Calgary & Southern Alberta

"Alberta Premier William Aberhart announced an issue of prosperity bonds to be sold to Albertans.
The bonds were in small denominations ($25.00) and for long terms (10 years). Aberhart noted the
bond issue was offered in response to queries from Alberta's "ordinary people," who frequently
asked him how they could help their government. He anticipated that the sale of the bonds would
allow the province to clear its $150 million debt within 10 years."
Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection "This Week in Western History: September 20 - 26"

Some historians argue that the ethnic and religious composition of Alberta and Saskatchewan contributed to the success of Social Credit in the former and the CCF in the latter. While individualist Americans wielded much influence in Alberta – Canada’s "Bible Belt" – Saskatchewan contained a larger contingent of British and continental Europeans familiar with left-wing politics and socialism. Yet, Howard Palmer points out that, in 1931, Alberta’s population was 15 percent British born as compared to Saskatchewan’s 11 percent. In addition, Americans formed 11 percent of Alberta’s population and 9 percent of Saskatchewan’s. While religion and ethnicity contributed to the two provinces' different political leanings, both the CCF and the Social Credit Party responded to the economic problems of the Depression by protesting capitalism and central Canadian dominance. Both promised to defend farmers, the lower-middle class, and the working class. Although the Social Credit Party became increasingly conservative under Ernest Manning’s leadership, in the beginning, both parties promised essentially the same things. Social Credit came to power in Alberta because the CCF, affiliated with the United Farmers of Alberta, became discredited before it began. In Saskatchewan, the CCF remained untainted when it emerged as an option in the 1930s.