Manitoba Populism and the Farmers' Movement in The
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THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES ***** COPYRIGHT PERMISSION PAGE MANITOBA POPULISM ARD THE FARMERS' MOVEMDT IR THE PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS OF 1920 ARD 1922 by HABK. BEDBORSKI A Thesis/Practicum submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfdlment of the requirements of the degree MASTER. of ARTS I. HABK. BEDNORSKI 1997 (c) Permission has been granted to the Library of The University of Manitoba to lend or sell copies of this thesis/practicum, to the National Library of Canada to microfilm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and to Dissertations Abstracts International to publish an abstract of this thesis/practicum. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither this thesis/practicum nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's written permission. Bednorski 2 / TABLE OF CONTENTS I Chapter Page Abstract ................................................................................................................... .4 List of Tables ............................................................................................................6 List of Maps ............................................................................................................ .9 List of Appendices ................................................................................................. .10 Preface .................................................................................................................. .11 Chapter One: A Collective Biography of the Candidates From the 1920 and 1922 Manitoba Provincial Elections .................. 23 1. Election Results ................................................................................................ 26 2. Recruiting Candidates ............................ ,.......•.................................................. 28 3. Multiple-Party Identification .............................................................................. .32 4. Occupations ...................................................................................................... 36 5. Education Levels· ............................................................................................... .43 6. Previous Public Office ....................................................................................... .48 7. Birthplace ......................................................................................................... .50 8. Religion ............................................................................................................ .55 9. Age ................................................................................................................... .59 10. Sex ..................................................................................................................65 11. Conclusion .......................................................................................................72 L. -- - - ----------- - ---~--~~------------·-·---- Bednorski 3 \ TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) 1. Chapter Page Chapter Two: Campaigns, Strategies and Electioneering in the 1920 and 1922 Manitoba Provincial Elections ............80 1. The 1920 Campaigns ..........................................................................................82 2. The 1922 Campaigns ..........................................................................................87 3. The Election Results ..........................................................................................92 4. The Rural Campaign ..........................................................................................97 5. The Winnipeg Campaign ................................................................................. .111 6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... .113 \' ) Chapter Three: The Manitoba Legislative Record Uoder the Progressives From 1920 to 1922 ................................ .121 1. The 1st Session of the 16th Legislature ........................................................... .123 2. Summary of 1st Session Activity ..................................................................... .142 3. The 2nd Session of the 16th Legislature ........................................................... .146 Chapter Four ....................................................... :, ............................................ .169 1. Summary ........................................................................................................ .169 2. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... .173 Appendix .............................................................................................................. 183 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ .187 -.,,,...,..-----------.--- - Bednorski 4 .i ABSTRACT The Political landscape in Manitoba experienced mammoth changes from 1920 to 1922. In 1920 the Manitoba Liberal party under the leadership of T. C. Norris had been in power for five years. During this period, this government had compiled a list of liberal legislative achievements. Ironically, by the end of the first term the Norris government found itself in a badly weakened state. In the 1920 provincial election the Liberals were returned to office with only a minority and by 1922 they were ousted completely by a newly formed party with strong populist roots in the province. During this period, similar populist agitations were altering the political landscape all across the Canadian Prairies and the Great Western Plains of the United States. This study is concerned with the affect of these forces within the province of Manitoba and particularly the changes within the United Farmers of Manitoba (UFM). The UFM embodied the Manitoba incarnation of this populist movement, but its results contrasted greatly from those of similar political upheavals. Individual chapters are devoted to changes in legislative representation, party policy, and governmental pursuits. For ,'! chapter one, a collective biography was compiled of all candidates in both the 1920 and I 1922 Manitoba provincial elections in order to form some basis for a discussion about !, who the Manitoba populists were and why they acted the way they did. Chapter two examines the campaigns, strategies, and platforms of the Manitoba farmers' movement (which initially began with the Farmers' group in the Manitoba Legislature and later became the UFM in 1922) as well as all other opposition parties in the accompanying campaigns in order to try and understand the concerns of Manitoba populists. Finally, the legislative measures sponsored by the Farmers' group and later the UFM were examined during the two intervening sessions from 1920 to 1922. Bednorski 5 The study serves to examine the shift from partisan to non-partisan politics in Manitoba. What it shows is that populism and the farm movement in Manitoba was instrumental in the creation of a more non-partisan form of government. It also illustrates how the UFM was the same vehicle demanding a return to ··a much more conservative, non-interventionist approach to politics. The study highlights how the UFM was a populist movement riddled by contradictions, a divided and largely paralyzed political force in terms of personnel, policy and legislative pursuits. Ironically, under these conditions, the arrival of non-partisan politics and the rise of the Farmers' movement in Manitoba really led not so ·much to the destruction of traditional party politics, with the defeat of the Norris government in 1922, as it did to the undermining of their own agenda with the end of populist politics in the province. I I - I I, I I ,r. 'f' I Bednorski 6 LIST OF, TABLES PAGE 1 Number of Candidates Nominated and Elected by the Parties in 1920 and 1922 ..................................................................................... : .. 27 2. Numerical and Percentage Distribution of Candidates Who Ran in Only the 1920 or the 1922 Elections by Party ......................................... 28 3. The Number of Candidates, Seats Won, and Percentage of I .Popular Vote, by Party for the Elections of 1914, 1915, 1920 I and 1922 .................................................................................................... 30 i ·I 4. Candidate Movement From One Party to Another: Number of Candidates Lost, Remaining, and Gained by Each Party From 1920 to 1922 ............................................................................................... 31 5. Candidates With Ties to More Than One Political Party for 1920 and 1922 .................................................................................................... 32 6. Occupations of Elected and Defeated Candidates for 1920 ......................... 36 7. Occupations ofElected and Defeated Candidates for 1922 ......................... 37 8. Distribution of the major Occupations of Manitoba's Elected and Defeated Candidates for 1920 and 1922 ...................................................... 38 9. Formal Education of Elected and Defeated Candidates by Party for 1920 ..................................................................................................... .44 10. Fornial Education of Elected and Defeated Candidates by Party for 1922 .......... :.........................................................................................