Alberta

The depression generated interest in new ideas, such as a redistribution of income. In the early 1930s Scottish economist Clifford Douglas proposed the use of government grants, which he called “social credit,” during a visit to Canada. He convinced William Aberhart, a Calgary school principal and lay teacher. Aberhart became the leader of the new Social Credit Party, which generally adopted Douglas’s doctrines and also proposed to curb the power of banks. Eventually Aberhart promised each Albertan a monthly social dividend of $25.

In 1935 the party was swept into office. Aberhart became premier. The federal government prevented the party from testing its monetary ideas. The party did, however, improve local government, education, health care, highways, and the control of credit. After Aberhart died in 1943, he was succeeded by Ernest C. Manning. Thereafter Social Credit governed conservatively, on the basis of the precedents established by Aberhart.

Alberta was changing, however, as a result of the rapid growth of the oil industry after World War II (1939-1945). In 1971 the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Peter Lougheed, was swept into office. By 1982, with only three of its members left in the provincial legislature, the Social Credit Party was no longer politically important.

In 1947 a large oil field was found at Leduc, south of Edmonton. Even larger oil and also natural gas finds followed at Redwater and Pembina. Transportation was improved, pipelines were built to the United States and across Canada, and support industries were developed. Edmonton became an industrial and refining center, as well as a supply center for the north. Calgary became a business and financial center as well as a supplier for the farms of the south. Agriculture and food processing remained important, but Alberta became increasingly industrial and urban. New demands arose for housing, better transportation, and more social services. The provincial government became increasingly dependent on revenues from oil and gas leases and royalties on production to pay for social services.

During the 1970s more large deposits of natural gas were found, a major new oil field was discovered at West Pembina, and the first significant extractions of oil began from the Athabasca oil sands. As a result of the sharp rises in world oil prices in 1973 and 1974, and again in 1979 and 1980, a major dispute arose between the provincial and federal governments over the price to be charged for Alberta’s oil. While oil consumers wanted cheap oil, oil producers and the provinces that depended on oil royalties for revenue wanted high-price oil. In 1981 an agreement was reached whereby prices would be allowed to rise gradually to 75 percent of the world level and the federal share of royalties would be increased. In the mid-1980s Alberta’s economy fell into a depression when world prices for oil and wheat both plummeted. However, Calgary got an economic boost in 1988 when it hosted the Winter Olympic Games.

The Progressive Conservative government that had come to power in 1971 under Peter Lougheed devoted its efforts to fiscal reform, environmental protection, and the improvement of social services for the elderly and people with disabilities. Although Lougheed retired as premier in 1985, the Progressive Conservatives retained power, winning reelection in 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2004.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, growth in the oil and gas industries helped fuel a prolonged economic boom in Alberta. Oil production gradually expanded after the mid-1990s as technological advancements—spurred by provincial and federal tax breaks—reduced the cost of mining Alberta’s vast oil sands. The natural gas industry also prospered as it became more important as a source for electricity generation and various industrial applications, including petrochemical production. Alberta’s growing economy attracted workers from across Canada, especially young people in search of opportunity. Although Alberta’s robust economy easily absorbed many of the new immigrants, rapid population growth has strained the province’s infrastructure and led to a shortage of basic services in some areas.