The Accurate News and Information Act was passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada, in 1937. The act was a result of the stormy relationship between Aberhart and the press, dating to before the 1935 election. Virtually all of Alberta’s newspapers were critical of Social Credit, as were a number of publications from elsewhere in Canada. Even the American media had greeted Aberhart’s election with derision.
About Accurate News and Information Act in brief
The Accurate News and Information Act was passed by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada, in 1937. The act was a result of the stormy relationship between Aberhart and the press, dating to before the 1935 election. Virtually all of Alberta’s newspapers were critical of Social Credit, as were a number of publications from elsewhere in Canada. Even the American media had greeted Aberhart’s election with derision. Though the act won easy passage through the Social Credit-dominated legislature, Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta John C. Bowen reserved royal assent until the Supreme Court of Canada evaluated the act’s legality. In 1938’s Reference re Alberta Statutes, the court found that it was unconstitutional, and it never became law. The Alberta Social Credit Chronicle was set up in 1934 to spread the party’s views. The Chronicle carried guest editorials by such figures as British fascist leader Oswald Mosley and anti-semitic priest Charles Coughlin. The Calgary Herald ran cartoons by Stewart Cameron, a virulently anti-Aberhart cartoonist. The day before the election, the Herald ran one featuring a car, labelled \”the people\”, travelling along \”Aber Hart Highway No.
1\” and arriving at a railway crossing. The Herald responded to the boycott by asking \”Is everyone opposed to the political opinions and plans of Mr. Aberhart to be boycotted? He has invoked a most dangerous precedent and has given the people of this province a foretaste of the Hitlerism which will prevail if he ever secures control of the provincial administration. Don’t stop, look or listen. The Herald expressed its wish that social credit be first tried in Scotland or Ethiopia or anywhere but Alberta. The reaction across Canada was also negative; the St. Catharines Standard called the results of the election “a nightmare that pass all understanding” and the Montreal Star accused the Albertans of voting for an untried man and a policy whose workings he ostentatiously refused to explain. The relationship did not improve once Aberhart took office. In January 1935, Hierier Moore wrote: “Alberta goes crazy. Who’s loony now? Who’s the loony? Who is loony?” The two wrote back and forth for two months, with Aberhart refusing to explain himself or explain his policies. In April 1935, Aberhart suggested that his followers boycott it and other unfriendly newspapers.
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