The Canadian elections of March 31st, sent to the House of Commons, 208 Conservatives, 49 Liberals and 8 Socialişts -(C.C.F.).
The vote, we believe, demonstrates that the old habit of blind allegiance to one party or the other is a thing of the past. When the votes swing from one side to the other by the tens and twenties of thousands, it is because party allegiance is no longer a deciding factor in Canadian politics.
The very considerable majority given the Diefenbaker's team does not necessarily mean that the electors have become Conservatives. Rather it is proof that the people recognized the administration of the eight previous months to be made up of men who have decided to do something new, something different. On March 31st the people voted for themselves rather than for a party.
The majority of the Crediters of our movement voted for Conservative candidates, not because they attribute virtue to the Conservative party as such, but they set value on the fact that the party's minister of Finance, Donald Fleming, openly accused the Bank of Canada of having weakened the economic structure of the country by restricting credit.
This is the first time that a minister of the Crown has publicly dressed down the highest banking authority in Canada. Of course the press, being in the pay of finance, raised a great hue and cry against this action by Mr. Fleming.
The Liberal leader, Lester Pearson, trotted faithfully to the defense of the Bank of Canada. This in itself was sufficient to guide the Crediters' votes.
A great many other voters, not nearly as well informed as Crediters, were completely fed up with the financial situation which, on the one hand, saw the stores crammed with goods, and on the other hand, a paralyzing scarcity of purchasing power. They also sensed an impending duel between the Conservative government and the money powers. They voted for a group which they believed was for the people and against the dictators of finance.
In 1935, Mackenzie King likewise obtained a strong majority on the strength of his promise to undertake "the greatest battle between the money power and the people ever seen in Canada". Yet, during the entire 22 years of Liberal domination, no such battle ever took place. Mackenzie King may have deemed the people insufficiently informed to follow him in such a herculean struggle. We believe that today, after a quarter of a century of education by the Social Credit school, the people are better informed and ready to follow, whole-heartedly, a government which would undertake to wage this battle to the very end.
We do not think that there is any question of two great parties emerging from the elections of the 31st; rather it is a matter of the people and their government emerging together, united to force the financial powers of the country to serve them. This may be overestimating the disposition of the government or of the minister of finance on the subject; but, being as it may, the Union of Electors, always growing in numbers and strength, will continue to fight without letup towards this end.
With the elections of March 31st, the so-called "Social Credit" party has disappeared completely from the House of Commons. This could almost be said to be a victory for the authentic Social Credit movement. The presence in Canada, for 22 years, of a party bearing this name has wrought nothing but confusion, and has prostituted the wonderful doctrine of Douglas by degrading it to the level of a political party.
The wiping out of this "On to Ottawa" group will make it easier to restore Social Credit to the high level on which its formulator, Douglas, placed it.
No one can more rightly claim to have a clear understanding of Social Credit than its author. No one could possibly have a greater desire to see the great truth of Social Credit prevail and infuse the whole of the economic and social organism. Now, Douglas always warned his followers against any venture into the field of elections under the banner of Social Credit. He made the following strong statement on March 7th, 1936, during a conference to Crediters at Westminster:
"If you elect a Social Credit party, supposing you could, I may say that I regard the election of a Social Credit party in this country as one of the greatest catastrophes that could happen.". (The Approach To Reality, p. 13)
There is no mistaking his meaning. We can thank providence that the vote of March 31st is in itself sufficient to deter Canadian Crediters from further insane pursuit of this "catastrophe".
As for the collapse and near annihilation of the Socialist party, let there be neither surprise nor regrets. Socialism, which everywhere is on the wane, is diametrically opposed to the Christian concept of man as an individual. The propagandists of this doctrine water down their teachings in order that they may more easily be swallowed. But whether it is mild or virulent, Socialism is a poison, a poison administered in regulated doses; and always at the bottom of the cup lies Communism.
(Translated by EARL MASSECAR)
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