Albertans have sometimes struggled to deal with a federal government that didn’t understand their needs, desires, culture, and aspirations. These are the stories of writers of social and political commentary, social reformers, suffragettes, lieutenant governors, premiers, members of parliament, and even preachers. The narratives of these Mavericks will facilitate student understanding of how individuals and governments interact with each other to bring about change in society, and how individuals or groups can impact decision-making by governments.
The Mavericks
Although she was not a lawyer, Henrietta Muir Edwards became a self-taught expert who framed dozens of legal briefs intended to reform the status of women.
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Passionate and untiring, impatient with gopher control and prairie fires when the West needed schools, roads and bridges, Frederick Haultain came to represent a restless and dissatisfied west.
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The “Moses of Alberta farmers” was a frugal man who moved from the United States to Alberta in 1905.
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First the Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute, then a voice on the radio, William Aberhart exhorted Albertans to challenge the eastern establishment and join the Social Credit movement.
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As persuasive in politics as he was on the football field, Premier Peter Lougheed, the “Blue-eyed Arab of Saudi Alberta” went toe-to-toe with Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in a battle over federal/provincial resource control.
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Preston Manning was profoundly shaped by the 1935 Social Credit landslide. His father, Ernst Manning, inherited William Aberhart’s mantle in 1943, serving as premier of Alberta until 1968.
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The binge-or-bluster ink spiller who edited The Eye Opener was a man contradictory as his own writing.
