This is a simple enough challenge. Wank Canada's federal Social Credit Party as much as possible without the use of outright ASBs. Even if your scenario's a bit of a stretch, I'm happy to hear it.
Well, begin
Well, begin
AHC: Wank Social Credit
- Thread starter Commissar From Kiev
- Start date
Well, the Reform Party is killed from existing, and under a PC prime minister who is not Mulroney, Quebec holds a referendum and secedes. In the following election, the PC see a 1993-like result, with Social Credit winning the Prairies. After two decades of Liberal control, with slow gains in Ontario, SC wins a majority government.
Wasn't Quebec actually one of the strongholds for the Social Credit Party though?
Well, what if the old Créditistes were successful than the Albertan branch and ended up taking a lot of rural Quebec?
From what I recall, in the mid 1950s there was a real belief that Social Credit could eventually overtake the PCs. This seems pretty reasonable without Diefenbaker at the PC helm, given that the party, under eastern leaders, had been severely struggling to make inroads in the west. So, have someone else instead of Diefenbaker become PC leader (or have George Drew stay on).
In 1957, the Liberals will still have their difficulties, but without Diefenbaker increasing PC support out west Social Credit could probably get a significantly larger share of seats. I imagine that with a weaker PCs and stronger Social Credit, the Liberals could pull off a majority (if not an actual minority), as they had been expected to.
Given their history of leadership elections, it's not hard to imagine that the PCs will continue to neglect the west, and, if you're able to unite the Western and Quebec wings of Social Credit and limit the tensions between the two (maybe under a policy of provincial rights, and maybe under a better leader, although no name comes to mind at the moment), than it's not hard to imagine Social Credit gaining their presence in Quebec and, with that, managing to overtake the PCs. And, if they end up passing the PCs thanks to the West and Quebec, it's not hard to imagine that they'd end up passing them in Ontario and the Atlantic in the following elections.
In 1957, the Liberals will still have their difficulties, but without Diefenbaker increasing PC support out west Social Credit could probably get a significantly larger share of seats. I imagine that with a weaker PCs and stronger Social Credit, the Liberals could pull off a majority (if not an actual minority), as they had been expected to.
Given their history of leadership elections, it's not hard to imagine that the PCs will continue to neglect the west, and, if you're able to unite the Western and Quebec wings of Social Credit and limit the tensions between the two (maybe under a policy of provincial rights, and maybe under a better leader, although no name comes to mind at the moment), than it's not hard to imagine Social Credit gaining their presence in Quebec and, with that, managing to overtake the PCs. And, if they end up passing the PCs thanks to the West and Quebec, it's not hard to imagine that they'd end up passing them in Ontario and the Atlantic in the following elections.
TG: Problem is that Socred was too fringe to spread eastward and had a fairly stable seat count in the teens. I've read that belief too but I haven't found empirical evidence to support it. If not Dief then Fleming, who Frost and Duplessis preferred and would be more willing to help, plus Fleming would be a better leader. Fleming's acceptable to the Bay Street boys and popular here in Quebec.
Fair points. What are your thoughts on Sidney Earle Smith? I know he was pressured to run against Diefenbaker, and I always imagined his lack of political experience, in addition to his lack of regional appeal, would hurt the party.
Well, I could imagine the SoCreds having greater success in the Prairie, then enticing some of the more right-wing PCs into joining them.
And, contrary to the notion that right-wing extremism in Canada is confined to Alberta, other places have coughed up some pretty reactionary troglodytes as well. John Gamble, for example, was pretty close to being a literal fascist.
So Social Credit might be able to pick up a few followers outside the prairies as well.
I can see that. Essentially, potential vote-splitting encourages more hard-right PCs to defect to the SoCreds.
But I have yet to see a viable path for how. A mainstream conservative party like Manning's provincial Socreds that becomes proto-Reform might work, but that's not what the federal wing was. Nor have I seen any indication federal Socreds were interested.
Yes, from what I understand, the federal SoCreds didn't make the leap to bog-standard conservatism.
That is quite true, if they obtained 1960s levels of support in Quebec while obtaining pre-58 support in the West I think a hunger for power would have kept them together. Eventually as Western alienation continued to develop they could have swept the West whilst also appealing to Quebec alienation (and as the Tories fade away I could even see them making inroads in the Atlantic).
Ontario loves to back a winner and given that this party will be truly national in a way Reform never could be because of the Creditiste I think it could hope for government in the long term.
Just as long as the Quebec and Prairie wings can hold together.
The best route to power would have been in the 1930s of course, I have considered writing a TL on that, but there are simply too many paths to decide.
'Direct action' was outside of Aberhart's comfort zone, but not that of many others.
'Direct action' was outside of Aberhart's comfort zone, but not that of many others.
Though the Quebec and RoCanada wings were often mutually antagonistic. The Quebec win was for example more soft nationalist.
Yeah, some of the "action" advised by Social Credit during the early years was pretty "direct"...
Granted, I think whoever wrote that meant "exterminate them at the ballot box". But still, given Social Credit's longstanding linkage with anti-semitism, promotion of eugenics, and later endorsement of holocaust denial, that kind of rhetoric in retrospect comes off as pretty ominous.
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