This thesis examines the impact of Social Credit in North America during the Great Depression as a social philosophy and approach to government. By placing Social Credit in the context of interwar social movements for monetary reform, the events in Alberta from 1932 to 1938 are examined from the historical geographic iteration of what I call the Keynesian frontier of monetary macro-economic thought. This thesis shifts attention on this episode of Canadian history towards the lens of monetary neutrality. I argue that the Keynesian frontier was the intellectual environment for a worldwide English- speaking progressive underground which sought to find in macro-economic theory a vision of utopian society where money had no effect on material choices and interpersonal relations. During the 1930s, movements such as Social Credit transformed this underground into a collective effort to integrate the institutional channels of circulation with the mechanics of the modern monetary and fiscal state.

This thesis examines the impact of Social Credit in North America during the Great Depression as a social philosophy and approach to government. By placing Social Credit in the context of interwar social movements for monetary reform, the events in Alberta from 1932 to 1938 are examined from the historical geographic iteration of what I call the Keynesian frontier of monetary macro-economic thought. This thesis shifts attention on this episode of Canadian history towards the lens of monetary neutrality. I argue that the Keynesian frontier was the intellectual environment for a worldwide English- speaking progressive underground which sought to find in macro-economic theory a vision of utopian society where money had no effect on material choices and interpersonal relations. During the 1930s, movements such as Social Credit transformed this underground into a collective effort to integrate the institutional channels of circulation with the mechanics of the modern monetary and fiscal state.

This thesis examines the impact of Social Credit in North America during the Great Depression as a social philosophy and approach to government. By placing Social Credit in the context of interwar social movements for monetary reform, the events in Alberta from 1932 to 1938 are examined from the historical geographic iteration of what I call the Keynesian frontier of monetary macro-economic thought. This thesis shifts attention on this episode of Canadian history towards the lens of monetary neutrality. I argue that the Keynesian frontier was the intellectual environment for a worldwide English- speaking progressive underground which sought to find in macro-economic theory a vision of utopian society where money had no effect on material choices and interpersonal relations. During the 1930s, movements such as Social Credit transformed this underground into a collective effort to integrate the institutional channels of circulation with the mechanics of the modern monetary and fiscal state.

The three centennial celebrations sponsored by the W.A.C. Bennett Social Credit government in 1958, 1966/67 and 1971 were part of a process of self-definition and province building. Post-war state development in British Columbia certainly included expanding and nationalizing transportation, building ambitious mega projects, and encouraging resource extraction in the hinterlands. The previously unstudied centennials were no less important to defining post-war British Columbia by creating the infrastructure on which cultural and hegemonic province building could take place. Using the methodologies and theories of Cultural Studies this study attends to both the discursive and material elements of these occasions. It uses the voluminous records of the three Centennial Committees, newspaper articles, government reports, and documents from community archives to reveal that that these elaborate and costly centenaries served the government’s desire to build an industry-oriented consensus in BC’s populace. The government - and its Centennial Committees - sought to overcome regional disparities and invite mass participation by making the celebrations truly provincial in nature. Each community, no matter its size, had a local centennial committee, was funded for local commemorative projects, was encouraged to write its history, and enjoyed traveling centenary entertainments. All communities benefited from cultural amenities, the province’s capital assets grew, the province started to undertake heritage conservation and residents gained a new appreciation for their history. Invented traditions - limited and constructed historical re-creations and motifs – helped overcome regional differences. British Columbians were presented with images and narratives of explorers, gold-seekers, and pioneer-entrepreneurs who opened up the interior with ingenuity and bravery, as well as a mythic, popular “old west” narrative that all citizens, no matter region, could rally around. A trade fair and tourism promotion reinforced the tradition of industry especially for manufacturers and small business. By and large, British Columbians in 1958 – particularly white males who found an anti-modern release in centennial events – accepted and legitimized this industry-oriented consensus. In the two later centennials new counter-hegemonies challenged this consensus. First Nations had opposed the colonial narrative in 1958, but by 1966/67 and 1971 they were more vocal and politically active. Other British Columbians opposed the development agenda of the centenaries; youth, environmentalists and labour argued that the celebrations were a waste of time, money, and energy when more pressing issues of environmental degradation and unemployment were present. The government’s static Centennial Committee was ill equipped to address these challenges. It offered superficial amends, such as creating Indian Participation and Youth Subcommittees, but ultimately could not repudiate the hegemony on which it, and Social Credit, was based.

Climate change is an enormous challenge which, if not addressed will have detrimental impacts across the globe. This problem is largely produced by human behaviour. Therefore, strategies aimed at influencing behaviour are necessary in addressing this issue. Governments are currently utilising informational campaigns, rewards, penalties, nudging and structural changes to influence pro-environmental behaviour. Although these methods are creating change, it is far from sufficient to address the massive and urgent issue of climate change. Therefore, alternative strategies should be considered. As such, this thesis aims to explore the effectiveness and the extent to which the Social Credit System, as it is being developed in China, can be considered an alternative strategy for producing pro-environmental behaviour. A framework to analyse and describe the SCS was developed by executing a literature review of key environmental behaviour models and intervention strategies aimed at producing pro-environmental behaviour. It concludes that the Social Credit System utilises a variety of methods similar to the behaviour models and interventions reviewed in this thesis, especially as far as rewards and punishments are concerned. However, surveillance stands out as a distinct means of intervention that is not utilised outside China to produce pro-environmental behaviour. The discussion suggests that this aspect of the system might be effective in contributing to address the challenge of climate change due to its coercive nature.

This thesis provides a detailed account of the introduction, use, and repeal of the alternative vote (AV) in British Columbia in the 1950s. It argues that British Columbians, familiar with polarized, two-party politics, were dismissive of majority representation. Conversely, the public expressed a strong preference for local representation during discussions of redistribution. While the Liberal and Conservative Coalition parties introduced AV to keep the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from forming a government, party members were often stronger proponents of electoral reform than their leaders. Nevertheless, the system was debated in terms of democratic values. This was true of electoral reform debates across Canada, including federal debates on proportional representation. Contrary to histories that focus solely on the 1952 and 1953 AV elections and W.A.C. Bennett and Social Credit, this project traces the origins of the alternative vote in BC from the 1940s forward, including ongoing discussions of the single transferable vote (STV) and a points system. The history of BC’s provincial party system in the twentieth century is included in order to establish how polarized politics affected British Columbians’ attachment to the idea of local representation. This thesis contends that the public’s preference for plurality voting contributed to its dismissal of AV: even those who ranked multiple candidates did not necessarily endorse the system. This project also looks at the alternative vote debates in the 1970s and redistribution commissions in BC, particularly the 1978 Eckardt Commission, in order to better understand British Columbians’ attachment to local representation and first-past-the-post, and their dismissal of a preferential system that encouraged them to rank candidates. Social Credit favoured regional representation over representation by population during the redistribution process, and the theme of local representation has consistently framed discussions of electoral reform in British Columbia, including the 2004 BC Citizens’ Assembly’s STV proposal.

The Barrett (1972-1975) and Harcourt-Clark (1991-2001) New Democratic Party (NDP) governments attempted to redefine their relationship with the mining industry by changing the regulatory structures that governed mining in British Columbia. In both cases the mining industry publicly resisted these attempts, and was successful in having the reforms dismantled by subsequent free-enterprise oriented governments. These instances of conflict were centred on a foundational debate over government’s role in, and/or duty to, the mining industry. Intense industry-led resistance occurred when the traditional industry-government compact, which required government to serve as a promoter of the industry, and a liquidator of Crown owned mineral resources, was perceived to have been violated. The Barrett government more stringently asserted its ownership of public mineral resources through the enactment of a mineral royalty, and by assuming greater regulatory authority over mining operations. These actions instigated a substantial public relations campaign against the Barrett government over taxation laws. The Harcourt-Clark government pursued the development of strategic land-use plans and rejected the historic consensus that mining was innately the highest and best use of the land. This led to substantial anti-government rhetoric and an industry withdrawal from all public engagement and land-use planning processes. In both cases the mining industry was able to revive the traditional relationship when free-enterprise oriented governments replaced the NDP administrations. / Graduate / 2018-12-15