The Ralliement des Creditistes in Parliament, 1970–1971

32. J.M. Connor, "Trade Unions in Canada," in J.E. Midd:eton , The Municipality of Toronto, vol. 2 (Toronto, 1923), 558. 33. J. M. S. Careless, Brown of the Globe, vol. 1 (Toronto, 1959). 46. 34. TTS, July 2, 1845; Nov. 4, 1846; Jan. 5, 1850. 35. Globe, Dec. 7, 1852. 36. CLC, vol. 249 (citing Hamilton Spectator, Feb. 10, 1854). 37. Globe, June 8, 1854; June 12, 1854. 38. Globe, July 13, 1854; July 17, 1854. Note also the court action against the Toronto shoemakers' union in 1847 Globe , Nov. 17, 1847; and against Hamilton shoemake.rs in 1854 - CLC, vol. 253. 39. TTS, Jan. 19, 1850. 40. House of Commons Journal, Index, 1852-66. 41. TTS, Apr. 2, 1845; Feb. 10, 1847; Apr. 5, 1848; Feb., 1849. 42. CLC, vol. 247 - ASE file. 43. Williams, 135ff; see also CLC, vol. 248 - IMU file. 44. CLC, various volumes. 45. CLC, vol. 253. 46. Globe, Sept. 20, 1867; see also CLC, vol. 249 (citing Hamilton Evening Times, Sept. 21, 1867). 47. Ibid. (citing Evening Times, Nov. 18, 1865). Its officers were from Toronto, Hamilton and Brantford. 48. TTS, Nov. 1, 1859. Between 1859-65, the TTS was in touch with printing unions in Buffalo, Louisville, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Mobile, Montgomery, Charleston, Milwaukee, Chicago, Leavenworth, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Albany, Cleveland, Peoria, Sacramento, Memphis and Detroit. 49. See the dispute over whether union locals in the ITU should have uniform constitutions - TTS, Oct. 9, 1867; Nov. 13, 1867. 50. TTS, Dec. 12, 1866; Sept. 11, 1867; Nov. 13, 1867. The Ralliement des Creditistes in Parliament, 1970-1971* DONALD MURRAY The Ralliement des Creditistes has been the object of almost constant ridicule, by journalists and politicians alike, since its entry into Parliament in 1962. Shocked observers at first regarded it as a startling but temporary aberration of Quebec politics. But through five federal elections the Ralliement has refused to fade away. Equally *This paper is the result of a parliamentary internship sponsored by the Donner Canadian Foundation. During the 19701971 session of Parliament I worked for four months for the Ralliement des Creditistes. To gather material for the paper I interviewed all 13 Creditiste M.P.s, several Creditiste assistants in the House of Commons and consulted party documents in the party's Parliamentary research office. Journal of Canadian Studies 51. TTS, Jan. 8, 1862. 52. Williams, 97. 53. Ibid., 115. 54. Ibid., 120. 55. Ibid., 114; CLC, vol. 253. 56. Thompson, 12. 57. TTS, Sept. 7, 1860. 58. TTS, June 14, 1865. 59. Williams, 119. 60. TTS, Jan. 17, 1860. 61. CLC, vol. 249 (citing Hamilton Evening Times, Sept. 9, 1862). 6'2. TTS, Jan. 9, 1867. 63. CLC, vol. 249 (citing Hamilton Spectator, Dec. 21, 1863; Hamilton Evening Times, June 1, 1864; Nov. 10, 1864). 64. TTS, Aug. 10, 1867. 65. CLC, various volumes; Globe, May 11, 1854; July 25, 1867; Nov. 15, 1867; The Locomotive Engineers' Monthly Journal (hereafter LEJ), Department of Labour Library, Ottawa, Jan. 1867, 12. 66. Using, with one change, the definitions and divisions used by P. G. Goheen, Victorian Toronto, 1850-1900 (Chicago, 1970), 229. He puts printers in the "less-skilled" category; I place them in the "skilled" category. 67. J. I. Cooper, "The Quebec Ship Labourers' Benevolent Society," Canadian Historical Review, 1949, 336-43. 68. Williams, 111, 116-18. 69. CLC, vol. 148 - ASE file. 70. TTS, Jan. 11, 1866. 71. See Williams, 135; CLC, vol. 247 - ASE file; TTS, Jan. 8, 1868. IMU local 28 (Toronto) had 96 members, Hamilton's ASE Branch 91, Montreal's ASE 77, the TTS 75 and IMU Local 26 in Hamilton 62. stubbornly, its M.P.s have refused to integrate themselves into the Canadian parliamentary structure or to play the parliamentary game by the traditional and accepted rules. The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons for the Creditistes' attitude toward Parliament and to demonstrate how the party's behaviour in the House of Commons is a logical result of this attitude. (On May 5, 1971 the Creditistes officially took the new name The Social Credit Party of Canada. However, in this paper I have consistently referred to the party as the...