributing to relief.w The federal government was totally unprepared to bend its views in order to remedy the deterior­ ating economic situation on the prairies. In the absence of a construc­ tive federal agricultural policy, the federal government's solution to the economic plight of the nation was the protective tariff, a measure which offered no solution to the problems of the agrarian-based econ­ omy of the prairie provinces." Other assisted land settlement schemes were worked out in 1932 and 1934 as part of federal relief policy. Under these Acts the Domin­ ion contributed one-third and the province, together with the originat­ ing municipality of the settler, the other two-thirds of a sum not to exceed $600. Although advances were limited in 1932 to $300, due to the province's inability to contribute, this was rectified by 1934. About a thousand families received assistance under the back-to-the-land schemes and one of a similar nature in 1937.52 However, the rate of abandonment under these schemes was high. In August, 1931 the provincial government took steps to set up a centralized and comprehensive Saskatchewan Relief Commission. This commission facilitated the northward migration by providing for the transportation of farm equipment and livestock. In response to what appeared to be a productive federal back-to-the-Iand scheme, the provincial government in April 1932 announced the creation of a pro­ vincial scheme. A board to administer it was subsequently established on May 12, 1932. This move was accompanied by the passing of the Saskatchewan Relief Act, a measure which gave the Commission absolute jurisdiction over people o~ relief. Both measures were also designed to cut costs.P However, the overall impact of this provincial back-to-the-Iand scheme was negligible due to its sudden termination a scant two months after its inauguration. Financial restrictions tended to limit the size of the movements under provincial back-to-the-Iand schemes. The earliest schemes had allowed urban unemployed on to the land, but later provincial schemes were altered in such a manrier as to limit their value to the urban cen­ tres. While in Saskatoon, Premier Anderson told the city that whereas "the provincial government was prepared to assist the unemployed to establish on land if they had farms selected, it was not the intention of the Co-operative Government to enter upon any large farm settle­ ment scheme...."54 This statement represented at least a partial change in government policy towards northern settlement. The extent of government participation in the northward migra­ tion was in fact relatively small. Although figures vary, perhaps ten thousand families were involved in the northward movement.» In 1931-32 the Saskatchewan Relief Commission shipped 1,852 carloads SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 51 of settlers effects, in 1934, 662 carloads and in 1935 one thousand car­ loads." Under the Relief Settlement Plans of 1932and 1934the three levels of government had participated in moving 920 settlers as ofApril 30, 1937.Of these a number moved to better land in the south or to the park belt, although the majority migrated north.>?The great majority of farmers appear to have moved on their own, not participating in any of the maze of assisted settlement and loan schemes. Beginning in the autumn of 1932,and due to stricter government control there was an actual decrease in homestead entries in each month 'until the spring of 1934. This resulted from the government's attempts to stem the tide of settlers moving on to sub-marginal land. Only those with sufficient equipment and finances were allowed to register a homestead entry. However, with pressure mountingfor more land, a change in policy was urgently required. All unalienated provin­ cial lands suitable for settlement had previously been classified and sold in 160-acrelots at prices ranging from one to three dollars per acre, depending on geographical location and land quality. This classif­ ication system was abandoned in April 1934 when only third-grade ~ Crown lands remained unalienated. Under this system only 4 per cent of the first 7,000 entries had occurred on lands classified as valuable settlement lands. Upon abandonment of the land-classification sys­ tem, all provincial lands were sold for settlement purposes if so reques­ ted. Applicants had to swear that they had personally inspected the land and that in their opinion at least 50 per cent of it was arable. Under this policy, settlers were given four years to break 15 acres whereas previous requirements had stipulated that 20. acres be broken in three years." Government assistance in the early 1930swas plagued by a serious duplication of agencies, reflecting a confusion ofpolicies which lacked both the cohesiveness and the power to dictate the pattern of settle­ ment in the forest fringe. The majority of the various schemes empha­ sized merely the placement of settlers, paying little attention to the needs arising after their establishment in a new environment. Govern­ ment efforts were also limited by the fact that many of them were half­ hearted ventures meant to be nothing more than stop-gap measures. It was not until after it became apparent that the Depression would not be an overnight phenomenon that the province began to develop a more cohesive set of policies through which to deal with the problems of settlement in the north. This development, however, had to await the return to power of the Liberals in 1934. In June 1935, a Liberal amendment to the Provincial Lands Act restored the policy of free homesteads. All surveyed lands classified as suitable for homestead entry were made available to the first eligible applicant upon payment of a fee of ten dollars. Most squatting became legal under this Act, and a land patent could be applied for after three 52 MCDONALD years if all requirements were met. The majority ofoutstanding loans against settlers were also cancelled. The pressure for land was revealed when 10,700 inquiries were made in the first year. However, although this Act gave the settler a firm legal right to his land, it still offered him none of the assistance which was needed if self-sufficiency was to be attained.

THE NORTHERN SETTLERS RE-ESTABLISHMENT BRANCH

A new era in the development and utilization of the forest fringe was initiated in September 1935, when the Northern Settlers Re-estab­ lishment Branch of the Department of Municipal Affairs was estab­ lished. 59 This Branch was responsible for supervising settlement and the distribution of capital and relief assistance. It immediately began an economic survey ofall settlers who had moved into theforest fringe in the 1930sand who were dependent on relief. It was found that about 7,800 settlers, some of whom had been in the area prior to the 1930s, were in need of some form of assistance; that 90 per cent of these set­ tlers had formerly farmed in the south, the balance coming from urban centres; and that many of them lacked both stock and equipment. Thus one ofthe major tasks ofthe Re-establishment Branch in its early years was to promulgate self-sufficiency amongst the settlers which, in ma~y cases, required their re-establishment on suitable land. Upon assuming responsiblility for northern settlement, the Board found itself serving a population which was scattered through a belt across the entire east-west extent of the province, with an average width of about 100 miles. Providing services to such a population was very costly. Thus consolidation of population became part of the Branch's policy: [The Branch] ... depends upon land being secured in blocks of a size that will at least accommodate the minimum number of set­ tlers necessary to support the education, medical and transpor­ tation facilities essential to the well-being and progress of a com­ munity.w This was a difficult task, for pockets ofgood land were surrounded by much poor land. Nevertheless, six blocks of land involving nearly 100,000 acres were taken over from the Department of Natural Re­ sources and prepared for settlement by Re-establishment authorities. The strong intent ofthe government to rectify the inequities of the forest fringe became exceedingly clear through the powerswhich were granted under the Land Utilization Act to the Northern Settlers Re­ establishment Branch. The Land Utilization Act had given broad powers under which the Branch could declare anyspecified part of the province to be under the jurisdiction ofthe Act. Any lands within any declared area which were found to be unsuitable for agriculture could SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 53 be converted to public lands. Data were subsequently collected on lands within each municipality, and the municipalities in their turn were required to sever assistance in the form ofsupplies to occupants of inferior Iands.v' By 1936the Branch was active in seventy-two Local Improvement Districts and Rural Municipalities. In 1937the Branch commenced its own breaking of land, whereby 40,000 acres were clearedby 1939; in 1938 responsibility for the construction ofmarket roads was assumed from the Department of Highways.s- Rapid clearing and breaking of land and the construction of suitable roads were at last recognized as crucial. Thus the scope of the Branch expanded until it was partici­ pating in allaspects of northern settlement. It now possessed both the intent and the ability to manipulate and restructure the pattern of set­ tlement in the forest fringe, much of which dated only from the early 1930s. It had taken half a decade to progress from the makeshift fed­ eral and provincial loan and settlement schemes, which failed to ade­ quately recognize the nature of the forest-fringe environment, to an administrative body which could begin to rectify matters in an orderly and convincing fashion.

CONCLUSION

Settlement in the northern forest fringe of the prairie was, in the main, a gradual process. Yet the area was also host to two abnormally large movements of settlers in the twentieth century. The first move­ ment, of soldier settlers, while not without its problems, was relatively successful. The second migration, in the "Dirty Thirties," occurred under an entirely different set of conditions. Depression and drought drove a substantial number ofpeople northwards, many ofwhom were thankful merely to escape the drought. Their numbers exceeded the availability of Crown land and the ability of the government andthe environment to meet and absorb their needs. The relative success ofthe federal government in establishing the machinery necessary to administer the first movement is indicated by the fact that the Soldier Settlement Board was able to turn its attention to a range of diverse activities as early as 1923. In contrast, the almost uncontrollable influx of settlers to the Saskatchewan forest fringe in the early 1930s took place in the absence of cohesive governmental policy. This resulted in considerable deprivation in the forest fringe during the Depression. Both the authorities and the general popula­ tion shared a false optimism about this region; the great difference between the forest fringe and the prairies was only slowly appreciated by the government. This is exemplified in the initial programs ofpro­ viding direct relief to the northern settlers rather than practical aid in clearing land for farming. Only with the formation of the Northern 54 MCDONALD

Settlers Re-establishment Branch in 1935did things begin to improve. Somewhat ironically, it was the Second World War which finally dissi­ pated the excessive population of the forest fringe by prompting the return to buoyant economic conditions elsewhere.

NOTES I B. C. Vanderhill, "Settlement in the Forest Lands of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta: A Geographic Analysis," unpublished ·M.A. thesis, University of Michigan, '1956, p. 95. 2 Government ofCanada, Report ofthe Soldier Settlement Board ofMarch 31, 1921,.Ottawa, F. A. Acland, 1921, p. 24. Ibid, p. 10. Denis Patrick Fitzgerald, "Pioneer Settlement in Northern Saskatchewan, "Vol. 1, unpub­ lished Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1965, p. 180. Contained in Archives of Saskat­ chewan, Regina, N. R. 4.1. 5 "Indian Reserves To Be Given Soldiers," The Morning Leader, Regina, November 30, 19l8, p.22. 6 E. C. Morgan, "Soldier Settlement in the Prairie Provinces," Saskatchewan History, Vol. XXI, 1968, pp. 41-55. Government of Canada, op. cit., p. 88. Ibid, p, 94. Herbert R. Harris, Porcupine Soldier Settlement and Adjacent Areas, Shand Agricultural Society, 1967, p. 7. 10 "Advises Soldiers To Take Up Land In The Porcupine," The Morning Leader, Regina, July 17, 1919, p. 12. II Harris, op. cit., p. 9. 12 Ibid, p. 63. 13 Morgan, op. cit., p. 44. 14 Fitzgerald, op. cit., p. 180. 15 Government of Canada, op. cit., p. 152. 16 Government of Canada, Third Report ofthe Soldier Settlement Board ofCanada, Decem- ber 31, 1924, Ottawa, F. A. Acland, 1925, p. 9. 17 Morgan, op. cit., p. 45. 18 Government of Canada, Third Report . . ., op. cit., p. 9. 19 Government ofCanada, Sixth Report ofthe Soldier Settlement BoardofCanada, December 31, 1927, Ottawa, F. A. Acland, 1928, p. 5. 20 Fitzgerald, op. cit., p. 215. 21 Ibid., pp. 237-47. 22 Government ofCanada, Seventh Report ofthe Soldier Settlement Board ofCanada, Decem­ ber 31, 1928, Ottawa, F. A. Acland, 1929, p. 12. 23 Vanderhill,op. cit., p. 119. Quoted from letter by R. W. Gyles, Director of Lands, Manitoba Dept. of Mines and Natural Resources, Winnipeg, May 27, 1950~ 24 G. E. Britnell, The Wheat Economy, University of Toronto Press, 1939, p. 203. Quotedfrom The Report ofthe Saskatchewan Royal Commission ofImmigration and Settlement, 1930, p'. 15. 25 Fitzgerald, op. cit., p. 297. 26 Ibid., p. 304. 27 Britnell,op. cit., p. 51. Quoted from AnnualReport ofthe Secretary ofSta tistics, 1934, Dept. of Agriculture, Saskatchewan, p. 94. 28 George Joseph Hoffman, The Saskatchewan Provincial Election of1934: Its Political, Eco­ nomic and Social Background, p. 5. Quoted from The Leader Post, Regina, June 2, 1931. p.14. 29 Vanderhill, op. cit., p. 126. 30 Fitzgerald, op. cit., p. 305. 31 Ibid, p. 309. 32 Vanderhill, op. cit., p. 122. 33 Ibid, p. 126. 34 Jonathan F. Wagner, "Heim Ins Reich-The Story of Loon River's Nazis," Saskatchewan History, Vol XXIX, 1976, p. 48. 35 Vanderhill, op. cit., p. 130. 36 Fitzgerald, op. cit., p. 354. 37 Britnell, op. cit., p. 210. 38 Vanderhill, op. cit., p. 130. 39 Britnell, op. cit., p. 213~ 40 Ibid., p. 210. 41 Hoffman, op. cit., pp. 39-40. Quoted from an interview with L. R. Blakely conducted by E. C. Morgan, February 2, 1970. SOLDIER AND DEPRESSION SETTLEMENT 55

42 T. J. D. Powell, "Northern Settlement, 1929-1935," Saskatchewan History, Vol. XXX, 1977. p. 95. 43 Information sources for this paragraph include Britnell, Ope cit., pp. 209-:I I, and Fitzgerald, Ope cit., p. 346. 44 Fitzgerald, Ope cit., p. 336. 45 Max Wolfe Rubin, "The Response of the Bennett Government to the Depression in Saskat­ chewan, 1930-1935: A Study in Dominion-Provincial Relations," unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Regina, 1975, p. 74. 46 Fitzgerald, Ope cit., p. 306. The Saskatchewan government had already formulated a plan to assist the movement ot nvestock from drought-stricken areas and to help farmers move to northern Saskatchewan. See P. A. Russell, "The Co-operative Government's Response to the Depression," Saskatchewan History, Vol. XXIV, 1971, pp. 86-87. 47 Hoffman,op. cit., pp. 37-38. Quoted from The Leader Post, Regina, July 17, 1931, p. 12. 48 Rubin,op. cit., p. 48. Quoted from The Leader Post, Regina, November 14, 1933, p. 13. 49 Powell, Ope cit., pp. 90-9I. so Russell, Ope cit., p. 82. The federal Unemployment ReliefAct of 1930, and the succeeding series of Unemployment and Farm Relief Acts, were renewable annually with no guarantee of continuity. 51 Rubin, Ope cit., p. 27. 52 Britnell, Ope cit., p. 207. 53 Rubin, Ope cit., pp. 135 and 149-50. 54 Ibid., p. 79. Quoted from The Leader Post, Regina, April 4, 1932, p. 2. 55 The number of people who migrated to northern Saskatchewan and just when they did so have been matters of intense debate. The lack of records for the myriad of government schemes coupled with the number of people who simply packed up and left on their own leaves no positive way of precisely determining just how many people actually migrated to northern Saskatchewan. Britnell, through the use of statistics from the provincial Depart­ ment of Natural Resources, estimates that 35,937 people entered the north. Fromthese same statistics he concludes that the years of greatest migration were 1931 and 1932 (see G. E. Britnell, The Wheat Economy, p. 203). In contrast to this, D. P. Fitzgerald refers to the summers of 1933-34 as those forming the apex of the migration which he says has been de­ scribed as the "great exodus." He further feels that the greatest advance took place in the years 1933-35. However, he states that at least 45,000 people moved into northern Saskatch­ ewan from 1930 to 1936 (see Fitzgerald, Ope cit., p. 314). James Gray (Men Against The Des­ ert, Western Producer Prairie Books, Modern Press, Saskatoon, p. 190) says that 10,000 families migrated, whereas Vanderhill (op. cit., p. 121) estimates that 4,600 families migrated north from the prairie farms, two-thirds of which came from Alberta, the majority of whom settled in Saskatchewan. George Hoffman (op. cit.) feels the number of migrants was in ex­ cess of 35,000. He further reports that in the 1934Throne Speech it was announced that4,000 settlers with their families had moved north since 1930, increasing the northern population by 20,000. John Charnetski, in his M.A. thesis, "A Study of Settlers' Progress in Northern Sas­ katchewan for the Period 1935-39" (Univ. of Saskatchewan, 1940), like James Gray at a later date, estimated that about 8,000 families were involved in the migration. Estimates from art­ icles contained in The Leader Post on July 17, 193I and March 8, and April 2, 1932 vary too widely from more properly conducted research to be given much credibility. This also holds true for a number of articles contained in the publication Macleans during the first halfof the 19308. 56 Britnell, Ope cit., p. 206. 57 Powell, Ope cit., p. 93. 58 Information sources for this paragraph include Fitzgerald, Ope cit., p. 321, and Britnell, Ope cit., p. 205. 59 Britnelt. oc. cit., p. 212. 60 Fitzgerald, Ope cit., p. 338. Quoted from Annual Report ofthe [Saskatchewan] Department of Natural Resources, 1940-41, Regina, 1941, p. 7. 61 Powell, Ope cit., p. 96. 62 Charnetski, Ope cit., p. 8.

PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, NO.1 57 The Conservative Party of Alberta Under Lougheed, 1965-71: Building an Image and an Organization Meir Serfaty Department of Political Science, Brandon University

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the factors involved in the rise of the Progressive Conservative party of Alberta from 1965onwards. The retirement of Manning, the changes in the Alberta pop­ ulation and the rearrangement of electoral districts are all shown to have played a part in this change in the party's fortunes; but the most important factor is seen to be the fresh organization and image of the party brought about by the new Ieadec.Peter Lougheed.

RESUME Ce document explore les facteurs impliques dans la montee du parti Progressiste Conserv­ ateur en Alberta depuis 1965. La retraite de Manning, les changements dans la population de l'Alberta et le rearrangement des districts electoraux ont tous eu un role ajoucer dans le change­ ment de fortune du parti; mais le facteur le plus important se retrouve au niveau de Ia nouvelle organisation et image du parti amenee par Ie nouveau leader, Peter Lougheed.

INTRODUCTION

The victory of the Progressive Conservative party of Alberta in 1971 was the result of many factors. Demographic and economic changes in the province had been startling. Massive in-migration had begun in the 1950s, and had stepped up in the 1960sto the point that, by 1971, barely one out of four residents of the province could be regarded as "native-born." This was accompanied by rapid urbaniz­ ation, which was responsible for nearly 70 per cent of the population living in cities by 1971, a sharp contrast with the 30 percent of the early 1930s.1 The new middle class-the "arriviste bourgeoisie" as Pratt and Richards- call it-which this rising population created was secular in outlook and suspicious of Social Credit's intrinsic fundamentalism. It clearly helped propel the PCs to power. Furthermore, it was this class, concentrated in the cities; which had pushed for changes in the electoral map of the province. Maldistribution in Alberta had been a perennial problem, despite understandably half-hearted attempts by Premier Manning in the course of his reign to correct it by Order-in­ Council. The Calgary and Edmonton Chambers of Commerce, urged by the PCs, pressed for the establishment of a special committee of the legislature to look into more equitable distribution. Out of the delib­ erations of this committee came the recommendation to increasethe number of urban seats by fifteen. Forthe first time in 1971,urban areas contained a majority of seats (38-37). This redistribution helped the PCs which had traditionally been a predominantly urban party. Changes in the socio-economic infrastructure in Alberta resulted in the decline of Social Credit. Unlike the Social Credit party in British Columbia which had successfully adapted itself to the economic real- 58 SERFATY ities of the province, the predominantly fundamentalist Alberta wing resisted all attempts by Manning's successor, Harry Strom, to give the party a new image. The "Young Turks" with whom Strom had sur­ rounded himselfconsistently emerged with new ideas to rejuvenate the party, only to be ignored by the "Old Guard.'? The fact remains, however, that the Social Credit party did not lose its strength substantially between 1965 and 1971. The party act­ ually increased its total vote between 1967 and 1971 by over forty thousand votes. Thus the Conservative victory cannot be attributed to any Socred debacle, but rather to the fact that the PCs had gained in popularity. Another factor that hasbeen well-documented" is the consistent decline of the provincial Liberal party. Plagued by internecine disputes and a sagging image in Alberta, the Liberals had become since the late 1950stotally subordinated to the federal wing of the party, and inter­ ested in patronage rather than in political power. There is some evi­ dence that many Liberal voters opted for the PCs in 1971, but this oc­ curred only afterthe latterhad established themselves as an alternative to Social Credit. The PCs, then, found themselves in a favourable situation in the 1960s,in an Alberta with a changing economy and society, a generally impotent Opposition, and a tired Socred party in power. They alone had the advantage of starting with a clean slate. They had never been a powerful force provincially-they had failed to obtain a single seat in 1963-and had only become a contender federally since the Diefen­ baker breakthrough in 1957. Yet the party had the potential to become the sole alternative to Social Credit. The Alberta electorate was basic­ ally conservative in nature, as shown by their support of Manning's leadership since the early -194Os. ,It is clear, however, that the PCs did not come to _power for this reason alone. In confirmation of the so-called "balance theory" of fed­ eralism, Albertans refused to give the party widespread provincial sup­ port either in 1959 or in 1963:the PC sweep of federal seats in Alberta since 1957 did not affect the provincial arena. Apparently, more was needed from the party to unseat the Socreds: namely, to become a credible alternative. It was left to Peter Lougheed to become the right man in the right place at the right time. Despite advantageous socio-economic, cultural and political conditions, only serious party and image rebuilding could lead the PCs in the direction ofelectoral victory. The remainder of this paper will show how the PCs fashioned themselves into an alternative to Social Credit. CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ALBERTA 59

A. THE FIRST PHASE OF REBUILDING (1965-67): ASSESSING PC STRENGTH

Two periods of Conservative rebuilding and development are evident, the first beginning with Lougheed's assumption ofthe leader­ ship in 1965 and terminating in 1967, and the second from the 1967 election to the 1971 victory. Lougheed's determination to start a new chapter in Alberta poli­ tics can be gleaned from his statement at the 1965 leadership conven­ tion, when he pointedly warned: "let us consider that the campaign starts right now and never stops."> The new PCleader's hopes for elec­ toral success stemmed, first, from what he termed "the myth of perfor­ mance" of the Socreds.s "Everybody takes for granted that Social Credit is doing well. Nobody knows, however, how well they are really performing." Investigating Socred performance became the focal point of Lougheed's endeavours during the next five years; as is shown below, PC research did not indicate that Social Credit had done poorly and the' strategy thus later had to be modified. Second, in Lougheed's view, Social Credit had repeatedly succeeded in sweeping the province by default. For example, in 1963just over 56 per cent of those eligible had cast votes in .Alberta: of these, less than 55 per cent opted for the Socreds, who had nevertheless won 95 per cent of the seats. To Loug­ heed, the lesson was clear; not only must distribution be more equitable, but the uncommitted voter held the key to PC victory. These people could be won over only by projecting an image of a vigorous, unified and determined party. Lougheed then set out on a two-pronged attack: first develop­ ment of a political philosophy and image, and second, building a vi­ able organization. The Philosophy and the Image The philosophical task was the easier ofthe two. It consisted of enumerating the basic principles ofAlberta Conservatism, something which provincial Conservatives had not done systematically in the past.? Under the direction of Frank Calder, a friend ofLougheed's and under the latter's close supervision a committee drafted a set of "Guide­ posts" which was subsequently approved by the 1966 convention in a pamphlet entitled "What Do We Stand For?" The "Guideposts" provided a vision of Alberta's future and the Conservatives' place in it. There was little abstract theorizing and nothing rev olutionary in the document. Among other features, it in­ cluded the party's belief in expansion of local government power because "the most democratic form of government is that which is closest to the people." The Conservatives emphasized the need for stronger and more effective government, and urged Alberta's own self- 60 SERFATY assertion in achieving a role of leadership within the confines of Can­ adian unity. The party favoured developing long-range planning. To facilitate this, legislative priorities should be established: education should be high on the list, as should development of natural resources. At the same time, private enterprise should be allowed the opportunity to develop Alberta's economy, "but in such a way as to provide ade­ quate returns to our citizens for the fortunate location of these resour­ ces within our boundaries." What were the purposes of this exercise? One of them was suggest- ed by Lougheed himself. He indicated that his "Guideposts" ... clearly illustrate the distinction between the progressive con­ servatism as proposed by our party and the policies which guide the present administration [note the unwillingness on his part to add an epithet to the word policies]. There are important differ­ ences that must be understood." Second, as Barr points out, the "Guideposts" were meant to convey to the Alberta electorate-both uncommitted and Socred supporters­ the assurance that "they had nothing to fear from the Tories, that a vote for Lougheed was a vote for a 'safe' change."9 It is evident that the Conservative party needed to move towards establishing itself as an alternative to Social Credit prior to branching out into other areas of concern. The "Guideposts" met this need by en­ trenching the party clearly on the side of conservatism. At the same time, however, the document provided a progressive and responsible image for the party. In other words, the Conservatives would be pre­ pared to innovate in several vital areas, but they would preserve the accomplishments made by Social Credit. This dual strategy was very necessary. Prior to 1966, the popular image of the Conservatives was one of nearidentity with the Socreds in terms of real politics if not of basic philosophy. While the document did not attempt to deny the closely-related positions of the two, it claimed in implicit but certain terms that the PCs were the conser­ vative party; the Socreds merely were part ofa reactionary movement and, under the direction of Manning, had embraced a half-baked con­ servatism as a means of maintaining themselves in power.

The Organizational Effort Lougheed's initial steps to re-organize the party were cautious but firm. First, he formalized and strengthened the office of leader, by turning it into a full-time position, paid by the party. Second, he open­ ed a new provincial party office in Edmontonand revitalized the large­ ly makeshift office in Calgary. Third, he instituted the practice of cir­ culating regular newsletters-Progressive Reports, as he called them-to the party membership. These newsletters, far from self-con- CONSERVATIVE.PARTY OF ALBERTA 61 gratulatory in tone, often pointed out weaknesses in party organiz­ ation and proved a valuable forum for communicating his designs for the future of Alberta. Shortly after becoming leader, Lougheed embarked on "fact­ finding missions" to Nova Scotia, Manitobaand Ontario. His aim was to ascertain how Stanfield, Roblin and the Ontario PCs had made their own parties into such powerful electoral machines. Three steps, he was informed, had to be taken. The first was strongleadership. The leader should delegate responsibility, but only while keeping tight con­ trol over decision-making. Second, a strongcentral organization must be built, as the nerve centre of an expanding structure. The leaders warned abut the difficulty of overcoming the established elements in the hierarchy, which would impede his efforts eitherthrough inertia or through resistance to change. These elements remained important, however, as links with the sources of funds, and should not be alien­ ated.!? Third, constituency organizations must be formed by the lead­ er, or with the leader's direct help. They must be headed by individuals who owed their allegiance principally to the leader. Lougheed followed this advice almost to the letter. He surround­ ed himself with a group of trusted lieutenants who were to help him in his task: Bob Dinkel, Ted Mills, Jim Seymour, Art Smith and Joe Clark were some of the associates who appeared on the scene in late 1965; the first three remained close to him until 1971. The central executive ofthe party was rent asunderby the contin­ uing dispute between pro- and anti-Diefenbaker forces. Rather than become involved, Lougheed established his own informal structure. He was able to achieve this coup partly by virtue of the increasing re­ spect he was gaining among the formal leadership because of his deter­ mination, and partly because he was not challenging their authority. The final task proved more difficult. In 1965, the PCs had formal organizations in only twenty constituencies; ofthese, only three, all in Calgary, could be said to be active and fully organized. II Lougheed had originally determined to travel throughout the province, starting in the fall of 1965, but after Joe Clark and he had visited all Alberta rural constituencies in the summerof 1966,it became apparent to them that a change in strategy was needed, for several difficulties had been encountered. First, federal PC MPs resented having their secure positions rock­ ed by the introduction of a two-tier organization. In their view, this would upset the succesful tacit understanding that they had reached with the Socreds to share the electoral spoils.'- Second, it is clear that Lougheed may have appeared, in the barren Alberta scene, as yet an­ other Opposition leader trying to break the Socred stronghold. He did not yet possess the stature necessary to convince either party members or newcomers of the worth of his cause. He needed to break old ap- 62 SERFATY athy. Third, as a consequence, there was a financial stumbling block. Most Conservative contributors specified that funds be allocated to the federal wing. Lougheed continually found himself in a position of reminding the executive that what he termed "live cells" or newly form­ ed constituency organizations had to be kept active.U In view ofthese problems, and in order to overcome them, Loug­ heed decided with Clark to alter his strategy. He resolved to gain respectability first, by concentrating on and winning a few constitu­ encies. In the late summer and fall of 1966, he opted for some 25 rid­ ings, where he sought out locally well-known political neophytes who could stand on their own in the coming election.l- The 1967 campaign was instrumental in giving Lougheed the respectability that he sought. Despite Manning's efforts to downplay the PC leader and his party, and despite the unwillingness of federal PC MPs to lend him support.P Lougheed emerged as the new "rising star" of Alberta politics." A major reason for this was the debate in which the leaders of all the parties participated and which made the media note Lougheed's ability to tackle the "Old Master" himself. All the major provincial newspapers, with the exception of the Albertan, wrote glowing editorials of his deportment, confidence, knowledge of Alberta, and determination.!" Indeed, the Calgary Herald went so far as to endorse his candidacy for Alberta leadership.'! Lougheed's goals were unambitious: first, to win election in his own riding of Calgary West. To this end, he went through an energetic campaign, calling on every household of the constituency, a feat never accomplished in the past. He concentrated on his own constituency almost exclusively, only briefly stopping over to help other promising candidates. He put special emphasis on this task simply because no Conservative leader had been elected to office since 1917. His second goal was to allow the image projected by the party during the cam­ paign as a soberalternative to the Socreds, and the personal popularity of other candidates in their own constituencies to propel them to victory. The election results were promising. The party obtained a higher share of the popular- vote (26 per cent) and a larger number of seats (six) in the legislature than they had done since 1917. Considering the limitations of time, the hardened voting patterns of Alberta, and the experiences of the PCs and other opposition parties in the past, this constituted a breakthrough.

B. THE SECOND PHASE OF DEVELOPMENTS (1967-71) BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION AND AN IMAGE

The 1967 election was barely over before the Conservative party, CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ALBERTA 63 under the leadership of Lougheed, was busy in an assessment of the gains made and of the weaknesses in its organization. Five of the six seats won were urban seats. -Thechallenge of draw­ ing a measure of support from the rural districts had to be met. The new campaign to woo the Alberta voter began in September 1967,with the official launching by Lougheed of an eighteen-month blitz intend­ ed to build winning constituency organizations across the province. The major responsibility for the building task fell upon the shoulders of a Calgary man, a close associate of Lougheed and one of his inti­ mate personal friends. E. M. (Ted) Mills was a business executive, 37 years old, without any political ambitions. He became Lougheed's executive assistant in charge of organization throughout the prov­ ince.'? The estimated target date for establishing viable organizations in all sixty-five provincial constituencies was April 1969, that is to say, within eighteen months. Mills was put in charge of an executive committee which provided him with the necessary tactical aid to facilitate his task. With a business background and no special knowledge of politics, he set about his double task: to establish organizations in the nineteen constituencies where the Conservatives had none, and to revamp the weaker ones. Throughout he continued to oversee their progress, thereby assuring central control. Lougheed wanted to build strong organizations in all these consti­ tuencies. The model was his own winning constituency of Calgary West. The following criteria were to be strictly adhered to by all: I. At least 4 per cent of the total constituency voters should become members of the party. 2. Each constituency should be able to raise at least $1000from a vari­ ety of projects. 3. Each constituency should hold a minimum of six' meetings each year, two of which should be social meetings and the rest executive meetings. 4. Each riding should try to obtain the services of the best possible candidate from the riding. 5. The means should become available to provide the best and most effective communication between the candidate, organization and voter. 6. Each constituency ought to form a strong, viable executive commit­ tee with provision for new members to move up the organizational ladder at regular intervals. - 7. Each constituency would be encouragedto send strongdelegations to the party's annual meetings. 8. Finally, each riding should be also encouraged to submit as many briefs as possible on local issues." In order to achieve this new order of things more efficiently and with the least possible friction, Lougheed made two quick moves. First, he surrounded himself with workers and leaders whose main 64 SERFATY loyalty was to Lougheed alone;" avoiding reliance on the federal party, its workers as much as its leadership. Senior party officials were moved to less active roles in the organization, and replaced by people from the ranks of the newly involved. Second, in a parallel development, the senior officials of the central executive, who had dominated the party, were moved out of their positions. The whole organization changed hands in November 1967, with the presidency going to Roy Watson, one of Lougheed's foremost supporters and an active organizer. The "Old Guard," which had worked together with the senior MPs and had been instrumental in slowing down the process of Conservative revival in the provincial arena, was mercilessly squeezed out.P Thus, in one sweep, between September and November 1967, when the party convention took place, the Conservative party of Al­ berta became the Lougheed party. A cursory and incomplete review of some of the associations, which Mills had helped organize, shows that community-conscious young people, from middle-class backgrounds, formed the new elite of the party.P In the fall of 1968, Lougheed decided to embark on regular infor­ mal meetings with his constituents. He began to frequent one of the shopping centres in his home riding on Friday nights, shaking hands and receiving suggestions.> These efforts were deemed to have been so successful that other Conservative MLAs followed the practice, with similar success. Another enterprise in which Lougheed became involved was the "fact-finding" tour. Between the spring of 1968 and the fall of 1969, Lougheed travelled through different parts of Alberta, particularly the rural areas, in order to raise the level of support for his party. These tours served a two-fold purpose: first, "to acquaint MLAs [who ac­ companied him on all these tours] with specific problems of each area, and to determine the effectiveness of governmental administration"; second, and politically more pragmatic, to listen to the public and to demonstrate to the leaders of the communities visited that the party, as Lougheed put it, "is deeply interested in their problems and .. .is ready to take up their problems before the Legislature."25 In fact, many people did become full-fledged members of the party as a result of the tours and the opportunity to meet Lougheed. In the course of these tours, Conservatives met with mayors, town councils, chambers of commerce, and farm and labour groups as well as with individuals. The reaction was generally enthusiastic. As one farmer put it, "for the first time in years, Opposition MLAs-letalone Government MLAs-have taken the trouble to visit our community and listen to ourproblems."26 In some of these communities, especially well-publicized meetings took place in which Lougheed would listen to individuals with specific problems. This strengthened people's view of CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ALBERTA 65

his responsibility, sincerity and unwillingness to make quick and cheap political gains.s? Another effort by the Conservative party to demonstrate its con­ cern for small towns and rural areas involved the holding of partypol­ icy conferences across the province. The apparent purpose of these conferences was to allow popular participation in the shaping of the Conservative platform for the coming election. Four of these confer­ ences were held during 1970:an agriculture conference in Red Deer; an education conference in Camrose; a general policy conference in Red Deer; and a meeting designed to investigate rural industrialization, in Lethbridge. It soon became clear that the avowed purpose of the con­ ferences was far removed from their real one; panels were conducted in suspiciously smooth fashion and, although debate appeared heated at times, their obvious purpose was to carry the Conservative leader's point of view to the delegates and from them to the grass-roots leve1. 28 The value of these conferences cannot be overemphasized. Lougheed and his party obtained much publicity as the new "open party." This was to create a bandwagon effect. It enlarged the party's basis of support, and it helped to increase the enthusiasm and dedica­ tion of the party faithful and new supporters.s? During 1969and 1970, the party also held regional conferences in order to ascertain party strength and to fill gaps in organization. The regional conferences con­ sisted of meetings between the leaders of constituencies and the chief general organizers. They took place in Calgary, Lethbridge, Edmon­ ton, Vermilion, Barrhead, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Hanna and Medicine Hat. Special workshops were also held to provide prospec­ tive candidates and constituency hopefuls with fresh ideas intended to attract members and keep interest alive in the various ridings.w One of the majorpurposes ofthe move to strengthen constituency bases was to ensure that candidates were nominated long before the election was called. Evidence of the success of the approach was that thirteen candidates had been nominated by February 1970,thirty-two by March, forty-four by September, fifty-six by January 1971, and seventy by the time the election was called by Strom.!' Annual party conventions became an important part of the PCs' new image. They were designed to generate enthusiasm among the party workers and to show Albertans, through extraordinary media coverage, both the openness of the party and the devotion and fun­ filled excitement of Lougheed's supporters. All the conventions since 1967had been well attended; but none came close to the feverish pitch achieved by the 1971 conference, whose theme appropriately was "Breakthrough '71." More than a thousand delegates and seven hun­ dred observers attended-one of the largest party conventions ever held in Alberta. 66 SERFATY

Several innovations at this conference were extremely effective in projecting the image ofa party on the move. One of these was the "hot seat," which saw Lougheed and the other MLAs facing the conference and replying to questions from the floor regarding their views on pro­ vincial topics. This was an unqualified success. Another innovation was the use ofcomputers in the convention for the first time. A thirty­ three question opinion survey was distributed to delegates and their answers immediately processed. Lougheed summarized the results and promised that"his government" would take action on many of the pro­ posals "as soon as it reached power."32 It is significant to stress that Lougheed and his advisers had achie­ ved this feat of re-organization on their own. Because of the previous disagreement with. MPs, Lougheed was determined to dispense with the aid of the federal wing of the party. When such help appeared to be forthcoming after Manning's retirement, Lougheed re-iterated that "Alberta PCs can reach the summit on their own, while maintaining an independent policy position." This party was his party, a provincial party, a party built acc~rding to his specifications.

The Legislative Alternative The Conservative caucus ofsix met for the first time in June 1967, barely three weeks after the election. It was the first Conservative cau­ cus meeting since 1935. Lougheed at once proclaimed his plan of action for the Legislatu·re. It consisted ofallocating "portfolios" to the . Conservative MLAs in areas.in which they showed some interest, Peter Lougheed himself took finance, education, federal-provincial relations and the premier's office.33 Lougheed believed that the "opposition is a part of the govern­ ment; opposition should oppose; in order to do this, we should be as well informed about public business as government members."34 In order to do a thorough job of scrutinizing the government, Lougheed began to recruit a "task force." This consisted of Conserv­ ative supporters brought in to aid the MLAs in the shaping of Con­ servativepolicy. The recruitment of this task force was carried out throughout Alberta universities. It had a target of one hundred-a number that was never achieved. This "brains trust" was divided into groups offive, with each group assigned a specific government depart­ ment. The main purpose of this was to allow MLAs to draw on a group's particular talents, training and research for suggestions and directions on issues before the House. Some of the top individuals were hired by Lougheed himselffrom outside the party, butover 80 per cent were party members, and ofthese, the large majority were volun­ teers. Dave Russell, an MLA, was put in charge of co-ordinating the program." CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ALBERTA 67

By the time the first session opened in mid-February 1968, it was clear that the Conservatives had done their homework. Between elec­ tion day and the beginning of the session, they had made massive prep­ arations. Their legislative baggage contained questions and private members' resolutions and bills covering"almost every imaginable as­ pect of government business, but particularly concentrating on health and education." Because they had only one seasoned legislator among them­ Hugh Horner-the Conservatives opted in the first session for ham­ mering the question period, and for allowing no piece of legislation to go unchecked and undisputed. Criticizing and prodding the govern­ ment became daily events. Their lack of experience became an asset. They were lessconscious of breaking some of the long-established pro­ cedures of the Houseand more prone to challenge them. Their tactic of carping criticism was to be altered in future sessions, first impercep­ tibly, later more as a matter of principle. Following Strom's succession to the premiership in 1968, the Conservatives "now resolved to become more avidly involved in building the party organization, as we have already seen. This switch of priorities had its effect on the role ofthe Opposition in the Legisla­ ture. In 1969 the Conservatives became a more subdued group in Edmonton. Dissent within the Socred legislative caucus now replaced the attacks by opposition parties. With Manning's retirement, some Socred backbenchers had reasserted theirindependence, and the legis­ lative session ceased being a Government-Opposition battle.37 The objective of the 1969 session for the Conservatives became their call for parliamentary reform. Lougheed demanded that govern­ ment become more open by accepting the following rules: relaxation of party discipline; an expanding role for the MLA; the opening of leg­ islative committee deliberations to the public; introduction of radio and television coverage of House proceedings; and encouragement of a program to allow young Albertans from all across the province to visit the Legislature. . Events outside the formal proceedings of the Legislature also became increasingly favourable to the "Lougheed team."38 First, in February 1969, a new addition to the team was provided by BillYurko, an Edmonton engineer, who had won conclusively in the by-election called to fill the vacancy left by Manning's resignation. The Tories were confident that this seat was a breakthrough, for two reasons: first, Lougheed's own campaign modelhad been used there for the first time outside his constituency, with enormous success; and second, the seat gained had been the former Premier's. A few months later, in October 1969, when another seat was vacated by the death of Liberal Bill Switzer, Conservative druggist 68 SERFATY

Bob Dowling scored another upset, in a contest which had been orig­ inally viewed as a Socred-NDPfight. One monthlater, the one remain­ ing Liberal MLA, Bill Dickie, left his party to becomethe Conserv­ atives' ninth member, underscoring both Lougheed's own appeal and the Liberals' demise in the province. Finally, to climax the rising pol­ itical fortunes of the party, Clarence Copithorne, the Independent member from Banff-Cochrane, also decided to join ranks with the Tories by extolling the "great team" and "outstanding policies" of the Conservatives.39 In the two earlier sessions, the Conservatives had been groping for a strategy. The first one had been a typical attention-catcher, but Lougheed and his supporters had stressed a little too obviously per­ haps their role as Opposition. In 1969, the party had failed to develop any kind ofstrategy. 1970 was the year of the upturn, the yearwhen the party ceased being "an Opposition party" and became the "alternative government. ,~ Lougheed was now actively developing the image ofa party that was ready to take over the government. The change in strategy became particularly apparent when the Conservatives introduced twenty-one Bills. None reached the statute books, but they provided considerable embarassment for the government, which hardly had enough legisla­ tion of its own to match this.w The Conservative bills had been well researched and well written. One of them, dealing with pollution, was introduced before the government presented a similar one of its own. The exploitation of the theme of "alternative government" con­ tinued unabatedduringthe 1971 session. However, in 1971, Lougheed, besides suggesting alternatives, heavily criticized the government. The tactics employed differed substantially from those utilized during the 1968 session. Lougheed himself neither participated in the debate nor became involved in personal wrangles. He left thattaskto his colleagues, much as he had done in 1970. As Barr says ofthis style: "Even within the confines of his small group, he played the role of premier."41 The 1971 session of the legislature was the climactic end ofthe revival ofthe Opposition in the Alberta Legislature. Never before had an Opposition attempted to put forth an "alternative program" in Alberta. Never before had Ministers had such difficulty attempting to answer questions or to plug weak areas of government legislation. In a sense, in the Legislature perhaps more than elsewhere, Social Credit itself now became the issue. Lougheed exhibited great skill there in advancing and exploiting his own view that SocialCredit was on its downward fall and that the Conservatives were on the rise and ready to supplaat it on the provincial scene. CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ALBERTA 69

C. THE PC STRATEGY IN THE 1971 ELECTION

The 1971 election has been adequately covered elsewhere.P This final section concerns itselfwith the organizational efforts made by the PCs before and during the campaign to ensure that the leader, the candidates, the central organization and the constituencies would be­ come combined in a solid party image. The first campaign document that made its appearance in the Conservative camp was a tentative organizational plan written by Lougheed himself," and sent in July 1968to his most importantadvis­ ers. This plan outlined the party's basic strategy: first, a full slate of candidates had to be nominated well in advance of election date; second, individual campaigns had to be based on door-knocking and intense use of signs and posters; third, the emphasis would be placed on "the new look government." The Socreds, Lougheed indicated, "must be ignored except as tired. and complacent and old." The aim should be "at the heart, rather than the mind," to "the vision of our greatness as a Province," "to assure the voters that we will retain the basic resource policies of the present administration," "and to put emphasis on our legislative background and experience to offset the Liberal and NDP thrust." Fourth, the sketchy notes continued, ofall possible alternatives that can be sold to the public "we should empha­ size the leader plus thecandidates ratherthan the Party."The stress on the leader, the document read, ought to boe on television and on his tours ("a party on the move"), "along the Trudeau style." In public speeches, Lougheed wrote, "we ought to follow the Kennedy approach of a set speech with some improvisation." Shoppingcentres and rallies would be preferred to indoor activities. Finally, Lougheed warned that there must be "strong activity from the outset. There is no such thing as peaking in a provincial elec­ tion; there must be no let-up"; and, he continued, "get the jump on the other parties and keep it." This was a fundamental prerequisite "to make it obviously a two-party race." The task ofimplementingthis strategy was left in the hands oftwo of Lougheed's most trusted associates: Bob Dinkelwas appointed pro­ vincial campaign director, and Jim Seymour was made chairman of Lougheed's own campaign, both in Calgary West and across the pro­ vince. Relations between these people and the directors and campaign managers were extremely cordial.and there appears to have been no dispute or struggle between them.w One of the chief reasons for this was, ofcourse, that they were all ofa single mind, basically ofthe same background and loyal to Lougheed himself. Another reason, however, was also evident: their respective tasks were so clearly and precisely outlined that there was no room for dispute over them. The structure 70 SERFATY and their work were exceptional; the Tory apparatus left little room for doubt or hesitation. In order to co-ordinate PC activities in all the ridings, a closed meeting of candidates and campaign managers was held in Banff in early December of 1970.45Duringthis weekend meeting the candidates were briefed by experts on all fields ofelectioneering. Talks were given on organization, campaigning, finance, relations with the media, and image in general." More particularly, all candidates were provided with an election pamphlet entitled "Winning the Election," which had been prepared byBob Dinkel.s? and which contained a mine ofinfor­ mation regarding all these matters. Lougheed and Dinkel had decided that constituency organiz­ ations ought to resemble as much as possible the one which had been so successful in giving the former his victory in 1967. Constituency organizations, therefore, did not differ from one another during the 1971 campaign. This writerfound in interviews with several PC organ­ izers from Calgary constituencies that all of them were identically structured. In all cases, the people who worked for the campaign were volunteers; their recruitment, instruction and deployment were thejob of the campaign manager. In some constituencies, the area managers were left in charge of performing this task. All constituency organiz­ ations had specific instructions to involve 5.per cent ofthe voting pop­ ulation as volunteers. As in the central organization, nothing was left to chance in the constituencies. Each local group was fully equipped with past voting statistics, maps, public opinion polls, posters, billboards, secretarial help and other technical needs. The roles of the individuals involved were also most minutely delineated. While each constituency was given great flexibility to pursue its own organizational tactics, the supervision of their tasks was religiously observed by the campaign director and his staff. . At the Banff conference; candidates were briefed extensively on image, the use of public opinion surveys and television coverage. Ex­ perts such as Joe Clark, Joe Hutton and Art Smith-the last two members of Continental Public Relations, the firm which ran Lougheed's campaign-advised candidates on such esoteric butcritic­ al matters as speech tone, dress, message delivery, handling ofquest­ ions, etc. Throughout they were urged to emphasize in the course of the campaign words such as "enthusiasm, enterprise, fresh, drive, new, vigorous, young."48 Peter Lougheed was the hub of this intricate system of relation­ ships and roles. Everyone in the organization agreed that success or failure hinged on him. In an important sense, the whole campaignwas fought on his strength as a popular leader and his appeal to the people CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ALBERTA 71 of Alberta. As has been indicated, the party was largely de-emphasized to the extent that the name Progressive Conservative seldom appeared in campaign posters, billboards or media advertisements. On the other hand, the leader and his "team" were thoroughly emphasized; bill­ boards, for instance, showed Lougheed walking at a brisk pace, arm in arm with his original five-man team. They showed Lougheed in the centre, invariably one step ahead of the rest of his colleagues. The leader's own schedule was minutely prepared to the hour, in­ cluding work in his own constituency, rural involvement and even the ways in which Sundays could be used for strategy planning. Schedul­ ing was aided by the use of "advance men" who would generate crowds and excitement and by concentration on main-streeting and shopping­ centre gatherings. A western band from Calgary was widely utilized to increase the level of interest and attention in small-town rallies. It was essential that timing be perfect, to "ensure maximum exposure with minimum hardship to the leader."49 This smoothly-run campaign was the climax ofthe relatively swift but difficult task ofrebuilding. Therefore, the whole electoral machine was guided in a rather hierarchicaland authoritarianfashion, However, the party was also one ofthe most "open" in recent Alberta history. It received unswerving and enthusiastic support from its members to an extent unknown by any other party since the early days of Social Credit.

CONCLUSION

A final and important question remains to be answered. Why werea large number of voters persuaded to support a new party after thirty-six years of uninterrupted reign on the part of Social Credit? The answer. must lie in the combination of factors with which we have already dealt: the leader, the team, the performance in the Legislature, the organization, the candidates, the campaign. How were all these combined and carried into the minds of the voters? If we were to agree on a commondenominator responsible for all the Conservative party successes, it would have to include: the party's skilful exploitation of Social Credit's "myth of performance" as wellas its ability to convince the electorate that-it needed a change, not of policies, but of style, thereby creating its own "myth" of the need for change. What the Conservatives were saying was that Social Credit should allow someone with a similar package to enter the market. Lougheed adroitly identified the appropriate place in the Alberta political market for his party and made that place his own regardless of the protestations of opponents who happened to be occupying it. He insinuated to Albertans that a) other occupants were there not by their own will, but by historical opportunism and the perspicacity of their 72 SERFATY leader (viz. Social Credit and Manning); b) even if they were the present-day occupants of that political position, nothing gave them the undisputed right to monopolize the market; and c) that they should hand the position over to its more rightful occupants (namely the Con­ servatives), who had held that position since time immemorial. It is difficult to deny that the average Alberta voter isconservative philosophically. If nothing else, elections since 1944have demonstra­ ted it. The only true cleavage inthe province in terms of philosophy has been the urban-rural cleavage.50 As his second step towards making his party successful, Lougheed had to concentrate on identifying himself not too strictly with the urban voter, at the same time as he began to fill the gap in support from rural areas. Much of the work in this regard was done for him by Diefenbaker. It was he who first made the people of rural Alberta aware that their future could lie with the Tories. Lougheed's task was to strengthen this new trend by ensuring that he was known as a conservative, thereby creating a feeling of certainty among the voters. At the same time, however, he clearly identified him­ self with the province of Alberta as a whole, not with any political party. In other words, he successfully helped make the voters for­ get their past image of the Conservatives as a strictly urban and business-class party, while de-emphasizing the role of the national party in provincial affairs and asserting the independence of his group. The third step was to attack the "myth of performance" on the part of Social Credit. Myths are powerful in that they rely on images, or perceptions of reality. It was extremely difficult to deny this "myth" while Manning was in power. Most Albertans supported Manning even if, philosophically, they may have remained opposed to Social Credit. Manning and Social Credit had been so fused for so many years that it was difficult to disentangle them while the "Old Master" held power; to attack Social Credit was to attack Manning, and this could not be expected to succeed. However, with the retirement of Manning, the field was open for a skilful politician to explore and exploit the possibilit_y_that Manning's achievements had been not Social Credit achievements, but his own. Therefore, without Manning, the party could be attacked as just another party. This is what Lougheed did through the four years between 1967and 1971;he attacked the myth of performance of Social Credit, not of Manning. The only way to do this was to attempt to lay bare the blunders of which Social Credit without Manning was cap­ able. Even this was difficult. Social Credit had not committed many blunders, and none was of catastrophic consequence. The.party was solidly conservative (except for some elements, which never gained control) and followed in the footsteps of Manning, potentially assur­ ing itself of an uninterrupted new period in power. CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ALBERTA 73

Unable to find much open room for direct attack, Lougheed devised a new "myth": the need for change. Social Credit had done a good job, but the party was tired and old. As one editor put it so well: Is it not time to get rid of your old stove after thirty-six years of usage even if it is still serving you well?The new strategy, therefore, became quite straightforward. The Tories had to prove to the Alberta voters that the new stove that they were offering was not only as good as the old one, but that it had many features which the old one could not pos­ sess because of its age. However, the new stove was not so complex that the buyer could not operate it. The leader was sincere, dynamic, youthful, handsome and home­ grown; the team was competent, dedicated; the candidates were re­ spected and upstanding members of their communities; the policies were socially progressive, but economically conservative. The trans­ ition that the Alberta voter was asked to make was not a revolutionary or even a radical one; it consisted of replacing an allegedly tired and old management with an efficient and young one. The Tory myth­ making worked, at least on 46 per cent of the Alberta electorate, and the Conservatives won power.

NOTES These statistics are drawn from the Canada Census of 1931, through 1971. See Larry Pratt and John Richards; "Oil and Social Class in Alberta: the Bourgeoisie Take Power," Canadian Forum, LVIII, 685 (October-November 1978), pp. 5-15. 3 For the decline of Social Credit, see John A. Barr, The Dynasty: The Rise and Fall ofSocial Credit, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974. 4 See Gordon A. Anton, "The Liberal Party in Alberta," unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Calgary, 1974, and Meir Serfaty, "The Organization of Opposition Political Parties in Alberta Under Social Credit," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Carleton University, 1976. Edmonton Journal, March 22, 1965. Edmonton Journal, March 3, 1965. Ernest Watkins, an Acting PC leader in 1961, had proposed a manifesto for Conservatives, which were Burkean in nature and had little bearing on the Alberta scene. 8 Calgary Herald, January 29, 1966. 9 Barr, The Dynasty, p. 218. 10 Edmonton Journal, June 3, 1965.Whatfollows is taken mostly from conversations held with various provincial organizers of the Conservative party. 11 A lbertan, March 30, 1965. 12 This had been particularly evident in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when there was well­ known and open collusion between the two parties. As Andrew Sneddon, a commentator, wrote "The provincial Conservative party has suffered a good many years from the simple fact that many of the federal leaders are not only satisfied with the Social Creditgovernment; they hope to do business with it.... The last thing they want is to rock the provincial boat." See "Old Tories, Never." Calgary Herald, December 4, 1959. 13 Calgary Herald, January 29, 1966. 14 Globe and Mail, April 18, 1967. 15 Edmonton Journal, April 20, 1967. 16 Red Deer Advocate, May 11,1967. 17 Edmonton Journal, May 17, 1967, Lethbridge Herald, May 18, 1967 and Medicine Hat News, May 19, 1967. . 18 Calgary Herald, May 20, 1967. 19 It was a measure of the respect that Lougheed commanded that a businessman and successful chemical engineer would decide to spend long periods of absence from his firm in order to increase Conservative support. 20 'Memorandum, Election '71: Tentative Plan," July 1968. For much of the following I have relied on information supplied by the Conservative office, Calgary. 21 Of course, this does not alter the fact that many Conservatives worked for both wings of the party with equal enthusiasm. 74 SERFATY

22 New officers were elected at the 1967 convention, the vast majority close friends or support­ ers of Lougheed himself. That he had been able to stage this coup, of course, is due to his first having gained control of most constituency organizations. 23 Western Catholic Reporter, November 30, 1967. I am grateful to Mrs. Becky Kinsey of the PC office in Calgary for supplying this information. 24 South Side Mirror, October 24, 1968. 25 Calgary Herald, November 19, 1968. 26 Spirit River Bulletin, November 20, 1968. 27 Albertan, June 24, 1969. 28 Alberta Conservative, March 1970. 29 This type of party, said Lougheed, "is dominated by no group, serves no self-interested point of view, where neither age nor occupation nor constituency is the test of influence but where influence flows from those with fresh ideas, those with logic." See the Calgary Herald, November 22, 1969. 30 The writer was unable to obtain much information about these workshops. 31 See the Alberta Conservative, March 1970 and the Edmonton Journal, May 20, 1970. 32 Calgary Herald, January 25, 1971. 33 Edmonton Journal, February 12, 1968. 34 Calgary Herald, June 8, 1967. 35 The money was provided partially by the provincial executive and partly from the leader's own funds. This body tended to meet less often in subsequent sessions. 36 Calgary Herald, February 9, 1968. 37 Calgary Herald, February 24, 1969. 38 It is difficult to say where the term "Lougheeders" or the "Lougheed team" originated; but it was used constantly by party workers and the mass media during the next four years. 39 Albertan, April 16, 1970. 40 These Bills dealt with, among other things, pollution, rights of hearing under provincial boards and tribunals, jurisdiction of the ombudsman, agricultural marketing, etc. See the Edmonton Journal, February 7, 1970. 41 Barr, The Dynasty, p. 220. 42 See, for example, Dennis R. Scown, "A History and Analysis of the 1971 General Election in Alberta," unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Calgary, 1973; and Howard Palmer and Tamara Palmer, "The 1971 Election and the Fall of Social Credit in Alberta." Prairie Forum, Vol. 1, 2 (November 1976) pp. 123-34. 43 The analysis that follows has been based for the most part on a series of documents that the writer was able to obtain from the Alberta Progressive Conservative Association office in Calgary. 44 Interview with George de Rappard, Executive V.P. of the party, February 1973. 45 See the .Minutes ofthese meetings, at the PC office, Calgary. 46 The following people gave talks on these problems: Bill Walsh "On Organization"; Bob Kenny "On Television Appearance"; Joe Clark "On Campaign Organization"; Art Smith "On Public Relations"; Joe Hutton "On Relations with the Media"; R. R. McDaniel "On Finance." Speeches available at the PC office, Calgary. 47 Bob Dinkel, "Winning the Election," available at the PC office, Calgary. 48 Joe Hutton."On Media Relations," loco cit. 49 See Peter Lougheed, "Election '71: Leader's Campaign Plan." Available at the PC office, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~------Calgary. 50 With the sweeping victory of the Conservative party in the 1975 provincial election, this cleavage seems to have disappeared for the first time since 1935. PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, No.1 75 The Historiography of the Red River Settlement 1830-1868

Frits Pannekoek Alberta Culture, Edmonton

ABSTRACT. In the many studies of the Red River Settlement written since 1856,the prime fac­ tors affecting the Settlement have been variously conceived as economic, geographic or political. In contrast to the traditional historical studies exploring these external influences, recent writings have dealt with the internal dynamics of the community as the source of development and change.

RESUME Dans les nombreuses etudes realisees depuis 1856sur la colonie de la Riviere Rouge, lesfac­ teurs primordiaux affectant cette colonie ont ete percu comme etant d'ordre economique, geo­ graphique ou politique. Par opposition avec les etudes historiques traditionnelles explorant ces influences externes, de recentes etudes ont traite de la dynamique interne de la communaute comme etant la source de developpement et de changement.

A great deal has been written on the Selkirk years of Red River and even more on its annexation to "the Empire of the St. Lawrence" in 1869.The years between have received lessattention. These were not only critical years of intermittent crises, but also years of relative sta­ bility, prosperity· and consolidation-years which nurtured a com­ munity with a unique identity and sense of purpose. Since Alexander Ross published The Red River Settlement in 1856, historians have tried to come to grips with the character of this exotic mixture of Scot­ tish peasants, half-breeds and fur traders. Ironically only Alexander Ross succeeded. Other historians have imposed interpretations con­ trived from central Canadian, British or American environments; while they have unearthed quantities of detailed information, they have been able to assess it only from the perspective of London, Mon­ treal or St. Paul, not Red River itself. They perceived that the dynam­ ics that shaped Red River were externally rather than internally gener­ ated and lost their most important analytical tool in the process. Only in the last decade have historians again begun to write Red River's his­ tory from a uniquely western Canadian viewpoint, thereby offering the promise of a new synthesis. Alexander Ross, the most prolific writer and holder of offices in the pre-1870 West, was Clerk to the Pacific Fur Company, the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, Sheriff of Assiniboia, Councillor of Assiniboia and member of its Committee of Public Works and Finance, Commander of the Volunteer Corps, Magistrate of the Middle District, Governor of Gaol, Collector of Customs, ex­ officio President of the Court in the Upper District and Elder of the Presbyterian Church at Frog Plain. He authored three books at Col­ ony Gardens, his home in Red River. His first two books were based on careful and detailed journals written during his years in the Pacific 76 PANNEKOEK

North-West; his third book, The Red River Settlement, appeared in 1856 shortly before his death. The best single piece of writing on Red River, the history clearly illustrates Ross's belief that the motley, quix­ otic settlement at the forks of the Red and Assiniboine had a predes- tined purpose. To Ross, Red River was a nucleus of Christian civiliz­ ation. Through Selkirk the settlement had been ordained to bring this civilization to the heathen. But in this Red River had failed. Its sons did not comprehend their divine purpose and their colony was smo­ thering under the weight of its own ignorance. 1 Despite his pessimism Ross was tireless in his devotion to his com­ munity, his church and especially his mixed-blood children. He at­ tempted to ease them through the brutal shock of civilization when he could, but he suspected that neither they nor the other mixed bloods had the skills to survive. In Ross's opinion, the feuding and incompe­ tence of the .missionaries rather than the Hudson's Bay Company or the environment were to blame for this sorrow. Convinced that the Company's monopoly was necessary, Ross felt that complete free trade would be ruinous to Rupert's Land. He argued further that the Metis' ill-considered cry for free trade could have been contained had it not been forthe oppressive racism of Adam Thorn, the first Recorder of Rupert's Land. Other historians who share Ross's methodology and his general observation that Red River was moribund also saw Red River from the inside. Joseph James Hargrave (1841-1894), was a Red River fur trader and son of James and Letitia Hargrave; Alexander Begg (1839-1897) was a journalist, merchant, civil servant and immigration agent; and Donald Gunn (1797-1878) was a Smithsonian Institute Corresponding Secretary, fur trader and leading citizen. Their his­ tories, Hargrave's Red River, Begg's The North West and Gunn's Manitoba all fail, however, to acknowledge the mission that Ross assigned to the settlement.? In the later nineteenth century when Har­ grave, Begg and Gunn were writing, Red River had already been sed­ uced by the prosperity that union with Canada offered. Immigration, railroads and wheat soon supplanted the missions and the fur trade as the focus of Red River society. Gunn was particularly happy to see the end of the Red River Set­ tlement and the dominance of the Hudson's Bay Company. A staunch defender of the Selkirk colonists, he believed that the Company's every move was a conspiracy to destroy the vitality of the settlement. Har­ grave's views, if indeed he can be said to have any, were those of a Company employee and a member of the Red River elite. He support­ ed the Company, and despised the malignant Canadians and their newspaper, the Nor' Wester. Nevertheless, he too was a pragmatist and he looked longingly toward union and prosperity. RED RIVER HISTORIOGRAPHY 77

The twentieth century marked a re-orientation of Red River his­ toriography and witnessed the first efforts at academic analysis. R. G. MacBeth (1854-1934), was a native of Kildonan, a lawyer and a clergy­ man; George Bryce (1844-1931), was corresponding secretary to the Manitoba Historical, Literary and Scientific Society, a Presbyterian clergyman and the founder of Manitoba College. To both writers Red River became an arcadian Utopia: The primitive history of all the colonies that faced the Atlantic­ when the new-found continent first felt the abiding foot of the stranger-from Oglethrope to Acadia, reveals, alas! no Utopia, a transplant of elder habitudes, where the rancor of race, caste and rule was found to be too ingrained to yield to even the softening influence of such a sylvan paradise as Virginia. It remained for a later time,-the earlier half of the present century, amid every severity of climate, and under conditions without precedent, and incapable of repetition,-to evolve a community In the heart of the continent, shut away from intercourse with civilized man­ kind-that slowly crystallized into a form beyond the ideal of the dreamers-a community, in the past, known faintly to the outer world as the Red River Settlement which is butthe by-gone name for the one Utopia of Britain." Above all the Selkirk colonists were glorified for their struggles to pre­ serve the West for Confederation, for it was "the opening ofthe West (that made) Canada complete."4 The function of the Selkirk settlers as seen by Ross was augmented by MacBeth. They were now not only God's instrument ofcivilization but also his instrument for preserving the West for Canada. In MacBeth's mind the two were not mutually exclusive. Father A. G. Morice (1859-1938), British Columbian missionary and founder of Le Patriote de L'Ouest, and A. de Tremaudan, a French Canadian teacher, real estate agent, lawyer and newspaper editor, can also be grouped with Bryce and MacBeth, despite theirvic­ ious feud over a number of specific issues in Metis history. Where MacBeth and Bryce emphasized the Selkirk influence, Morice and Tremaudan dwelt on Metis nobility and the Metis emerged as unblem­ ished as the Selkirk settlers. II avait d'excellentes qualites, Gai et expansif avec les siens, stricte­ ment honnete et sans souci de l'avenir, hospitalier pourles etrang­ ers et genereux jusqu'a l'imprudence, il passait sa vie aventureuse soit ala peche, comme guide de caravanes, ou bien ala chasse au bison. Parailleurs iletait naturellement religieux et respectueux de l'autorite.> Morice and Tremaudan argued that Riel thwarted American annex­ ation and brought self-government first to Manitoba and then to the Northwest. MacBeth and Bryce had established the place of Selkirk's contribution. Morice and Tremaudan hoped that the Metis contribu­ tion would gain a similar recognition through the establishment of a 78 PANNEKOEK

dual Northwest both Catholic French-speaking, mixed-blood, and white English-speaking Protestant. The reasons for the glorification of the Red River's past by these historians cannot conclusively be established without a great deal more research, but Carl Berger's The Sense ofPower (Toronto, 1970) is helpful. Berger argues that the Canadian nationalism of the 1880s emphasized historical antecedents, stimulated an interest in history, and. most important, dependedfor its credibility upon the assumption that the past contained principles to which the present must adhere if the con­ tinuity of national life was to be preserved.s In nineteenth-century Canadian terms it was the Loyalists who embo­ died all the past virtues ofthe new nation. The Selkirk settlers and the Metis were the Loyalists' western counterparts. The myth that they were the distilled essence ofwhatthe West had become was fostered by early Red River Canadian settlers like FrankLarned Hunt, and Kildo­ nan descendants like MacBeth. Morice and Tremaudan also would have been susceptible to the nostalgic myth because of the disasters that had befallen the Metis in the decades after Confederation. A did­ actic perception of the western past that extolled idyllic agrarian life, Canadian and Imperial connections, and (in Morice's and Tremaud­ an's case) ethnic duality, was imperative if the new west of the twenti­ eth century was to achieve an acceptable identity within the Canadian historical tradition. When Harold Innis, in Toronto, A. S. Morton, a Saskatchewan history professor and archivist, and E. E. Rich, the editor of the Hud­ son's Bay Record Society and Professor of History at Cambridge Uni­ versity, trained their attention on western Canada, the history of Red River became a footnote to their more pressing interest in the fur trade. To Innis, Red River was merely a convenience that absorbed the fur trade's cast-offs while serving as the transportation and provisioning hub for the Saskatchewan and Athabasca hinterlands. Because of the St. Paul influence he also saw Red Riveras the weakest link in the east­ west economic and geographic chain that bound the Canadian nation, a nation that had emerged "not in spite of geography, but because of it."7 On the other hand, the westerner, A. S. Mortonin his The History ofthe Canadian West to 1870-71 (Toronto, 1939)saw the fur trade as a sub-regional, rather than national or even western unifying force. It was not Canada, but each of the four sub-regions of the Northwest: the tundra, the shield, the prairies and the Pacific mountains, that was united by the fur trade. The west was fractured because of its disparate geography and only unified by the administrative structure of the Hudson's 'Bay Company. While Morton cannot be labelled RED RIVER HISTORIOGRAPHY 79 as an adherent of anyone school of history, his great concern with geography does place him very loosely with those who would see the environment as history's principal motive force. Yet in spite of these differences Morton's interpretation of Red River between 1830 and 1868differed little from Innis's analysis. His examinations of pol­ itical and social detail were only embellishments on Innis's rather dis­ jointed and thoroughly unsatisfactory study of the pre-1870 West. The impression given by Morton's manuscript footnotes to The History of the Canadian West to 1870-71, in the University of Saskatchewan Archives, was that Morton was exhausted by the last chapters and that much of his writing on Red River was done with less than his usual care. Morton divided the history of Red River into three chronological periods: 1817-1840, 1840-1859 and 1860-1869. The first period was one of stability, and the last, one of growing political polarization. This was a departure from the commonly accepted Red River chronology. Previously 1827,the year after the great flood which drove many of the undesirable elements from the settlement and consequently set the eth­ nic mix for Red River; 1849, the year of the Sayer trial which saw the "breaking" of the Company's abhorrent monopoly, and 1869,the year of the great Riel uprising which finally "freed" Red River from the Company's tyranny, were the common dividing dates.! In the end, Morton's major contribution to Red River histori­ ography was not his moderate and credible environmentalist interpre­ tation, or his slight alteration of the traditional periodization of Red River history, but his minute consideration of the formidable Hud­ son's Bay Company archives. Unfortunately, he had failed to consult the supplementary material in the missionary archives and many of his statements regarding the Red River clergy, the settlement's most im­ portant element of social control, were overgeneralized and mislead­ ing. The critical importance of William Cochrane who almost single handedly founded and ruled St. Andrew's, the most important English­ speaking mixed-blood settlement, is altogether ignored. Having ne­ glected the Church of England half-breeds of the Upper Red River par­ ishes in favour of the more flamboyant Metis, Morton was prompted to make the false generalization that Red River was a "little Quebec."?Red River was rather a community equally influenced by Indian, Scot, Metis, Half-breed, Canadien and Canadian. From the work of A. S. Morton a logical historiographical step would have been the production of a series of detailed scholarlystudies on various aspects ofpre-1870 western Canadian history, with at least one on Red River 1830-1869. Another monographic history of the West to 1870 was hardly needed and E. E. Rich's three-volume Hud­ son's Bay Company (Toronto, 1960) became little more than a para- 80 PANNEKOEK phrase of segments of the Company's archives. It is as muddled as the Innis volume and, in many areas, duplicates Morton's spadework of the 1930s.l° Rich's major theme, the maintenance of the Company's charter through prosperity and adversity, did not merit his thousand pages and failed to allow for a smooth integration of Red River history into that of the fur trade. Only four of thirty-one chapters dealt with the settle­ ment. The major social conflicts, the Presbyterian-Anglican burying yard controversy or the Ballenden scandal, so important to explaining the disintegrative forces at work in Red River, are artificially inserted into an uninspired narrative. Rich fails to see that the conflict over the Presbyterian right to bury in Anglican consecrated ground or the alleg­ ed sexual improprieties of Mrs. Ballenden, a mixed blood, fractured the community once and for all amongst its white and mixed blood, its Metis and halfbreed, its Catholic and Protestant and its Anglican and Presbyterian parts. Basically Rich contended that Red River was the source ofan agricultural and free trade threat to the Company's rights as granted by the Charter. But these threats were met and in 1849,while the Company may have abandoned its "legal defences," it certainly did not lose economic control. The Company now would not use the courts to enforce its hegemony; rather, it would ruthlessly exercise its consider­ able economic power to eliminate the free traders-prices were cut in areas of competition and furs trapped toextermination. This concentration by Innis, Morton and Rich on Red River in the context of the fur trade was not as great a departure from the themes in the works of Hargrave, Begg, Bryce, MacBeth, Morice and Tremaudan as might be thought. They sought to justify union with Confederation by events in the romantic Red River past; where Innis, Morton, and to a lesser extent Rich attempted to justify Confederation by geography. Red River, the focus of the fur-trade hinterland, pro­ visioned the staple trade that welded the Saskatchewan, Columbia, Nelson and Mackenzie river systems to ~hat of the. St. Lawrence. Whatever the nuance in argument, or however scholarly the research, Confederationwas seen as the millennium for the pre-1870 Canadian West. With the appearance of John Perry Pritchett;'! Alvin Gluck'? and J. S. Galbraith.P Red River became the concern of the frontier historian. Pritchett saw Red River at the heart of the North American continent. It lay at the junction of three drainage basins, the St. Lawrence, the Nelson and the Mississippi, controlled respectively by Canada, the Hudson's Bay Company and the United States, but the Nelson basin capitulated to the indigenous Red River Metis in 1849. They retained virtual independence until annexation by the "Empire of the St. Lawrence" in 1869. To Pritchett this fate was not final. RED RIVER HISTORIOGRAPHY 81

What the next or the most permanent outcome of this triple tug will be, no one knows. Will the West become independent, as Riel seemed to wish, and trade by way of the Nelson drainage basin? Will it form with the Mississippi drainage basin an economic un­ ion?-a political union? Or will it resist the pressure from both the Nelson and the Mississippi systems and remain indefinitely, both politically and economically a vassal of the St. Lawrencer'" The struggle of the river basins masked an equally important in- ternal struggle. Pritchett imposed a frontier-tainted, Whig interpre­ tation on the Red River past. One of the "nurseries of democracy," Red River fought the traditional battle against "vested autocratic inter­ ests," in this case the Hudson's Bay Company. Effective "self govern­ ment" was seen by Pritchett as an achievement of the Sayer "insurrec­ tion" of 1849,but no conclusion could have been more absurd!'> The Company did not capitulate in 1849 and the Council of Assiniboia remained under the Company's influence after this date. Furthermore, Red River society could not be construed as democratic. The clergy and fur-trade aristocracy, for the most part adherents to the Com­ pany's society, lost their dominance only during the social disruptions of the 1860s. Gluek, in his Minnesota and the Manifest Destiny ofthe Cana­ dian West (Toronto, 1965), provided a well documented and research­ ed addition to Pritchett's river-basin thesis. The Red River valley, Gluek asserted, was a geographic extension of Minnesota. The natural tendency to political absorption by Minnesota failed because of Min­ nesota's economic collapse in 1857, the Sioux and the Civil Wars of 1861-66, the Hudson's Bay Company, the activities of Canada, and the preference of the people of the Red River. Gluek was not as hostile to the Company as was Pritchett. Instead he sympatheticallydocumented the Company's continuing battle for that most important fur bearing northern district." To him the struggle for Red River was a commer­ cial one, not a territorial struggle of conflicting political powers. Gluek, unlike Pritchett, revealed little of the inner workings of Red River society. He accepted A. S. Morton's view that 1840 was the year Red Riveracquired its permanent character, though he studiously avoided footnoting Morton.!? Perhaps more disconcerting is the im­ pression that Gluek was uninfluenced by M. Giraud's 1£ Metis Cana­ dien and that his conclusions regarding the English parishes of Red River were based on a few documents appended to W. L. Morton's edi­ tion of Begg's Red River Journal. 18 Most important, he over-empha­ sized the American impact on Red River while the English, though not the Canadian, impact was ignored. While Gluek concentrated on the American connection, Galbraith in his The Hudson's Bay Company as an Imperial Factor 1821-1869 82 PANNEKOEK

(Toronto 1957) was concerned with the Hudson's Bay Company and the Imperial government policies toward the monopoly, free trade and the settlement frontier. While the volume is invaluable as a comment on British policy, the sections dealing with Red River had been, for the most part, superseded by Gluek's and Rich's more extensive though by no means definitive works.'? The major contribution ofthe frontier school of Red River histor­ iography has not been its insight into the Red River past, but rather its questioning of Innis's argument that Canada was a nation because of geography. Red River's major overland connections were southward and only political and military factors ensured that Red River would be Canadian. It was through the imaginative labours of Marcel Giraud, the French ethnologist, .that Red River history broke from the histori­ ography of competing river basins, commercial powers and imperial designs. His monumental work, one of the milestones in Canadian his­ tory, still provides the most exciting interpretation of the Red River settlement and serves as the impetus for much recent study. His most famous western Canadian exponent has been W. L. Morton. The change Giraud produced in Morton's work on Red River is startling. Morton'sfirst essay, "The Red River Parish" written in 1936, reflected the grip ofthe fur-trade school: "The Settlement was an adjunct, not of civilization but ofthe fur trade."20 It was a suggestive article and posed a still unanswered question. about the allegiance of the Red River in­ habitant to his parish, ethnic group or the settlement at large. But, based as it was on a fur-trade thesis, the article was antithetical to the Giraud paradigm which Morton first clearly accepted in his "Agricul­ ture in the Red RiverColony" (Canadian Historical Review, 1949)and in his appreciative review of Giraud'sLe Metis Canadien (Paris, 1945) in The Beaver (1950). Giraud traced the history ofthe Metis in thirteen hundred well re­ searched, impeccably footnoted pages. Three hundred concerned Red River. The Red River past was divided into two periods "les annees d'incertitude' (1818-:1827) and "les annees de stabilisation" (1828­ 1869). These latter forty years were for the Metis, "les annees les plus heureuses." Yet it wasa life of precarious equilibrium, balanced between the hunt, the trip, the river lot, and the fisheries, a life symbolic of Red River itself: In the Red River colony civilization and barbarism met and min­ gled. On the one hand was the sedentary agricultural economy of the colony, on the other the nomadic hunting economy of the . plains .... The result was a society quaint and unique, in which were reconciled the savagery of the Indian and tlie culture of Europe." RED RIVER HISTORIOGRAPHY 83

Giraud and Morton argue that civilization failed to bridle the Metis; that their nomadism was self-perpetuating and inescapable. Indeed, how could it be otherwise, given the attitude of the clergy, the needs of the Hudson's Bay Company, the economic stagnation of Red River and the Company's continued opposition to an always faltering agriculture? The constant intercourse with the Indians and the never ceasing influx ofMetis from the plains further reinforced the tendency to "barbarism." The clergy and "la bourgeoisie," the only elements of stability, could hardly be other than ineffective counterpoints. It was a way of life, "as swiftly transient as a prairie cloud," and it could exist only, dans un pays dont I'economie predominante respecte la nature primitive et dont Ie gouvernment est anime d'une mentalite sta­ tique, refractaire aux innovations profondes.P The Metis tendency to free trade weakened the very government that protected their existence. In 1869, civilization (would triumph) over barbarism, the sedentary over the nomadic way of life, and the Metis who were intermediaries between the two-the personification of the equipoise of the Stone Age and the Industrial Revolution which was the fur trade-(would be) shattered.P Yet, the Giraud/Morton hypothesis only accounts for halfof Red River society and assumes that the values in conflict withinthis half were in conflict within Red River society as a whole. The English­ speaking half-breed, the Kildonan settler, and the agents of the Church Missionary Society were nowhere satisfactorily examined. But the religiously and ethnically distinct parishes may not have been as inter­ connected as Giraud and Morton believed. Was there, in fact, a deli­ cate balance between the two Red Rivers, the "civilized" and the "barbaric," as Morton and Giraud assumed? Recently, historians have begun to look at Red River as a complex entity, a community. Unfortunately, while interest in Selkirk and Riel continues unabated, interest in Red River per se is waning. Only the frontier school, within its constant attempt to justify Confederation, continues to dote on Red River. There are always the graduate stu­ dents, but they have tended to offer marginally researched narrative histories devoid of complex interpretation. The Red River past must be attacked with sophisticated weapons. Demographic studies of each parish and the internal dynamics of the community must be under­ taken. Sylvia Van Kirk's work Many Tender Ties (recent PhD dis­ sertation) is very provocative, determining as it does the role of white women in the disintegration of Red River society.24 Van Kirk proves without a doubt that the white women who came to Red River in the 1830sas the wivesof the missionaries and of a select 84 PANNEKOEK few chief officers of the Hudson's Bay Company precipitated serious racial conflicts within the settlement. Where before the mixed-blood wives of the officers had ruled supreme, they now were challenged by intruders who had no doubt as to the inferiority of those with Indian blood. Because Van Kirk is more concerned with the fur trade than with Red River she does not investigate the impact these schisms may have had on Red River more generally. In fact, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the racial conflict precipitated by the coming of these white women may have aggravated the landmark crises of Red River: the 1849 free trade troubles and the Riel uprising. The deep schisms within English-speaking Red River that prevented any effective oppo­ sition to Riel can in fact be traced. to the racism of the 1830s. If racism is indeed the central theme in Red River's history, rather than geography or economics, then perhaps the old historic time markers like the Riel Rebellion may, upon closer investigation, not be as rele­ vant as tradition dictates. Perhaps the racialflashpoints like the Bal­ lenden scandal, which divided the community along racial lines, or the Corbett scandal of 1863, which divided the settlement between Metis and Halfbreed and Halfbreed and European, are more important. Only future research will tell. Jennifer Brown's Strangers in Blood (Vancouver 1980) provides similar unique insights which require further clarification with regard to Red River.P She suggests that the Northwest Company and the Hudson's Bay Company had two separate and unique social and fam­ ily structures. This of course could lead to the conclusion that the div­ isions between the Metis and Halfbreeds within Red River were the result of cultural antecedents unique to Rupert's Land rather than a conflict imported from Ontario. The most promising enquiries to date have been undertaken by the Metis Federation of Manitoba in their efforts to analyze the com­ munity quantitatively." The results are still preliminary and conclu­ sions indefinite, but their findings are tending to reinforce the direc­ tions hinted by Van Kirk and Brown that Red River was an increasing­ ly highly stratified and divided community. In fact, Red River provides a unique laboratory from which to explore the dynamics of closed, iso­ lated single-industry communities. What more recent historians all have in common is their emphasis on the internal dynamics of the community. Their basic question is not "How Was the West Won for Confederation?" but rather, "Why Did the Red River Community Change?" Why could this peculiar com­ munity not survive the" immigrations from the Canadas? This inward reflection is an indication that western scholars are no longer looking to Eastern Canada or London as the metropolitan centres which dir­ ected historical change. Rather they are saying that it is time Western RED RIVER HISTORIOGRAPHY 85

Canada looked at itself, its people and its geography for historical causation. While many of these new reflections are somewhat rough and uncut, they do promise new directions, and for that they are wel­ comed.

NOTES

I George Bryce, "Alexander Ross," The Canadian Magazine, XLIV, 1917, pp. 163-68. Other biographies of Ross are listed at the end ofthe introduction to the 1957 Ross and Hains Inc. edition of Alexander Ross, The Red River Settlement (London, 1856). 2 Donald Gunn, History of Manitoba from the Earliest Settlement to 1835, (Ottawa, 1885), p. 156. The second half of the volume is written by Charles R. Tuttle (b. 1848), journalist, author and census commissioner for Manitoba. He arrived in Manitoba in the late 1870s and can be regarded as a member of the Bryce-MacBeth school. The biography of Gunn at the beginning of the volume is by Frank Larned Hunt. 3 Bryce has apparently lifted entire sections of his volume from Frank Larned Hunt, "Britain's One Utopia," The HistoricalandScientific Society ofManitoba, No. 61, Feb., 1902, pp. 1-12. See for example George Bryce, The Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists (Toronto, 1909) p. 240. Ibid., p. 318. A. G. Morice's most important work is History ofthe Catholic Church in Western Canada (Toronto, 1910). His Histoire Abregee de l'Ouest Canadien (Saint-Boniface, 1914) is however representative. The quotation is from p. 45. Carl Berger, The Sense of Power (Toronto, 1970), pp. 89:-90. H. A. Innis, The Fur Trade in Canada (Toronto, 1970), p. 393. W. J. Eccles' "A Belated Re­ view of Harold Adams Innis, The"Fur Trade in Canada," The Canadian Historical Review Volume LX (December 1979), pp. 419-41 is the single best critique of Innis's work. His con­ clusions are that "the work contains a great mass of information, much of it presented in chapters that lack cohesion, and frequently the evidence presented contradicts the book's conclusions. The end result has been the establishment of myths as conventional wisdom." (p. 441) 8 A. S. Morton, The History ofthe Canadian West to 1870-71, (Toronto, 1939). Morton has offered some basic re-interpretations of La Verendrye, Radisson, Groseilliers and Thompson but offers little startling for Red River 1830-1868. 9 Ibid. p. 802. By 1860 the population was almostequally divided between French and English. It was the mixed-blood (Metis and Half Breeds) who were predominant. to While E. E. Rich, Hudson's Bay Company (Toronto, 1960) contains no footnotes, a foot­ noted copy has been placed in the National Library of Canada. II J. P. Pritchett, The Red River Valley 1811-1849 (New Haven 1942), p. Ix. 12 A. C. Gluek, Minnesota and the Manifest Destiny ofthe Canadian West (Toronto, 1965), p.292. 13 J. S. Galbraith, The Hudson's Bay Company as an Imperial Factor 1821-1869 (Toronto, 1957), p. 10. 14 Pritchett, op, cit., p. 271. 15 Ibid., pp. 263-66. 16 Gluek, op. cit., pp. 76, 77, 118. 17 Ibid., p. 25. 18 Ibid., see footnotes pp. 252-61. 19 Compare for example Gluek, op. cit., pp. 46-77 and Galbraith op. cit., pp. 312-32 on the struggle for free trade. 20 W. L. Morton, "The Red River Parish; its Place in the Development of Manitoba," Manitoba Essays (Winnipeg, 1937) p. 90. 21 W. L. Morton, "The Canadian Metis," The Beaver, Outfit 281. Sept. 1950, p. 3. 22 Giraud, Le Metis Canadien (Paris, 1945), p. 630. 23 Morton, "The Canadian Metis," p. 7. 24 Sylvia M. Van Kirk, "The Role of Women in the Fur Trade Society of the Canadian West, 1700-1850," (University of London, Ph.D. dissertation, 1975), and Many Tender Ties: Wo­ men in Fur Trade Society in Western Canada, 1670-1870, (Winnipeg, 1981). 25 Jennifer S. H. Brown, Strangers in Blood, (Vancouver, 1980). 26 D. N. Sprague and R. P. Frye, "Fur Trade Company Town: Land and Population in the Red River Settlement, 1820-1870," (The University of Manitoba Unpublished Manu­ script, 1981).

PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, No.1 87 Prairie Theses, 1978-79

The CANPLAINS data base maintained by the Information Services of the Canadian Plains Research Center has provided the fol­ lowing list of 1978-79 theses concerning the prairie region. Theses of a general nature or which did not relate specifically to the plains region have been deliberately omitted. If any relevant theses have yet to be included we would be grateful to our readers for bringing them to our attention. Readers wishing a list of theses for all or other years, or wishing a listing of research in addition to theses on a particularsubject may have a search of CANPLAINS performed by their libraries. CANPLAINS (CPL) can now be accessed through QL Systems, which is available in libraries across Canada and the United States. Further information about searches can be obtained from librarians, or from Information Services, Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina.

Humanities and Social Sciences ALLISON, Clay S. Propane Regulation in Alberta. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Economics, University of Calgary, 1978. ANTONY, W. A. A Study of Public Participation in a Prairie Province. M. A. thesis, Dept. of Sociology, University of Alberta, 1979. ARANA, Milton Eulogio. The Oral English Syntaxof Five and Six-Year-Old Bilin­ gual Indian Children in Manitoba. Ph.D. dissertation, St. Louis University, 1979. ARCHIBALD, Gregory Clinton. The Role of the Opposition in Parliamentary Legis­ latures: Alberta as a Case Study. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Political Science, Univer­ sity of Calgary, 1979. BAKA, Richard. A History of Provincial Government Involvement in Sport in West­ ern Canada. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Alberta, 1978. BARSS, Beulah May. Pioneer Food Patterns in the Western Interior of Canada. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Calgary, 1979. BEBBINGTON, Julia Marie. Porcupine Quillwork of the Central and Northern Plains. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 1979. BENNER, Carole, Susan. Six Indian Women: A Preliminary Study of the Employ­ ment of Indian Women on the Reserve. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, Uni­ versity of Calgary, 1979. BETTSCHEN , Virginia. Survey of Placements and Programs for the Educable Men­ tally Retarded in Southern Saskatchewan. M. Ed. thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, 1979. BIRNIE, John. Student Participation in the Governance of Manitoba's Secondary Schools. Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Manitoba, 1978. BLOOM, Diana May. An Evaluation of the Calgary Runaway Project. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Sociology, University of Calgary, 1979. BLOOMFIELD, Donna J. Arrowwood: A Dunkard Community, 1911 to1936. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Calgary, 1978. BOLSTAD, Jay Jen. A Follow-up Study of the Business Education Programs in Regi­ na High Schools. M.Ed. thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, 1979. BOSWELL, Marion Joan. Civilizing the Indian (Government Administration of Indi­ ans, 1876-1896). Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of History, University of Ottawa, 1979. 88

BOUCHARD, Pierre David. The Attitudes of Saskatchewan School Trustees To­ wards Bilingualism and Their Comprehension of the Official Languages Act. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Regina, 1979. BRIGGS, Ann Elizabeth. Legislation and Regulations Affecting Private Schools in Ontario and Western Canada. M.Ed. thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba, 1979. BROWN, L. A. The Bennett Government, the Single Unemployed and Political Stability, 1930-35. Ph.D. dissertation, Queen's University, 1979. CHIKOMBAH, CE--:-~r-the Extended Practicum in Alberta Teacher Education: A Case Study in Policy Development. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Alberta, 1979. CLARK, Douglas B. Suburban Planning: An Investigation for Future Open Space Development and Allocation in Winnipeg, Manitoba. M.A. practicum, Univer­ sity of Manitoba, 1979. CLARK, Lawrence J. Outdoor Recreation for Rural Senior Citizens. M.N.R.M. thesis, Natural Resource Institute, University of Manitoba, 1979. CONATY, Gerald Thomas. The Wentzel Lake Site: A Stratified Prehistoric Archae­ ological Site in the Caribou Mountains, Northern Alberta. M.A. thesis, Memor­ ial University of Newfoundland, 1978. CONWAY, J. F. To Seek a Goodly Heritage: The Prairie Populist Resistance to the National Policy. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Political Science, Simon Fraser University, 1979. CORBET, Elise Agnes. Alberta Women in the 1920s:An Inquiry into Four Aspects of Their Lives. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Calgary, 1979. COWIE, Malcolm S. An Analysis of Perceived and Preferred Curriculum Decision­ making of Specific Educational Groups in Manitoba. Ph.D. dissertation, Walden University, 1979. CREWS, Robert James. On the Use of the Garin-Lowry Activity Allocation Model in Metropolitan Area Planning: The Case of Winnipeg. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geo­ graphy, University of Manitoba, 1979. CROSBY, Robert W. Inner City Open Space: Vimy Ridge Memorial Park: A Case Study. M. Land. Arch. thesis, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, University of Manitoba, 1979. CYR, Kathy Ann Schimke. Dress of the Chipewa (Objibwa) Indians: An Analysis of Change from 1640-1940. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1978. DAVIS, Gary Russell. Criteria and Procedures for the Selection of Elementary Principals in Rural Manitoba. M. Ed. thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, 1978. DIGOUT, S. L. A Comparison of Values of GradeTwelve Students in Selected Public and Roman Catholic Separate Schools in Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Alberta, 1979. DOYLE, Heather Dawn. A Study of the Academic and Occupational Background and the BusinessTeaching Experience of Teachers of Business Subjects in Saskat­ chewan High Schools. M.Ed. thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, 1979. DWARKIN, Judith Leah. Characteristics of International Immigrants to Alberta and Implications for Provincial Development. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Economics, Uni­ versity of Calgary, 1978. EARMME, S. Y". A Water Use Projection Model for the North Saskatchewan River Basin, Alberta, 1980-1985: An Input-Output Approach. PhD. dissertation, Dept. of Economics, University of Alberta, 1979. FALCONER, Kenneth David. Tommy Douglas, 1930-1944:A Case Study of Leader­ ship and Social Structure. M.A. thesis, Canadian Plains Studies Program, Uni­ versity of Regina, 1979. 89

FASSNACHT, Susan Doris. Hinton, Alberta, 1811-1957: A Study of Land Use and Settlement in a Resource Based Community. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Calgary, 1979. FAST, Vera K. For Church and Empire in Western Canada: F. H. Eva Hasell and Monica Storrs. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Manitoba, 1979. FERGUSON, T. Productivity and Predictability of Resource Yield: Aboriginal Con­ trolled Burning in the Boreal Forest. M. Sc. thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, Uni­ versity of Alberta, 1979. FOX, Maureen. Jewish Agricultural Settlement in Saskatchewan, 1906-1978. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. FRANCIS, J. M. Business, Enterprise, and the National Policy: The Role of T.C. Power and Brother and I. G. Baker and Company in the Political and Economic Development of Southern Alberta and Northern Montana, 1870-1896. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of British Columbia, 1978. FRANSON, Hilding O. The Environmental Basis for Growth Strategy Proposed for the Regina Region. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Saskatch­ ewan, 1979. GAHR, G. A. Sherwood Park: Residents' Attitudes toward a Dormitory Satellite of Edmonton. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. GAINER, Brenda J. The Catholic Missionaries as Agents of Social Change among the Metis and Indians at Red River: 1818-1845. M.A. thesis, Carleton University, 1978. GILHAM, D. M. The Consumer Spatial Behavior of Edmonton's Inner City Resi­ dents, 1977. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. GOODINE, Barry K. The Alberta Fine Option Program: An Evaluation. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Sociology, University of Alberta, 1979. GRADEN, R. R. The Planning of New Residential Areas in Edmonton, 1950-1976. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. GREENBERG, Adolph Morris. Adaptive Responses by an Ojibwa Band to Northern Development. Ph.D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1978. HALE, Robert. Estimating the Demand for Motor Vehicle Gasoline in Western Canada. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Economics & Commerce, Simon Fraser Univer­ sity,1979. HAYNES, Anthony William. Nature and Growth of Villages and Small Towns Adjacent to Saskatoon, 1971-76 as Influenced by the City. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. HEDICAN, Edward James. Transaction and ExchangeDynamics in a Northern Ojibwa Village (A Micro-Theoretical Approach to Political Development and Economic Change.) Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University, 1978. HENRY, Oswald Leonard. The Role of Education in Saskatchewan Agriculture. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Agricultural Economics, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. HOLMES, John. The Canmore Corridor: The Historical Geography of a Pass Site, 1880 to the Present. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Calgary, 1978. HUFFERD, James L. Pioneering: Cultural Integration on the Canadian Prairie in the Pioneer Period. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Geography, University of Minne­ sota, 1979. HUMBLE, Deborah. Narrative Form and Voice in Margaret Laurence's Fiction. M.A. thesis, Dept. of English, University of Regina, 1979. HURLY, William Paul. Mass Media and Community Development: A Case Study of the Newspaper, Natotawin, Beauval, Saskatchewan. M.C.E': thesis, Dept. of Continuing Education, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. 90

INGALLS, Glen Ralph. The Relationship between Educational Programs and the Rate of Recidivism among Medium Security Prison Parolees and Mandatory Supervision Cases from Drumheller Institution in the Province of Alberta. Ed.D. dissertation, Washington State University, 1978. INGALLS, Karen Ellen. A Study to Determine Business Education Teachers' Percep­ tions of Professional Development/ Growth Activities in the Province of Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation, Washington State University, 1978. IROMOTO, Takashi. Ecological Anthropology of the Caribou-Eater Chipewyan of the Wollaston Lake Region of Northern Saskatchewan. Ph. D. dissertation, Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, 1979. JAKAB, Cheryl Amanda. The Issue of Indian Land Claims: Alberta since 1969. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Political Science, University of Calgary, 1979. JONES, M. L. The Search for Hydrocarbons: Petroleum and Natural Gas in Western Canada, 1883-1947. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Calgary, 1979. KENNEDY, Margaret Anne. Coke Ovens.ofthe Crownsest Pass. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 1979. KIRKLAND, Ralph Amos. The Use of Canadian Literature in Saskatchewan High Schools. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Curriculum Studies, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. KROLLER, E. M. The Function of Place in the Canadian Literatures. M.A. thesis, Dept. of English, University of Alberta, 1978. LONG, J. C. A. The Transferability Issue in Alberta: A Case Study in the Politics of Higher Education. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Alberta, 1979. LOSEY, Timothy Campbell. The Prehistoric Cultural Ecology of the Western Prairie­ Forest Transition Zone, Alberta, Canada. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Anthro­ pology, University of Alberta, 1978. MACINTOSH, James Ian. Equalization under the 1974 Saskatchewan Foundation Program. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. MACRURY, K. A. The Occupational Adjustment of Vietnamese Refugees in Edmon­ ton, Canada. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Industrial & Vocational Education, Univer­ .sity of Alberta, 1979. MAESER, Angelika M. Myth and Reality: The Religious Dimension in the Novels of Margaret Laurence. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of English, McGill University, 1978. MAHE, Y. T. M. Alberta's Etudes Sociales and the French Fact. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Secondary Education, University of Calgary, 1979. MATTHEWS, Allan Stuart. A Comparison of the Forces of Agglomeration within Calgary's Industrial Parks. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Cal­ gary, 1979. MCCASKILL, Don. The Urbanization of Native People in Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver: A Comparative Analysis. Ph.D. dissertation, York University, 1979. MCCOMBS, Arthur Rae. Village-Based Teacher Education Project for Rural Cana­ dians: A Study of the Brandon Northern Teacher Education Project. Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan StateUniversity, 1979.. MCCULLOUGH, Edward J. Prehistoric Cultural Dynamics of the Lac La Biche Region. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 1978. MCCULLY, Robert Alan. Canmore Corridor Regional Trails Plan. M.Sc. thesis, Committee on Resources & the Environment, University of Calgary, 1978. MELNYCKV, Peter. A Political History of the Ukrainian Community in Manitoba, 1899-1922. M.A. thesis, University of Manitoba, 1979. 91

MITCHELL, John Ormond. The Administrative Politics of an Educational Action­ Research Programin Canada: A Case Study of Saskatchewan Newstart Incorpo­ rated. M.A. thesis, Canadian Plains Studies Program, University of Regina, 1978. MORRIS, Walter Cyril. The Ratio Decidendi of Recent Quasi-Judicial Tribunals in Saskatchewan Education and their Implications for the Administration of Schools. M.Ed. thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, 1978. MOSHA, H. J. Curriculum Change in Language Arts in Alberta: A Case Study. Ph. D.dissertation, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Alberta, 1919. MULHALL, David Bernard. The Missionary Career of A. G. Morice, O.M.I. Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University, 1979. NEUMEYER, Catherine Frances. Effect of Technological Change on Factor Use in Saskatchewan Wheat Production. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Agricultural Econom­ ics, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. NICHOLLS, Glenn Harvey. An Inquiry into the Implications of Full Provincial Funding as an Alternative for Financing the Public Schools of Manitoba. Ph.D. dissertation, Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba, 1979. NICOL, Andrew James. Self Concept and Perceptions of Skilled Occupations of Selected Adult Metis in Rural Northern Alberta. Ed.D dissertation, Oregon State University, 1919. NORTON, D. G. Provincial Grants to Alberta Municipalities: Review Assessment and Alternative Unconditional Grant Formulae. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Econom­ ics, University of Alberta, 1919. NOVAK, Edwin Waldmer. A Study of the Educational Goals of the Davidson School Unit. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Saskat­ chewan, 1918. OKELLO, L. O. Planning Practices of Planning and Research Branch, Alberta Department of Education. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Educational Administra­ tion, University of Alberta, 1919. OLESON, Robert V. The Commissioned Officers of the Hudson's Bay Companyand the Deed Poll in the 1870s, with Particular Emphasis on the Fur Trade Party, 1818-1819. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Manitoba, 1918. O'MAHONY,Anne Theresa. The Calgary Renal Self-Help Group (C.H.A.T.): A Social Work Perspective. M.S. W. project, Faculty of Social Welfare, University of Calgary, 1919. PAGE, Sheila May. A Studyof Landscape, Characterand Vision in the Prairie Novels of Frederick Philip Grove. M.A. thesis, Dept. of English, University of Regina, 1919. PARKINSON, Anna. Growth Analysis of Small Urban Centres in Alberta, 1971-1976. M.E.Des. thesis, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, 1978. PHILIPPON, Donald Joseph. Monetary Returns to Non-University Health Person­ nel Training in Saskatchewan. Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. ofEducational Admin­ istration, University of Alberta, 1979. QUICKFALL, Brian. An Economic Base Study of Calgary and Some of its Implica­ tions for the Growth of the City. M.E. Des. thesis, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, 1918. RACE, C. L. Compulsory Schooling in Alberta (1888-1942). M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Educational Foundations, University of Alberta, 1918. RAMSAY, R.D. The Alberta Teachers Alliance as a Social Movement, 1918-1936. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Educational Foundations, University of Calgary, 1918. RICHARDSON, S. L. A Special Purpose Master's in Nursing Program for Alberta Nurse Educators. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Alberta, 1979. 92

ROBINSON, Leslie May. Agrarian Reformers: Women and the Farm Movement in Alberta, 1909-1925. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Calgary, 1979. ROLF, C.A. Success Criteria for Citizen Participation: A Grounded Theory Approach to the Neighborhood Improvement Program in Alberta. M.A. thesis, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Alberta, 1979. RONYK, Gwenn. The United States in the 1920s as Seen by the Western Canadian Press. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Regina, 1979. ROSS, Arthur L. National Development and Sectional Politics, Social Conflict and the Rise of a Protest Movement: A Study of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 1979. ROSS, Donald George. Population Growth, the Catalyst of Spatial Changes in Regina, 1945 to 1975, with a Projection to the Future. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Regina, 1979. SCHUETT, Garth Lester. An Analysis of the Development of Guidelines for Social Studies Curricula and Their Application to the Social Studies 30: Canadian Studies Course in Saskatchewan. M.Ed. thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, 1979. SEATON, Ean Charles. Selected Preparation Program Needs for Educational Administrators in the Province of Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Educa­ tional Administration, University of Calgary, 1979. SEMBALIUK, P. K. Pupil-Teacher Interaction in Ukrainian Bilingual Classrooms. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Elementary Education, University of Alberta, 1979. SHARMA, H. D. Income Contribution of the Petroleum Industry to the Province of Alberta for the Period 1964-1976 and Public Policy. M.B.A. thesis, Faculty of Business Administration & Commerce, University of Alberta, 1979. SHILLINGTON, Thomas H. A Solar Energy Subdivision: An Assessment of Selected Institutional Barriers to Solar Energy in Winnipeg. M.N.R.M. thesis, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, 1979. SKINNER, Shirley C. Perceptions of Threat Posed by Ex-Psychiatric Patients' Pres­ ence in a Central Saskatchewan Community. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. SLATTERY, Brian. Canadian Aboriginal Land Rights. Ph.D. dissertation, Faculty of Law, Oxford University, 1979. SNORTLAND-COLES, Signee The Duck River or Aschkibokahn Site of West­ Central Manitoba: The Role of the Northern Marsh in the Subsistence of Late Woodland Peoples. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Manit­ oba,1979. SPEIER, Lloyd Paul. Teacher Usage and Perception of the 1977 Division III English Curriculum in its First Year of Implementation in the Province of Saskatchewan. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Curriculum Studies, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. STAITE, M. J. Flood Plain Management in the Drumheller Valley: Alternative Land Use Policies. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. STANGE, Karl H. A Short Season of Reform: The Regina Case. Ph.D. dissertation, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin, 1979. STEER, Sheilagh. The Beliefs.of Violet McNaughton: Adult Educator, 1909-1929. M.C.E. thesis, Dept. of Continuing Education, University_ of Saskatchewan, 1979. STELMASCHUK, Edward Isador.The Relationship between Expected and Per­ ceived Roles of Supervisory Assistants in the Larger School Units of Administra­ tion in Saskatchewan. M.Ed. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, Uni­ versity of Regina, 1979. TEAL, G. L. Urban Anthropology and the Problems of the Formation of Social Classes, with Reference to Korean Immigrants in Edmonton. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Alberta, 1979. 93

TH0 MPSON, D. T. A. The Determinants of Investment Demand for Farm Credit in Canada, 1950-1975: An Econometric Approach. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Rural Economy, University of Alberta, 1978. TOMA, D. M. Alberta Grazing Associations: A Study of Public Resource Utilization. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Rural Economy, University of Alberta, 1979. TYMKO, J. L. Accreditation of Alberta Senior High Schools: A Case Studyof Public Policy Implementation. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Educational Administra­ tion, University of Alberta, 1979. WATSON, Neil Bruce. Calgary: A Study of Crime, Offenders and the Police Court, 1929-1934. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Calgary, 1979. WEST, Roxroy O. o. Canadian Immigration Agents and Swiss Immigration (1870-1930). M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Ottawa, 1979. WOLF, Robert Franklin. The Attack on the Problems of Education in Alberta by the Social Credit Government from 1935 to 1945. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Calgary, 1979. WONG, R. A. G. Conflict Between Cross-Country Skiers and Snowmobilers in Alberta. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. WONG, W. H. Migration Patternsin West-Central Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. WORONCHAK, L. B. Agricultural and Rural Non-Farm Residential Development in the Winnipeg Region (Case Study, Rockwood): 1965-1985. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Waterloo, 1979. YURKIW, Dennis K. A Survey of Behavioral Health Policies in Industries in Calgary. M.S.W. thesis, School of Social Welfare, University of Calgary, 1978.

Physical Sciences and ,Engineering BARDON, Michael F. R. Tar Sands Fragments in Hot Gas Streams. Ph.D. disserta­ tion, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Calgary, 1978. BEDNARSKI, J. M. Holocene Glacial and Periglacial Environments in the Whistlers Creek Valley, Jasper National Park. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, Univer­ sity of Alberta, 1979. BENNETT, D. R. Shallow Subsurface Drainagefor WaterTableand Salinity Control in the Magrath Irrigation District. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. BORESKI, Charles Victor. Sedimentation and Diagenesis of the Mississippian Car­ bonates of the Twining Oil Field, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept: of Geology, University of Calgary, 1978. BOWYER, Alwynne. The Sunwapta Section: Composition and Development of a Complex Stratigraphic Section from Sunwapta Pass, Jasper National Park. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geology, University ofWestern Ontario, 1978. CHAPMAN, Ross John. An Approach to Interpreting the Geology of Banff and Yoho National Parks. M.Sc. thesis; Committee on Resources & the Environment, University of Calgary, 1979. CORNETT, Shawn Fay. Fluvial Ceal in the Crownsest River. M.Sc. thesis, Commit­ tee on Resources & the Environment, University of Calgary, 1979. COSTASCHUK, S. M. Uraniferous Pegmatites in the Grease River Area, Northern Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geology, University of Alberta, 1979. DAS GUPTA, Udayan. A Study of Fractured Reservoir Rocks, with Special Refer­ ence to Mississippian Carbonate Rocks of Southwest Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toronto, 1978. ELLIS, D. C. Further Work on the Oxygen-18 Concentration in Atmospheric Water

Substance in Central Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Depte . of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. 94

FUMERTON, Stewart Lloyd. Geology of the Reindeer Lake Area, Saskatchewan, with Emphasis on Granitic Rock. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Geological Scien­ ces, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. GLOVER, B. W. Late Quaternary River Terrace Evolution in Part of the Athabasca River Valley. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. GOMEZ BUENO, Cebers O. Recovery of Vanadium from Athabasca Tar Sands Fly Ash. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Waterloo, 1979. HUNT, Peter Ralph. Transverse Bars and Bed Forms of the William River, North­ western Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Calgary, 1979. IWUAGWU, C. J. Diagenesis of the Basal BellyRiver Sandstone Reservoir, Pembina Field, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geology, University of Calgary, 1979. JACOBS, Franciscus A. P. Viscosity of Carbon Dioxide Saturated Athabasca Bitu­ men. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Calgary, 1978. JONES, M.-L. The Search for Hydrocarbons: Petroleum and Natural Gas in Western Canada, 1883-1947. M.A. thesis, Dept. of History, University of Calgary, 1979. MAAROUF, L. A. An Analysis of Solar Radiation Measurements at Edmonton and Their Bearing on Atmospheric Transmission. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, 1979. MACFARLANE, Neil Daniel. The Regional Setting, Primary Mineralogy, and Eco­ nomic Geology of the Nemeiben Lake Ultrajafic Pluton. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. MACKENZIE, F. B. Thermal Power Plant Waste Heat Utilization in Alberta: Poten­ tial and Problems. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. MARTZ, L. W. Sediment Yield of Spring Creek Watershed, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. MCGINN, R. A. Alluvial Fan Geomorphic Systems: The Riding Mountain Escarp­ ment Model. Ph.D.. dissertation, University of Manitoba, 1979. NIEMANN, K. O. Channel Patterns of the Upper Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. PEARSON, John Gibson. Relationship of Granitic and Metasedimentary Rocks, near Lower Foster Lake, Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geological Scien­ ces, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. PENTTINEN, S. E. Dissolved Oxygen Depletion Due to Natural Organic Runoffin the Red Deer River System. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University ofAlberta, 1979. PI, Rosaline Wingkam. A Study of the Calgary Ambient Aerosol. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Physics, University of Calgary, 1979. PUTNAM, Peter Edward. The Sedimentology of the Colony Formation, East­ Central Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geology, University of Calgary, 1979. SKWARA-WOOLF, Theresa. The Riddell Local Fauna: Veterbrate Paleontology and Stratigraphy·of Late Pleistocene Deposits from Saskatoon, Canada. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. SMITH, C. A. S. Mineralogy and Genesis of Soils of the Upper Subalpine Bioclimatic Subzone, Sunwapta Pass, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. STAITE, M. J. Flood Plain Management in the Drumheller Valley: Alternative Land Use Policies. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. STOCKMAL, Glen Stanley. Structural Geology of the Northern Termination of the Lewis Thrust. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geology, University of Calgary, 1979. THIEDE, David Steven. The Genesis of Metalliferous Brines from Evaporites-A Study Based upon the Middle Devonian Elk Point Group. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1978. TRENKWALDER, Andreas E. A Fluidized Bed Retort for the Extractionof Oil from Oil Sands. M.Sc. thesis, University of Calgary, 1979. 95

WANKIEWICZ, P. M.- Sedimentation in Sunwapta Lake, JasperNational Park, Alberta. M ..Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. WATERS, P. L. Quaternary Stratigraphy and Glacial History of the St. Paul Region, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geology, University of Alberta, 1979. WATKINS, Russell Allen. The Cretaceous Section at Lanigan in South-Central Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Saskat­ . chewan, 1979. WHEATON, Elaine E. The Evaluation of the Climatic Environment ofa Large Area with Few ReportingStations: A Case Study of Northern Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. WRI GHT, Charles Edward. The Cretaceous Rocks of the Qu' Appelle River Valley in Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Saskat­ chewan, 1979. WRIGHTSON, C. B. Structure and Stratigraphy of Campbell Flats Anticlinorium near Grand Cache, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geology, University of Alberta, 1979. YEUNG, Paul. The Effects of Soil Acidification in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. Biological and Environmental Sciences ASGARALI, A. Proposed Manitoba Hydro D. C. Transmission Line East of Lake Winnipeg: Identification of Alternative Corridors with a View to Minimize Adverse Effects on Outdoor Recreation. M.N.R.M. Thesis, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, 1978. ATIEMO, Martin Adu. Field Measurement of Dust in Protective Cabs of Farm Tractors and Combines. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Agricultural Engineering, Univer­ sity of Saskatchewan, 1978. BARSS, Beulah May. Pioneer Food Patterns in the Western Interior of Canada. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Educational Administration, University of Calgary, 1979. BENNETT,D. R. Shallow Subsurface Drainage for WaterTable and Salinity Control in the Magrath Irrigation District. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. BERGSTROM, Glen. A Limnologica1 Survey of a Rocky Mountain Cold Spring with Comments on a Possible Glacial Refugium. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zoology, University of Alberta, 1979. BlOHM, Robert James. The Breeding Ecology of the Gadwall in Southern Manitoba. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1979. BOYD, Michael G. Management of Marten, Fisher and Lynx in Saskatchewan: with Special Reference to the Effects of Forest Harvesting in the Mixed Wood Boreal Forest. M.E.Des. thesis, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Cal­ gary, 1978. BUTCHER: G. A. Ecology and Taxonomy of Hybridizing Cyprinid Fishes from Upper and Lower Kananaskis Reservoirs, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zool­ ogy, University of Alberta, 1979. CHURCH, Terrance Loris. An Analysis of Production, Disease and Veterinary Usage in Selected Beef Cow Herds in Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Veterinary Clinical Studies, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. CURRY, Philip Stephen. The Zoogeography of Mosquitoes in Saskatchewan and the Adjacent Northwest Territories. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. DEGENHARDT, D. F. Effects of Seeding Dates and Seeding Rates on the Agro­ nomic Characteristics of Rape (Brassica napus). M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Plant Science, University of Alberta, 1979. DELAG E, Maurice Allan. Chemical Weed Control in Selected Vegetable Crops at the Outlook Irrigation District. M~Sc. thesis, Dept. of Horticulture, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. 96

DIANA, J. S. An Energy Budget for Northern Pike (EsQX lucius) in Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Zoology, University of Alberta, 1979. DO HERTY, Michael JosephPatrick. Plant Succession in the Northeastern Portion of the Peace-Athabasea, Delta, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Botany, University of Alberta, 1978. . ELLIOT, William P. Artificial Land Drainage in Manitoba Administration-Law. M.Sc. thesis, Natural Resource Institute, University of Manitoba, 1978. ELLIS, D. C. Further Work on the Oxygen-18 Concentration in Atmospheric Water Substance in Central Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. FASSNACHT, Susan Doris. Hinton, Alberta, 1811-1957: A Study of Land Use and Settlement in a Resource-Based Community. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Calgary, 1979. FERGUSON; T. Productivity and Predictability of Resource Yield: Aboriginal Con­ trolled Burning in the Boreal Forest. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Alberta, 1979. FOX, Michael G. The Impact of Oil Sands Development on Trapping, with Manage­ ment Implications. M.E. Des. thesis, Faculty of Environmental Design, Univer­ sity of Calgary, 1978. FRIEL, James Kenneth. A Comparative Study of the Mean Nutrient Intakes of Various Population Groups ofthe Elderly in Saskatoon. M.Sc. thesis, College of Home Economics, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. FUGLEM, P. L. Foliar Moisture Content of Central Alberta Conifers and its Implica­ tions in Cro.wn Fire Occurrence. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Forest Science, University of Alberta, 1979. GIROUX, Jean-Francois. A Study of Waterfowl Nesting on Artificial Islands in Southeastern Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zoology, University of Alberta, 1979. GLASS, J. D. Central Biogenic Amines and Thermoregulation in a Hibernator, Spermophilus richardson;' M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zoology, University of Alberta, 1978. GWYER, B. D. Uptake of Phosphorus From Lower Depth of Selected Alberta Soils. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. HAMID, E. A. Morphogenic Study on the Earliness of Growth Stages and Yield in Spring Barley (Hordeum vulgare). M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Plant Science, Univer­ sity of Alberta, 1979. HAMILTON, Hal. Food IIabits of Ephemeropterans in Three Alberta Streams Exhibiting Different Watershed Vegetation. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Plant Science, University of Alberta, 1979'. HARRON, B. The Effect of-Sodium, Calcium, and Other Salts on Infiltration Rate into Solonetzic Soils. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University.of Alberta, 1979. . HARRON, W.R. f\.:The Effect of Sodium on Water Movement in a Duagh-Malmo Soil Association. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. HART, Robert Trevor. Ecology of Saxicolous Lichens in South-Central Saskatche­ wan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. HA WKES, B. C. Fire History and Fuel Appraisal Study of Kananaskis Provincial Park, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of ForestScience, University of Alberta, 1979. HAWLEY, Alexander Wilson Lewis. Comparison of Forage Utilization and Blood Composition of Bison and Hereford Cattle. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Animal & Poultry Science, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. . HUNT, Cecil E._ Location of Environmentally Responsive Transportation Corridors: Case Study of the Upper Kananaskis Valley. M.Sc. thesis, Committee on Resour­ ces & the Environment, University of Calgary, 1978. 97

JOHNSON, Christopher John. Experiments in Visitor Management at Maligne Canyon, Jasper National Park: A Quantitative Assessment of Selected Channel­ ling Techniques in Reducing Trampling Disturbance. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Calgary, 1979. JONES, Garry Raymond. The Influence of Clearcutting on Small Mammal Popula­ tions in the Southern Boreal Forest of Saskatchewan. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Saskatchewan; 1979. KLAR, A. A Phytogeographical Study of Southeastern Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Botany, University of Alberta, 1979. KRISTOFFERSON, A. H. Subpopulation Study of Lake Winnipeg Whitefish. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zoology, University of Manitoba, 1978. LEE, P. G. Resource Partitioning by Elk and Cattle: Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Botany; University of Alberta, 1979. LOVE, James A. An Energy. Management Programme for Grande Prairie Public School District. M.E.Des. thesis, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, 1978. LU, Wen-Fong, An Integrated Supply and Demand Analysis of Canadian Rapeseed and Vegetable Oil Products. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Farm Management, University of Manitoba, 1978. MASON, Peter. A Biosystematic Study of Larval and Pupal Chironomini (Diptera, Chrionomidae) of the Northand South Saskatchewan Rivers. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. MAYHOOD, David William. Production of Crustacean Plankton, Benthic Macro­ invertebrates and Fish in Six Mountain Lakes in Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Calgary, 1978. MCCULLY, Robert Alan. Canmore Corridor Regional Trails Plan. M.Sc. thesis, Committee on Resources & the Environment, University of Calgary, 1978. MCGEE, Steven Gregory. Helminth Parasites of Squirrels (Sciuridae) with Emphasis on Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus spp.). M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. MENZIES, Ian. A Multidisciplinary Examination of Winter Supplemental Feeding for Whitetailed Deer in Manitoba. M.N.R. M. Thesis, Natural Resource Institute, University of Manitoba, 1979. MORGANTINI, L. E. Habitat Selection and Resource Division among Bighorn Sheep, Elk and Mule Deer in Western Alberta. M.Sc~ thesis, Dept. of Animal Science, University of Alberta, 1979. . MORTIMER, P. The Alpine Vascular Flora and Vegetation of Prospect Mountain, Front Range, Rocky Mountains, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Botany, Univer­ sity of Alberta, 1978. MULGREW, P. J. Physical Fitness of Correctional Officers (Prairie Region) 1977-78. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Physical Education, University of Alberta, 1979. MUNSON, Barry. Mercury Contamination in Fish in the North Saskatchewan River. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zoology, University of Alberta, 1979. MURKIN, Henry R. Response of Waterfowl, Other Marsh Birds, and Muskrats to a Manipulated Cattail Marsh. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Renewable Resources, McGill University, 1979. NERAASEN, Terrence G. Pathology and Immunology of Echinuria uncinata (Nematoda) in the Mallard. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Zoology, University of Manitoba, 1979. NEUMEYER, Catherine Frances. Effect of Technological Change on Factor Use in Saskatchewan Wheat Production. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Agricultural Econom­ ics, University of Saskatchewan, 1978. O'CONNEL'L, MichaelW. An Ecological Investigation of Macroinvertebrate Drift in the Oldman River, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Calgary, 1978. . 98

OLFERT, Owen Orton. Quantitative Evaluation of Grasshopper Defoliation of Wheat in Saskatchewan. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. P.ENTTINEN, S. E. Dissolved Oxygen Depletion Due to Natural Organic Runoff in the Red Deer River System. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Alberta, 1979. PERL, K. J. Long-Term Applications of Nitrogenous Fertilizers on a Solonetzic Soil and Their Effects on Plant Growth and Soil Properties. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. PHILLIPS, David W. Productivity and Population Fluctuations of the Muskrat (Ondatra zibethica) Population at Eyebrow Lake, Saskatchewan, under Stable Water Level Conditions. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Regina, 1979. PIKE, Edward M. Origin of Tundra Butterflies in Alberta, Canada and Their Signifi­ cance in the Study of Refugia of Wisconsin Age. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Entomol­ ogy, University of Alberta, 1978. PLEDGER~ David James. Black Flies (Diptera, Simuliidae) of the Swan Hills, Albertaas Possible Vectors of Onchocera cervipedis (Nematoda) in Moose (A lees alces). M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Entomology, University of Alberta, 1978. P·RITCHARD,- Robert B. Solid Waste Management in Alberta. M.E.Des. thesis, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, 1978. RASMUSSEN, J. B. The Macroinvertebrate Fauna and Thermal Regime of Lake Wabamun, a Lake Receiving Thermal Effluent. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zoology, University of Alberta, 1979. ROCK, Terrence Walter, An Evaluation of Seasonal Coyote Control Techniques and Sheep Losses in Saskatchewan, M.Sc. thesis, University of Nevada, 1978. SHANK, Christopher Cassel. Sexual Dimorphism in the Ecological Niche of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. Ph.D. dissertation, Committee on Resources and the Environment, University of Calgary, 1979. SKWARA-WOOLF, Theresa. .The Riddell Local Fauna: Vertebrate Paleontology and Stratigraphy of late Pleistocene Deposits from Saskatoon, Canada. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 1979. SLATER, Jonathan David. An Ecological Model of Aedes vexans Populations "in Southern Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Biology, University of Calgary, 1978. SMITH, C. A. S. Mineralogy and Genesis of Soils of the Upper Subalpine Bioclimatic Subzone, Sunwapta Pass, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. ofSoil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. SWANSON, Stella Marie. Ecology and Production of Macrobenthos of Waldsea Lake, Saskatchewan, with Emphasis on Crictopus ornatus (Diptera: Chironomi­ dae). Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 1978'. SYKES,Gary Nicholas. Recycling: Two Alberta Case Studies. M.E.Des. thesis, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, 1978. TCHIR, R. J. Shrinkage Losses in Alberta Hog Deliveries. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Rural Economy, University of Alberta, 1979. VANCE, R. E. Late Holocene Paleoecology of the Aspen Parkland Region of Western Canada. M.A thesis, Dept. 'of Anthropology, University of Alberta, 1979. WALKER, D. G. The Genetic Potential of Native Alberta Grasses. Ph.D. disserta­ tion, Dept. of Genetics, University of Alberta, 1979. WALTON, B. D. The Reproductive Biology, Early Life History, and Growth of White Suckers, Catostomus commersoni, and Longnose Suckers, C. catostomus, in the Willow Creek-Chain Lakes System, Alberta. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Zoology,· University of Alberta. 1979. WICKWARE, Greg. Wetland Classification and Environmental Monitoring in the Peace-Athabasca Delta Using Landsat Digital Data. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Geography, McMaster University, 1979. 99

WILLMS, W. D. The Effects of Fall Burning or Grazing on Agropyronspicatum and its Selection by Deer and Cattle. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Plant .Science, University .of Alberta, f979 .. WONG, R. A. G. Conflict Between Cross-Country Skiers and Snowmobilers in Alberta. M.A. thesis, Dept. of Geography, University of Alberta, 1979. YEUNG, Paul. The Effects of Soil Acidification in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area. M.Sc. thesis, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Alberta, 1979. ZARNKE, Randall Lee. Occurrence of Selected Microbial Pathogens in Alberta Wild Mammals. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1978.

PRAIRIE FORUM, 1981, Vol. 6, No.1 101 BOOK REVIEWS

Out ofIrrelevance, by J. R. Pontingand R. Gibbins. Toronto, Butter­ worths, 1980. $14.95, paper.

People concerned with issues involving Natives will be familiar with journal articles by Ponting and Gibbins and many will have waited impatiently for this, their first book on. Natives. And a long­ awaited book is often disappointing, either because the author fails to make the necessary stylistic leap from journal articles to a book, or because scholarlship has advanced so rapidly that ideas are outdated by the time the book is published. Fortunately, this is not the case with Out ofIrrelevance. This book provides base-line descriptive data about Indian affairs in Canada at the national level. Although the study is heavily descrip... tive, analysis is provided which gives the reader a broaderunderstand­ ing ofthe·subject. The authors state that the book is intended for three audiences: students and the general public, practitioners iii the field, and academics. However, they have cast their net too widely. This is not a book for the general public; it is far too complex and ponderous to be read and comprehended by anyone not involved in the area of Native issues. Out ofIrrelevance does an excellent job of clarifying many ofthe complexities of Indian-White relationships in Canada. Chapter One provides'the historical background to the study, while Chapters T'Yo and Three provide quantitative data on the socio-demographic-' economic situation of Indians. Chapters' Four through Ten are rich in qualitative data which lead the reader through the administrative maze of the Indian Affairs Branch and the politicization of Indians. The thesis of the book is that during the fur-trading period of Canadian .history, Indians were relevant. As the country was settled they became irrelevant to Canadian society, but the authors contend that they have now moved "out ofirrelevance." The assumptionis that Indians at one time became irrelevant. They may have been so in a political sense but they have always occupied a premier position in Canadian-social affairs. Each decade of this century has seen them studied and analyzed, with the results providingammunitionfor liber­ als and academics to belabour the national conscience. The difference since 1970 is that the Indians have grasped the whip and now them­ selves belabour the Canadian conscience. The authors, in their introduction, make an honest effort to introduce definitions and to avoid 'the confusing terminology that has ruined many promising studies. They succeed in clarifying what is meant by 'Indian' in their book. It is one who is so defined by the 102

federal government and whose name is entered on the official register, in other words, one who fits the definition in The Indian Act. 'Indian' is not to be confused with 'Native' which is an umbrella term encompass­ ing Indian, nonstatus Indian, Inuit and Metis: "... in this book weshall reserve the term Indian to denote registered (status) Indians." The problem is that the authors, after carefully defining the term, are inconsistent in their use of it throughout the book. Thus, on page 50 the reader is given statistics for the average yearly earnings per Indian worker. The next lines give statistics for the Native labour force. Further on weare given educational statistics for Natives which are later compared with those for Indians. All this despite the fact that no national statistics have ever been gathered concerning Natives­ simply because the problems of definition make them_impossible to gather. Having opted for a legal definition of Indian, the authors are on shaky ground when to prove their points they use statistics such as those gathered by the Solicitor-General's Department or by the Law Reform Commission which are based on observable racial characteris­ tics. At other times in the book the authors set aside legal and racial definitions and use the term 'Indian' in a cultural sense. This'Alice in Wonderland' use of words leaves the reader reeling. One can under­ stand the use ofthe term 'cultural genocide' in relation to the assimila­ tive policies ofgovernment. But to then remove 'cultural' and thereaf­ ter speak of 'genocide' shifts the meaning of the argument rather dramatically to physical extermination. Despite such limitations, Out ofIrrelevance will serve as an inval­ uable reference book. D. Bruce Sealey Faculty of Education University of Manitoba

Urban Indians: The Strangers in Canada's Cities, by Larry Krotz. Edmonton, Hurtig Publishers, 1980. 176 pp. $9.95, paper.

Larry Krotz has succeeded in his latest book in addressing a difficult subject in an insightfuland sensitive way. Avoiding the tempta­ tion to resort to. numbing statistics or gushy appeals to sentiment, the author evokes the spectre of the urban Indian in the Canadian West, and then cal-mly and accurately interprets the issues in a holistic fashion. The reader is left feeling both that the urban Indian has been given a fair representation in the book, and that the issues and circum­ stances of urban Indians are the result of every citizen's negligence in failing to insist on.justice for all. 103

Title choice for the book is practical. Although urban non-status Natives probably outnumber status Indians, to the majority ofpeople, Indian physical features evoke the description "Indian" rather than "Native," regardless of the legal definition of Indians as rendered by The Indian Act. Furthermore, the use of the descriptive word "strangers" adds a further dimension of reality to the title-especially when the word is interpreted as descriptive ofa people unwelcome and unaccommodated. The book is not an academic study in the usual sense of intensive theory application and quantification. Rather, Krotz, by use of numerous personal interviews and provision of background informa­ tion, has written a descriptive study resembling a drawn artistic pic­ ture. The author displays a sensitive maturity which allows him to feel with his human subjects and still retain a clear self-identity. A subject like urban Indians and their experiences could not be discussed without some recourse to basic theory. However, Krotz never does personally espouse anyone theoretical analysis of the factors precipitating a hard life for many Indians. Rather, he makes statements intermittently throughout the book that provoke thought­ ful analysis and speculation in the reader. For instance, in regards to the urban Indian's chronic housing crises, Krotz states that housing is not a problem to anyone-the problem is poverty. In other places he underscores this same thesis, as in his description of the_$130,OOO family, clucked over by a troupe of social service professionals, while the basic family poverty gnaws on like a dreadful disease. The nearest Krotz comes to specific theory application is his appropriation of William Ryan's (Blaming the Victim: Random House, 1971) basic presuppositions concerning Black poverty in America. However, even here Krotz does not state that in fact Indians are totally victimized in Canadian cities, but rather gently suggests that maybe society should shoulder some of the responsibility for the circumstances. The Indian people whom Krotz chose to interview come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. These diverse sources lend greater credibility to Krotz' descriptions. It is indeed the case that Indians come from different socio-economic stratifications within Indian society, and Krotz recognizes this fact. The interviews also underscore the fact that there are poor Indians and relatively well-to­ do Indians, .but Krotz does not let this factor lead to the spurious conclusion that the Indians' situation is just like that of the rest of society. Rather, the reader is subtly led to the inescapable conclusion that while there may be some differences among Indians, basically, to be an Indian in a western Canadian city greatly increases one's chances of being caught in a treadmill of debilitating poverty. 104

The photography of John Paskievich cannot be overlooked. Pas­ kievich successfully collaborated with Krotz in an earlier work, Wait­ ingfor the Ice-Cream Man, and Paskievich has succeeded again. Two sections of photographs in this latest book, one section on Reserve Indian life, and one section on urban Indian life, strongly indicate that in John Paskievich Canada has gained a sensitive photographic artist of the social scene. His works have been exhibited in artgalleries from Ontario to Alberta, and his photographs lend a pathos and a dimen­ sion of reality to Krotz' book which words alone would have failed to elicit. Urban Indians - The Strangers in Canada's Cities is a book which could enjoy a variety of uses. It may be read as light but informative reading forthe person with an interest in Indians or urban issues, or it may also be used as a thought- and discussion-provoking teaching aid in courses related to the subject, at a high-school, university, or any adult learning level. In short, it is a versatile book, with a subject matter and style amenable to diverse usages. In summation, Larry Krotz has given a sensitive, personal treat­ ment of a gigantic public issue and has done so in a style which keeps the reader's interest. Personal social comment and personal interviews combine to make old issues live again. The author's own diagnosis of why the issues revolving around urban Indians chronically fester is an appropriate ending to this review of a provocative book ... "The dilemma or the frustration is mainly that of a society that doesn't know how to help." Oliver Brass Canadian Plains Area Studies University of Regina

Sundogs: Stories from Saskatchewan, edited by Robert Kroetsch. Moose Jaw, Coteau Books, 1980. 184 pp. $7.95,. paper.

Sundogs is the first major collection of short stories by Saskat­ chewan authors, and a further indication of the literary ferment of the last decade as the primarily third generation in Saskatchewan begins to write the province in detail. Poetry has been until now the primary medium for that exploration-over thirty books of poetry by Saskat­ chewan poets have been published in the last six years, some ofthem very substantial achievements. A reader can best enter that poetry world through another Coteau book, Number One Northern, a 1978 anthology of poems by Saskatchewan authors. Now Sundogs is the matching anthology of short stories, a genre which has as yet been little published in book form. I know of only four authors in Sundogs, 105

Terrence Heath, Ken Mitchell, Brenda Riches, and Lois Simmie, who have had prose collections published. There are twenty-three stories in the volume by twenty-three different authors, chosen and introduced by Robert Kroetsch and arranged alphabetically by author. Reading the collection is a bit like going to an art exhibition of single works. I can respond to a story or painting yet feel frustrated by something missing when I am unable to connect the one work to an artist's other work. If such a collection divorces us from the individual writer's continuity,what does it tell us about Saskatchewan now? Is there a typical regional prose style or a collective myth that defines people in this political entity? The answer, as Kroetsch makes clear in his helpful introduction, is simply no. There is, for instance, no support here for the historical view of Saskatche­ wan as a highly conscious political entity-populist, co-operative­ either in content or author's point of view: The main point the writers have in common is diversity. The collection is like an old city street where every house is.different from every other, though some look a bit alike. Anthologies of single works can frustrate ·pattern making, espe­ cially when as in this case it is based on a tapered rectangle and arranged randomly from A to V. That leaves the matter most readers are interested in anyway. Which stories are good stories? Though the level of story-telling throughout is very good, with one exception-I don't think the John Hicks story is up to the rest and certainly not up to his poetry-there are five I would particularly recommend to the common reader as a good way to spend time. Kroetsch says the Western short story began with Ken Mitchell in the early 1970s, and Mitchell's story, "Loose Ruck," about a Moose Jaw vs. Regina rugby match and three of its participants, is the best popular entertainment in the collection­ vigorous and funny and with no theme except the guys themselves in their own light. A similar vigorous first person story by Pat Krause does not work as well partly because she sets outrageous male life and language in a moral framework that confines them to meaning (how­ ever much they deserve it). In "Rites" Brenda Riches captures the palpability of sexual desire, a lovely thing to capture. The prose style could hardly be more differ­ ent from Mitchell's sixpack slang. Riches' language is an elegant mixture of the formal and slang,and very self-regarding, so sometimes we stop just to watch a sentence. The two stories that most deeply moved me are Gertrude Story's "Das Engelein Kommt" about a harsh but handsome German father and his harmful effect on two daughters who loved him, told in a very accomplished first person narration; and Guy Vanderhaeghe's "Dancing Bear" about the last morning of an old man's life and the way death finally appears as the embrace of an ancient memory. Vanderhaeghe is particularly good at dialogue. 106

The last of my favorite stories, Anne Campbell's "The Vocation," I can hardlyjudge at all because it is so close to my own experience that it feels like my own memories. It simply recounts the visit to Saskatoon of a young girl from a small town, in the 1940s, I would think. She says what the city means to her, and it meant to her what it meant to me at the same time. She even finds the climax of her story at the Capitol Theatre, now dead on the altar of city assessment and lack of political imagination. Yet imagination was what the 1929 "atmospheric" cinema house was about and what Anne Campbell finds in it, her narrator discovering there her own vocation-story telling. It is an unusual and special pleasure to find the spirit of one's own place captured, and that is some consolation for the destruction of that place. Stories often set up their fragile .barricades against the destruc­ tion brought by time and progress, and when the stories are at last about our own places, they can hold a special poignancy. Donald C. Kerr Department of English University of Saskatchewan

Ordinary Heroes: The Journal of a French Pioneer in Alberta, by Marcel Durieux, translated' and edited by Robert Motut and Maurice Legris. Edmonton, The University of Alberta Press, 1980. 115 pp. $7.50, paper.

Ordinary Heroes, the private journal of a French pioneer who settled in the Stettler area of Alberta in 1906, constitutes a sentient description of the emotional trauma, hardships and triumphs expe­ rienced by the Durieux family in its attempts to adapt to the harsh realities of a frontier environment. The experiences of the Durieux ~re not unique. The painful separation from family and friends, the mixed emotions felt when departing from the beloved motherland, the Atlantic crossing on a "vulgar cargo ship" followed by an interminablejourney by rail across the Laurentian Shieid were endured by most French immigrants who either preceded or followed the Durieux. Similarly, several French immigrants secured employment in Manitoba on a homestead belong­ ing to a former compatriot, either to obtain much needed funds or to familiarize themselves with their new environment before striking out on their own. Many French-speaking settlers relied on the services of a Metis to select a homestead and build a residence or farm buildings. Yet, as L. G. Thomas states in the introduction, the Durieux family were not typical homesteaders. "They had at least a modest reserve of capital, a betterthan average education and a degree of sophistication that, with their native shrewdness, protected them from exploitation." 107

Marcel Durieux's better-than-average education, his sensitivity, his intelligence and his awareness "of himself as an intellectual and moral being" have resulted in the writing of a superior pioneer memoir. One question, however, lingers persistently in the mind of the reader. We do know that the head of the Durieux family had suffered a series of financial setbacks, but why did he decide to immigrate to Western Canada and doggedly insist on settling in the Stettler area? .There is a .reference in the journal to a "Father Guere" who had had some contact with "the family in France. The cleric referred to is presumably l'abbe Jean Gaire, a native of Alsace-Lorraine who had migrated to the archdiocese of St. Boniface in 1887 to build a series of colonies across the Canadian prairies. Between 1889 arid 1906, Gaire repeatedly jour­ neyed to France and Belgium to publicize the advantages offered to prospective settlers in Western Canada. As a result of his endeavours, he was instrumental in creating the colonies of Bellegarde, Cantal and Wauchope in southeastern Saskatchewan. The first homesteaders in this area came predominantlyfrom Belgium and northeastern France. The cure of Wauchope also sought to build similar communities on the banks of the Red Deer River, in the Stettler area. This oversight, which should have been remedied in the introduc­ tion, does not seriously undermine the value of this publication. This journal is a very valuable document on the social history of settlement in the Canadian West prior to World War I. Andre Lalonde Department of History University of Regina

Pages from the Past. Essays on Saskatchewan History, edited by D. H. Bocking. Saskatoon, Western Producer Prairie Books, 1979.299 pp. $8.95, paper.

Pages from the Past is the result of the 1977 decision of the Saskatchewan Archives Board to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Saskatchewan History by reprinting a selection of articles which had been published since the inception of the magazine in 1947. Over these 30 years Saskatchewan History has had a policy of printing articles based on original research, memoirs of early pioneers and documents related to western history. The majority of the articles chosen for Pages from the Past are samples of the first category, work based on original research, and are reprinted for the first time in this anthology. In the preface the editor, D. H. Bocking, who had edited Saskat­ chewan History since 1960, claims not to have organized the articles in any specific pattern. Yet they appear.to run in chronological order beginning with R. S. Allen's article "Big Bear," and ending with Alma 108

Newman's work, "Relief Administration in Saskatoon during the Depression." A quick examination of the table of contents would lead the unwary reader to. think that the seventeen articles appearing in Pagesfrom the Past are totally unrelated to each other-ranging, as it were, from the fur trade to the Depression. However, each authorin his own way reveals some aspect of the settlement, development and growth of Saskatchewan. The main focus is on the social history of the province because according to the editor "this is an area not well represented in the published literature." The first essay in the collection is an accountof Big Bear and his desperate struggle to maintain his people's traditional way of life in the face of the vanishing buffalo herd and the pressure of the advancing settlement. This futile struggle culminated in the 1885 tragedy at Frog Lake, his own imprisonment and the dispersal of his band. Big Bear may have seen the ever-growing number of settlers as a threat to his life-style. The government in Ottawa could not encourage them quickly enough. Jean Larmour examines the role played by Edgar Dewdney in establishing government policy to promote immi­ gration in the aftermath of the North West Rebellion. Several articles examine a variety of settlement schemes which were adopted, not always successfully, to promote quick and profita­ ble immigration to the West. Some schemes may already be familiar to aficionados of Saskatchewan's history, while others may be new to all but those who have been avid readers of Saskatchewan History. One such scheme was that of the Colonization Companies. Con­ ceived in the early 1880sat the height of the land boom, politicians and businessmen alike thought that these companies would promote the rapid settlement of the West and provide substantial profits to the investors. A. N. Lalonde discusses why within ten years it became evident that the concept of Colonization Companies was a failure, one which even contributed to the slow progress of settlement in the next decade. Otherauthors elected to study specific settlements. The Bell Farm near Indian Head aroused a great deal of interestthroughout Canada in the 1880s and 1890s. It was one of the few Canadian examples of "bonanzafarming." E. C~ Morgan recounts the history of this attempt at farming on a grand scale and explains why it too was doomed to failure. A failure on a smaller scale was the little known Harmony Industrial Settlement. Gilbert Johnson describes the life in this short­ lived co-operative settlement inthe Qu' Appelle Valley at the turn of the century. Another little known but more promising colonization scheme was that of the Welsh immigration to Saskatchewan in 1902. Written by Lewis H. Thomas (a former editor of Saskatchewan History) this 109

article describes the Welsh migration first to Patagonia and then to Saskatchewan. Not all attempts at settling the West were failures. There were successful ventures as well. In a longer article Jane McCracken des­ cribes the slow growth of York Colony and its development into Yorkton between 1882and 1905.Its ultimate success was dependent on the development of the railways and the influx of eastern European immigrants. While railways and government policy may have influenced the success or failure of prairie settlement, two concerns were of more immediate priorityfor the pioneer settler-his food and church. Edith Rowles-Simpson and Christine MacDonald base essays on these top­ ics on the 1950spioneer questionnaires compiled by the Saskatchewan Archives Board. With the influx of settlers into Saskatchewan in the twentieth century came the need for more sophisticated political organizations. An article by Evelyn Eager (also a former editor of Saskatchewan History) describes the constitution of Saskatchewan which became the framework and the nucleus of government structure in the province. The Saskatchewan Act established the separate school system in the province.The issue of separate schools became inexorably tangled with the question of linguistic schools in the province. R. Huel discusses the controversy over the French-Canadians and the Language Question in 1918. Public ownership became another of the early political questions. D. S. Spafford writes on the debate-between the government and the Grain Growers' Association over public ownership of the elevators .. The amicable settlement of this debate was one of the important achievements of the co-operative movement in the province. Furtherdiscussions on agrarian political agitation are undertaken by J. W. Brennan and G. Hoffman. Brennan shows how C. A. Dun­ ning, through his capable administrative record, personal popularity and political.ability, was able to meet the challenge of the Progressive movement between 1922 and 1925 and save the. Liberal Party from defeat. Hoffman studies the origins of the C.C.F., the Farm Labour Pact from 1932-1934,and establishes the thesis that its leaders were not as radical or socialist as commonly believed. The early settlement of Saskatchewan began as a struggle for many of the pioneers. The necessary fortitude to withstand great difficulties surfaced again in the years of the Depression. Mrs. A. W. Bailey, in her reminiscences, "The Year We Moved," describes how her family decided to abandon their home in southern Saskatchewan and move further north-once again as pioneers to break the land. 110

Not to neglect the cities of Saskatchewan, two articles are devoted to urban concerns. R. Rees discusses land .speculation and the real­ estate boom in Saskatoon between 1910 and 1913. He illustrates not only the physical growth of the city but describes the local government which evolved to run the city. Twenty years later Saskatoon was in the midst of the Depression and Alma Newman, in the last article in the book, describes how this city government provided relief to its unem­ ployed and needy. It may be a sign of the state of Saskatchewan historiography that no articles in this anthology deal with a period more recent than the Depression. It is unfortunate that no articles were selected from the first four years of Saskatchewan History's publication.·Ofthe seventeen articles reproduced in Pages from the Past, "only two were chosen from the 1950s. Seven appeared in the 1960s and eight in the 1970s. It is, therefore, impossible for the reader to fully appreciate the develop­ ment of Saskatchewan History over the first thirty years of its history. One regular feature of Saskatchewan History. is missing in Pages from the Past-"Notes on the Contributors." It would have been an added touch to have a note about who the authors were with perhaps an update on.their careers since the article was first printed. This reader fights a continuing (but not always successful) battle for an index to be included in all books being printed. I was pleased to see that Pagesfrom the Past does include an index. Pagesfrom the Past will be enjoyable reading for everyone inter­ ested in the history of Saskatchewan, particularly those who have not been regular subscribers to Saskatchewan History. Elizabeth Blight Archivist Provincial Archives of Manitoba

Promise ofEden: The Canadian Expansionist Movement and the Idea of the West, 1856-1900, by Doug Owram. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1980. Pp. x plus 264. $10.00, paper; $25.00, cloth.

The prairie region has been locked into a relationship with what is now central Canada since French explorers penetrated the region during the eighteenth century. That relationship became more intense after the Conquest when Montreal-based entrepreneurs organized the North West Company and entered into a fierce competition with the Hudson's Bay Company for the control of the rich fur lands in the far west. The N.W.C. was a marvel of capitalist ingenuity but was ulti­ mately defeated by the H.B.C. The great fur companies united in 1821, 111 and prairie society evolved under the paternalistic regime of the H.B.C. A half century was to pass before a united British North America annexed the region. During those years central. Canada underwent a revolution. The political and economic balance swung decisively from Quebec to Onta­ rio, which experienced phenomenal growth. Ontario was still a pioneer society in 1821; by the mid-1850s it possessed a buoyant, aggressive and increasingly .sophisticated society. Ontario had a complex trans­ portation structure, a maturing education system, first-ratenewspap­ ers, a party system,and an obsession with rapid economic develop­ ment. However, it was running out of settlement land in the public domain. It was.at this precise moment that some articulate Ontarians became passionately interested in the prairie region. This small group, for the most part identified with the metropolitan interests of Toronto, wanted to annex and settle the west; it sought to smash the monopoly of the H.B.C., open communications with the Red River settlement, and build a railway to the Pacific. These expansionists dreamed dreams from the grandiloquent to the funny. "Like the Genii in the fable," said Allan Macdonell in a passage not quoted by Professor Owram, "[the Indian trade] still offers the casket and the sceptre to those who ... are bold enough to adventure to its embrace. In turn Phoenicia, Carthage, Greece, Rome, Venice, Pisa, Genoa, Portugal, Holland and Italy, has w·on and worn this ocean diadem; Destiny now offers [the Indian trade] to us." On the other hand they would exploit the apparently rich prairie trade in sarsaparilla! It is at this point, the mid- J8-508, and with this group, that Profes­ sor Doug Owram, of the University of Alberta, picks up the story of "The Canadian Expansionist Movement and the Idea of the West." He analyses the views of these expansionists, and takes us through the agitation of the 1850s, the expeditions of Hind and Palliser, annexa­ tion, the Resistance of 1869-70, the redefinition of Palliser's triangle from desert to farmland, the push of settlement, the arrival of the C.P.R., the transformation of the C.P.R. into the great incubus of the prairies, the pipedream of the Hudson's Bay Railroad and, ultimately, the production of a weste-rn mind-set that is determinedly regionalist in assumption and outlook, As Professor Owram puts it, "The great partnership which was supposed to develop between the metropolitan centre and the hinterland was rejected by the hinterland even before it had been fully formed." The story of this relationship between east and west is important. Professor Owram has chosen to tell it through the medium of intellec­ tual history.His work is "not a study of the economics of settlement or the 'problems of transportation." Rather, Owram is "primarily con­ cerned with ideas." This approach is fraught with both advantage and difficulty. The advantages are clear enough: "the economics of settle- 112

ment" and "the problem of transportation," hardly neglected areas, can be ignored, and some unusually interesting sources can be exploit- .ed to illustrate ideas about the west. The difficulties are less obvious, but are certainly important. In order to provide continuity for the period 1856-1900, we are taken through some rather well-worked topics. One experiences feelings of deja vu while reading yet again about the North-West Transportation and Navigation Company, the Canadian party at Red River, responses to the Resistance of 1869-70, Palliser's expedition and the campaign to build the Hudson's Bay Railroad. In short, much of the book is not really new. Rather, several reasonably well known events are retold from the perspective of an intellectual historian. Other parts ofthe narrative make a contribution of a different kind. Chapter .Seven, "John Macoun's Eden," is a fasci­ nating analysis of an enthusiast's campaign to convince Canadians that Palliser's Triangle should be opened for settlement. Macoun's irresponsibility is breathtaking: " 'Let a man settle where he may, between Winnipeg-on the east and the Rocky Moun­ tains on the west, and the International Boundary on the south and the parallel of60 degrees north, and he will have no difficulty in procuring food. Should the soil give no returns the lakes and rivers teem withfish .. -.. If he prefers the south he can raise fat cattle without an hour's la.bour ... Here on an area of 350,000 square miles is everything to supply a vast population, and all that is needed is a mere scratching of the soil. .: Want, either present or future, is not to be feared.' " How would a bankrupt dustbowl farmer of the 1930s have reacted to that? Chapter Nine, "The West as past: the foundations of western history," is a first-rate historiographical study of the development of a Manitoba school of history. However, to generalize this essentially Manitoban experience into "western history" strains the evidence.' Perhaps. the most important 'weakness in the book relates to definition. The writings of a very small sample of people were studied. Many of these persons were promoters and hucksters. How much can be generalized from this kind of evidence? Can Professor Owram really justify this s·entence: "The East seemed to have betrayed the original promises of the expansionist movement; in response, many in the West turned their back on the older perception of Canada and beganto look for their identity in the land around them." One of the weaknesses of "limited identities" historians, andOwram seems to find a place in this school, lies in their assumptions about. definitions. Differences are found and analysed, and the result is a limited identity, regionalism or what have you, But differences are easy to find. In England they can be found 'county by county; in the United States numerous regions can be identified and studied. Do these differences mean much in analytical terms without companion studies of inter-regional similarities? .Is the regional mind-set in Canada such that it causes the slightest difficulty 113 for the Ontarian who settles in Alberta, or the Albertan who settles in Ontario? These reservations are of a general nature. They relate to concerns about the extent to which intellectual history can be used to explain much about anything but intellectuals (which is, ofcourse, a perfectly legitimate enterprise); they relate also the the state-of-the-art of regional studies in Canada. Regional, provincial and even municipal differentiation is easy to find. What does "it mean? A good book should provoke argument and criticism. Promise of Eden does that; it is a solid contribution and merits a wide readership. Donald Swainson Department of History Queen's University

Mr. Davin, M.P.: A Biography of Nicholas Flood David, by C. B. Koester. Saskatoon, Western Producer Prairie Books, 1980.2'83 pp. $8.95, paper.

Nicholas Flood Davin was by turns an ironmonger's apprentice, barrister, newspaper reporter, warcorrespondent, founder ofthe Reg­ Ina Leader, poet and essayist, and member of Parliament for Assini­ boia West from 1887 to 1900. Mr. Davin, M.P., as the title would sug­ gest, is first and foremost a political biography ofa man whose career paralleled western Canada's political "coming" of age" during the late nineteenth century. Bev Koester has written a perceptive and sympa­ thetic biography of this little-understood political figure; indeed his accomplishment is all the more remarkable since Davin left no signifi­ cant collection of personal papers. The driving force throughout Davin's career was an unfulfilled ambition whose origins were to be found in the circumstances of his childhood. Davin's family background has long remained shrouded in mystery, much ofit ofhis own making. He claimed throughout his pub­ lic career to have been the son of Dr. Nicholas Flood Davin, of Kil­ finane, County Limerick, but Koester reveals that in fact the elder Davin was not a medical man, and that his son was christened Nicholas Fran­ cis. Upon his father's deaththe younglad was brought up and educated in the family of his uncle, James Flood Davin, an apothecary who styled himself "Doctor" and who embraced the Protestant religion for con­ venience sake. Davin adopted both his uncle's middle name and his religion, avoidingthe need for complicated explanations in laterlife by consciously confusing his father and his uncle, and carried with him too the dominant family trait: "a pride in the name he bore; an ambition to find his place in the sun; and a readiness to compete for that place with all the means at his disposal." (p. 7.) 114

It was a restlessness born of .unfulfilled ambition which drew Davin to 'Canada, where he made something of a name for himself in 1880 as the man who defended George Brown's murderer. Increas­ ingly, though, Davin was attracted to politics, and his sights became set upon gaining a seat in Parliament. He had stood as a candidate in 1878 "in an Ontario riding which the Conservative party considered impossi­ ble to win. Davin had managed to reduce the Liberal incumbent's majority from 800 to 166, but he had not carried the seat and his expectations that another might be found for him went unrealized, Davin's considerable political talents were overlooked by the Conservative hierarchy because they were only too aware that while he might make a brilliant member of Parliament, he had already demon­ strated too much intellectual independence to be considered a thor­ oughly reliable party man. The conclusion was obvious. "If Davin were to find a place for himselfin the Canadian House of Commons, he must first build a power base of his own, independent of the party establishment," Koester writes. "With a new constituency in his pocket, he could negotiate from strength." (p. 53.) As much by accident as by design, Davin found that .. new power base in a jumble of shacks and tents which the Canadian Pacific Railway had named Regina and which was soon to become the capital of the North-West Territories. He established the first newspaper there, with funds subscribed by local residents and party benefactors, became a leading figure in the fledgling town, and realized his ambition when the voters of the district elected him to the House of Commons in 1887. Fully half the book is devoted to Davin's subsequent parliamen­ tary career. From the outset Davin concerned himself with the prob­ lems of the individual settler, and his campaign for justice in the matter of extending the deadline for filing for a second homestead Koester judges" ... a most notable demonstration of his persistence and his effectiveness as a back-bench representative . . . " (p. 92.) Wider national issues-the tariff, immigration, the Jesuits' Estate Act, the school and language controversies in Manitoba and the North-West Territories-did not escape Davin's attention, of course. His verbosity eventually earned him the sobriquet"Almighty Voice" (p. 171), but Koester insists that "he contributed to ... debate not only his elo­ quence, but also the fruits of a well-stored mind and a determination to represent the interests of his constituents as he saw them." (p. 103.) Davin did not regard himself merely as the delegate of his consti­ tuency; neither did he prove to be a quiescent back-bencher obediently toeing the party line. His dilemma in balancing the views of his constit­ uents against the dictates of the party whip and his own conscience emerged most clearly in the controversy over the abolition of tax 115

support for Manitoba's separate schools. Davin had been slow to commit himself to an irrevocable position, but by 1895 he had come out in favour of provincial rights and secular schools, However, when the Tupper .government moved to restore Catholic school rights the following year, Davin voted for the remedial legislation. That vote was clearly at variance with the weight of public opinion in Assiniboia West, and forever alienated his erstwhile business associate, Walter Scott, to whom he sold the Leader in 1895. While it proved to be a decisive event in Davin's political career, Koester can find no definitive explanation for this apparent change of heart. Such are the limitations which are imposed upon a biographer by the absence of personal papers. Davin's relationship with the party hierarchy and with his own political supporters in his home riding is explored less fully, perhaps again due to the absence of any personal papers. He is credited with considerable skill on the hustings, managing to overcome considerable internal party feuding and carry Assiniboia West in 1887 and 1891. Five years later Davin was further handicapped by the unpopularity of his stand on the remedial bill and by the sale of the Leader. He won by only one vote, that of the returning officer, but this was a "substantial personal victory" in his biographer's opinion, for Davin was the only Conservative returned from a Territorial constituency. (p. 153.) Davin's private life remains largely unexplored in this biography, save for his short-lived romantic relationship with Kate Simpson­ Hayes, who bore him two .children, and his subsequent marriage to Eliza Jane Reid in 1895. There is also a chapter dealing with his not inconsiderable literary accomplishments, and a sympathetic treatment of the events leading up to Davin's suicide in 190I. Despondent over his loss to Walter Scott in the 1900 federal election, Davin became a journalist again for a time, but his heart was not in his work. Nothing came of a proposed biography of D'Arcy McGee in the Makers of Canada series (the editors concluded that McGee was not sufficiently important to merit inclusion), and a trip to Winnipeg in search of another outlet for his talents brought no tangible results. A chance encounter with Kate Simpson-Hayes, by now well established in her own career in Winnipeg, ended in disagreement over Davin's intention to provide for their children in his will. Nicholas Flood Davin died believing his life to have been a failure. Bev Koester offers a different assessment, one which reflects his own unique perspective as Clerk of the House of Commons. If Davin was not a politician of the first rank, a Macdonald, a Tupper or a Laurier, he was" ... part of that parliamentary culture that breeds the great men and as such he shares their brilliance, as they do his, for parlia­ mentary government depends as much upon the institution as upon the 116 individual." Davin's shining accomplishments were in the House of Commons, where he was "a voice, not a vote; a mind, not an echo; a member of Parliament in the very best traditions of the institution." (p. 210.) The same can be said of this book. Ifit does not always plumb the depths of a very complex and enigmatic personality, it is nevertheless a finely crafted political biography, and historical scholarship in Canada is richer for it. J. William Brennan Department of History University of Regina