Premier Ernest Manning
Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

Born in Carnduff, Saskatchewan, Ernest Manning had been a student of William Aberhart’s Prophetic Bible Institute. When the Social Credit Party swept the 1935 election, Manning became the provincial secretary in Aberhart’s cabinet. After Aberhart’s death in 1943, Manning became premier, a post he held until 1968. His government moved away from Social Credit dogma towards cautious fiscal conservatism. Aided by money generated by the oil and gas boom, Manning provided Alberta’s residents with relatively low taxes and good social services. Manning, however, resisted national Medicare as a left-wing policy. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Social Credit Party cemented an alliance with the business sector, and having few alternatives, Manning’s government supported American investment in the province’s resources. By 1963, American companies controlled 63 per cent of Canada’s oil and gas industry.