In this, his first book, Thorn compares and contrasts the differing perspectives of women involved in Alberta's Social Credit Party (SCP or
Socreds), British Columbia's Communist Party of Canada (CPC) as well as that province's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1945 to 1960.
Then in the '80s, they changed their minds and supported the
Socreds. That was their perspective and as a young teenager I shared it.
The Progressive Conservative Government of Premier Peter Lougheed ousted the
Socreds in 1971.
After the death of William Aberhart in 1943, Alberta's
Socreds abandoned their centrally planned economy and heavy-handed approach to government.
Venti, who supported the
Socreds over the radio, and at the local Italian Hall, were to no avail, as Port Arthur's Italians voted forthe Liberals, the CCF and Conservatives, in descending order.
The New Democrat Party advocated, and for a time oversaw, the nation's most progressive human rights regime at the time, only to see their work decimated by the Social Credit Party (the
Socreds) in 1984.
The Liberals, under a lacklustre leader and deep in debt, are far from becoming the Lougheed militia that beat Strom's
Socreds in 1971.
Even traditionally pro-Liberal groups (largely aligned with the
Socreds in earlier decades), such as lawyers, doctors and school trustees have expressed sharp disagreements with the government.
Carmichael, the public will be entitled to conclude that the
Socreds are willing to harbor men of such unpleasant opinions within their ranks." (94)
The partners in this anti-union project were the
Socreds and the not-so-progressive Conservative party.
In 1975, however, he left the NDP to join Bill Bennett's Social Credit party, and in the winter election of that year, he was re-elected, retaining Atlin for the
Socreds. In 1979, after serving in the legislature for almost 30 years, he was unsuccessful in his next bid for re-election and retired from provincial politics.