William Aberhart

The Honourable William Aberhart
Aberhart in 1937
7th Premier of Alberta
In office September 3, 1935 – May 23, 1943
Monarchs	George V Edward VIII George VI
Lieutenant Governor	William L. Walsh Philip Primrose John C. Bowen
Preceded by	Richard Gavin Reid
Succeeded by	Ernest Manning
Alberta Minister of Education
In office September 3, 1935 – May 23, 1943
Preceded by	Perren Baker
Succeeded by	Solon Earl Low
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office March 21, 1940 – May 23, 1943
Constituency	Calgary
In office November 4, 1935 – March 21, 1940
Preceded by	William Morrison
Succeeded by	John Broomfield
Constituency	Okotoks-High River
Personal details
Born	(1878-12-30)December 30, 1878 Kippen, Ontario, Canada
Died	May 23, 1943(1943-05-23) (aged 64) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Burnaby), Canada
Political party	Social Credit
Spouse	Jessie Flatt
Children	2
Residence(s)	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Occupation	Educator, evangelist
Signature

William Aberhart (December 30, 1878 – May 23, 1943), also known as "Bible Bill" for his radio sermons about the Bible, was a Canadian politician and the seventh premier of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1943.^[1] He was the founder and first leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party, which believed the Great Depression was caused by ordinary people not having enough to spend. Therefore, Aberhart argued that the government should give each Albertan $25 per month to spend to stimulate the economy, by providing needed purchasing power to allow needy customers to buy from waiting businesses.

During his premiership, Aberhart campaigned for and instituted several anti-poverty and debt relief programs, and other governmental reforms, such as consolidation of Alberta's numerous small school districts into centralized school divisions, and natural resources conservation. His attempts at banking reform met with less success, facing strong opposition from the federal government, the courts, privately owned newspapers and a coalition of the Liberal and Conservative parties. Aberhart's government did successfully establish the Alberta Treasury Branches (now ATB Financial), a government-owned financial institution to provide an alternative to existing banks, which continues to operate as a Crown corporation of the Alberta government.