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Alberta Non-Partisan League

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Alberta Non-Partisan League
Former provincial party
Founded1916
DissolvedJuly 15, 1919
Merged intoUnited Farmers of Alberta
Headquarters204-205 Leeson & Lineham Block
Calgary, Alberta
IdeologyPopulism
Collectivism
ColoursRed

The Alberta Non-Partisan League was a minor provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. The League changed its name in 1917 to the Non-Partisan Political League of Canada: Alberta Branch as it prepared to move into federal politics, and then changed its name again to the Farmers Non-Partisan Political League.

Taking inspiration from the success of the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota, which took control of the state Republican Party in 1916 and in 1918 elected majorities in both the state House of Representatives and the State Senate. The Alberta NPL was formed to promote the active interest of farmers in the political arena. Many farmers felt the Liberal and Conservative parties, federal and provincial, were not serving the interests of farmers. The Non-Partisan League conducted extensive meetings with interested farmers across rural Alberta. It was socialist in inclination under the influence of Calgary minister William Irvine.[1][2]

In the 1917 provincial election, four League members stood as candidates: Louise McKinney in Claresholm, James Weir in Nanton, J.E. Hillier in Pincher Creek and former Kansas governor John W. Leedy in Gleichen.[3] Lorne Proudfoot and several other reform-minded candidates also ran as affiliated independent/labour candidates (through the NPL co-sponsored Labor Representation League).

McKinney and Weir were elected to sit in the legislature. Hillier finished third in a tight three-way race. Leedy also placed third.

The Non-Partisan League ran James Miner as a candidate in the 1917 Camrose by-election. Miner endorsed the progressive "Farmers Platform" that had just previously been issued by the Canadian Council of Agriculture.[4][5] He got more than a 1000 votes but lost in a two-way race against Liberal cabinet minister G.P. Smith.

The NPL then became active in federal politics. This decision was made at a 1917 convention in Calgary, when the Non-Partisan Political League of Canada was founded. It nominated three candidates in the December 1917 federal election, all running in Alberta ridings - Daniel Gailbraith in Bow River, Steve Marshall in Macleod, and John W. Leedy in Victoria.[6] None were elected.

In this campaign the party called for conscription of wealth and all national resources as well as men, nationalization of all transportation, telephone and telegraph lines, steamship lines, banking and credit systems, and all industries organized on a national scale where competition seems to cease to exist, payment of $100 a month to soldiers, government insurance for soldiers, assurances by the government of protection of soldiers' homes against loss due to mortgages and taxes, extension of the public domain to include all coal mines, water powers and forests, a federal direct legislation act including the power of recall, equal suffrage for both men and women, a graduated inheritance tax, a graduated income tax, abolition of official charity and in its place the enactment of a national compulsory insurance law covering accidents, illness, old age and death, and abolition of the Canadian Senate. The NPL also asked for free administration of justice and changes so that no court was legally able to declare as unconstitutional any act of the Canadian Parliament.[7]

The league continued organizational efforts for the next few years, gathering a sizeable campaign fund, holding town hall meetings, and increasing its membership. The league's political activities and its two MLAs pushed the United Farmers of Alberta to either enter electoral politics or face being eclipsed by the NPL. The UFA decided to launch a political arm and, in 1919, absorbed the NPL.[2] The ground work and organization done by the league helped the UFA win a 1919 provincial by-election, a 1921 federal by-election, and the 1921 provincial election, when it was elected government of the province, taking a majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. The UFA also elected every candidate it ran in the 1921 Canadian federal election.

The work of the NPL organization was recorded in the pages of the Alberta Non-Partisan, edited by William Irvine.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Anthony Mardiros (1979). William Irvine: The Life of a Prairie Radical. p. 56. ISBN 9780888622372.
  2. ^ a b "Rise to power". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  3. ^ Anthony Mardiros (1979). William Irvine: The Life of a Prairie Radical. p. 61. ISBN 9780888622372.
  4. ^ The Alberta Non-Partisan, Nov. 23, 1917, p. 7
  5. ^ "Farmers Platform." https://archive.org/details/P004377 accessed May 17, 2025
  6. ^ The Alberta Non-Partisan, Nov. 23, 1917, p. 7
  7. ^ The Alberta Non-Partisan, November 23, 1917, p. 9
  8. ^ Alberta Non-Partisan, Peel's Prairie Provinces website https://archive.org/details/peel_newspapers?query=identifier%3AANP_*&sort=date&tab=collection
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