1986 –July 27,1987
Harvey George Lainson (c. 1935 –February 28,2005) was a Canadian Christian evangelical minister based in the Cambridge,Ontario,region and was leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1986 to 1990 during which time he led a successful effort to expel an anti-Semitic faction from the party led by Jim Keegstra. [2]
Lainson was a longtime party member and stood as a Social Credit candidate during the 1962 federal election in the riding of St. John—Albert,New Brunswick. [3] He led the Ontario Social Credit Party during the 1967 general election and was its candidate in Kitchener. [4] He won the party's June 1986 leadership convention defeating Keegstra by a margin of 67 vote to 38. [5]
Lainson hoped to rename the party Christian Freedom since he thought people mistook the name "social credit" for socialist and rebuild the party with the support of Christian fundamentalists [5] He faced resistance from the onset of his leadership with Keegstra's supporters insisting that Lainson was part of a conspiracy and pledging to obstruct him. "We're going to stonewall this guy. There's no way we're going to do business with him. As far as we're concerned,this bunch is part of the conspiracy," said one Keegstra supporter. [5] He was temporarily deposed as party leader in 1987 in favour of Keegstra. [6] Refusing to resign, [7] Lainson's leadership was reconfirmed at a party convention later in 1987 and he succeeded in expelling Keegstra from the party. [8]
Lainson led the party through the 1988 federal election in which the depleted party ran only nine candidates and received only 3,407 votes,in what would be its final and worst ever performance in a general election. Lainson did not contest a parliamentary seat. He resigned as party leader in 1990 for unspecified "personal reasons" and was succeeded by another evangelical minister,Ken Campbell. [2]
In his business life,Lainson operated a computer services company for Christian charities in Ottawa. [9]
The British Columbia Social Credit Party,whose members are known as Socreds,was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia,Canada,for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For four decades,the party dominated the British Columbian political scene,with the only break occurring between the 1972 and 1975 elections when the British Columbia New Democratic Party governed.
Grace Mary McCarthy,OC,OBC,LLD,DTech,FRAIC (Hon.) was a Canadian politician and florist in British Columbia. A high-ranking member of the Social Credit Party of British Columbia,she was largely responsible for rebuilding that party after its defeat in the 1972 provincial election.
Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta,Canada,that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement was largely an out-growth of Alberta Social Credit. The Social Credit Party of Canada was strongest in Alberta,before developing a base in Quebec when Réal Caouette agreed to merge his Ralliement créditiste movement into the federal party. The British Columbia Social Credit Party formed the government for many years in neighbouring British Columbia,although this was effectively a coalition of centre-right forces in the province that had no interest in social credit monetary policies.
The Social Credit Party of Canada,colloquially known as the Socreds,was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadian social credit movement.
David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes. Outside politics he worked as a car dealer.
J. Martin Hattersley was a Canadian lawyer and long-time activist of the Canadian social credit movement. Born in Swinton,near Rotherham,Yorkshire,England,Hattersley earned degrees in economics and law from Cambridge University before moving to Alberta in 1956 where he worked as a lawyer. His parents met at a social credit conference in Britain.
The Nationalist Party of Canada is a Canadian white supremacist organization founded in 1977 by Don Andrews. The party describes itself as white nationalist and is known for its antisemitic and racist publications.
Robert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician,chiropractor,and educator. He was born in Duluth,Minnesota,to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family. Raised in Alberta,he graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic in 1939 and worked as a chiropractor and then as a teacher before serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.
The 1991 British Columbia general election was the 35th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia,Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 19,1991,and held on October 17,1991. The incumbent Social Credit Party of British Columbia,which had been beset by scandals during Bill Vander Zalm's only term as premier,was defeated by the New Democratic Party of Mike Harcourt. Liberal Party leader Gordon Wilson surprised observers by leading his party to winning one-third of the votes cast,and forming the official opposition in the legislature. The new legislature met for the first time on March 17,1992.
Fabien Roy is a former Canadian politician who was active in Quebec in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the House of Commons of Canada,and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.
Gilles Caouette was a Canadian politician and member of Parliament.
Kenneth Sweigard was a Pentecostal evangelist from Grande Prairie,Alberta,and politician who led the Social Credit Party of Canada from 1983 to 1986.
The Social Credit Party of Ontario (SCPO) was a minor political party at the provincial level in the Canadian province of Ontario from the 1940s to the early 1970s. The party never won any seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It was affiliated with the Social Credit Party of Canada and espoused social credit theories of monetary reform.
John Ross Taylor was a Canadian fascist political activist and party leader prominent in white nationalist circles.
James "Jim" Keegstra was a public school teacher and mayor in Eckville,Alberta,Canada,who was charged under the Criminal Code with wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group,the Jewish people,in 1984. The charge led to lengthy litigation over the next twelve years,including three hearings in the Supreme Court of Canada,with Keegstra arguing that the offence of wilful promotion of hatred infringed his right to freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ultimately,the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the offence,and Keegstra was convicted.
Lorne Reznowski was a Canadian professor of English at the University of Manitoba and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada.
The Politics of British Columbia involves not only the governance of British Columbia,Canada,and the various political factions that have held or vied for legislative power,but also a number of experiments or attempts at political and electoral reform.
In 1963,the Quebec wing of the Social Credit Party of Canada split off from the national party as the Ralliement des créditistes. The split had its roots in a long-standing dispute between the de facto leader of the Ralliement,Réal Caouette,and the party's national leader,Robert N. Thompson. At the party's 1960 leadership convention,held two years after the party lost all of its seats in the House of Commons of Canada,Thompson defeated Caouette for the leadership. The party returned to Parliament in the 1962 federal election,but all but four of its 29 MPs came from Quebec. Under the circumstances,Thompson was all but forced to name Caouette as deputy leader of the party. The relationship was strained,however,and the strain was exacerbated when the party failed to make any gains in its old heartland of the Prairies in the 1963 federal election. Only Thompson and three others were elected outside of Quebec,while 20 Socreds were elected in Quebec. The two factions of the party were not re-united until October 1971.
The Canadian social credit movement first contested the 1935 federal election in order to capitalize from the Alberta Social Credit League's surprise victory in Alberta's August 1935 provincial election. Social Credit supporters ran as the Western Social Credit League and John Horne Blackmore was appointed the movement's parliamentary leader following the election although Alberta Premier William Aberhart was generally regarded as the unofficial national leader of the movement.
The Christian Freedom Party of Canada,also known as the Christian Freedom/Social Credit Party of Canada,was an unregistered Canadian political party that was active from 1988 to 1996. It grew out of the Social Credit Party of Canada,and for most of its existence,it was registered under the Social Credit name.