When Alberta became a province, there were only 78,000 residents. Not a big center of political power, how Ottawa wanted it. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The stamp today is good visually. A pioneer couple in a new province where much development will occur. This then leads to the giant oil wells in the background. There was another stamp for the 100th anniversary in 2005. This stamp is somewhat in the same vain. The pioneer couple are gone but the oil wells are joined by tall skyscrapers and still pristine mountains. Further along in development but in some ways a return to appreciating the nature that lead to peoples new start there in the first place.
Todays stamp is issue A152, a five cent stamp issued by Canada on June 30th 1955. It was a single stamp issue celebrating the 50 years of Alberta and Saskatchewan becoming provinces. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
Before becoming provinces Alberta and Saskatchewan were part of Canada’s Northwest Territories. While the area was sparsely populated, the area was seeing development related to the construction of railroads. A prominent citizen of the time, Frederick Haultain, was serving as premier of the Northwest Territories. He proposed that the territory including Alberta and Saskatchewan come in as a single province named Buffalo. He assumed himself as Premier. This was not acceptable to the Labour government in Ottawa. It was thought that over time, Buffalo’s power would rival that of Ontario and Quebec. It was also a much more conservative place and Haultain was of the rival Conservative party.
So instead Alberta and Saskatchewan were let in separately under appointed Labour Premiers. The capital of Alberta was also purposely kept out of the largest city Calgary, in favor if the much smaller Edmonton. This bypassed the local conservatives and allowed the liberal organs of government to develop elsewhere. For example, the new University of Alberta also went to Edmonton. Haultain served for a while as the head of opposition in Saskatchewan until he accepted a position as a senior judge.
The Labour party was able to stay in power for quite a while despite being involved in a scandal involving railroad construction. The province had guaranteed loans to developers far in excess of the amount of money needed to build the railroad. Eventually after much delay the Liberal Premier resigned, but only to be replaced by his still Labour deputy. The Labourites built a coalition that included Indians and recent immigrants from the Ukraine to keep conservative power in check and managed to do so until around 1970, when the conservatives began 46 years of uninterrupted power. Maybe Labour was right to be concerned about a big conservative Buffalo.
Well my drink is empty and so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. It is common in politics all over democratic areas, that opinions toward new arrivals revolve on guesses about how they will vote. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.