Tag: Canada stamp

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.

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. 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. We have an interesting story to tell of a colony gradually pulling away from England and how that complicates a war effort.

The stamp today is Canadian, from the war years of World War II. What is most noticeable is how American it seems. In the early war years, which is when this stamp is from there was an image  of America as an arsenal of democracy with much production but not yet much overseas service. This is definitely apace with this stamp issue and what was happening in Canada.

Todays stamp is issue A100, a four cent stamp issued in 1942 by Canada. The depiction is of a grain elevator. The 14 stamp issue in various denominations showed various aspects of Canadian industrial and agricultural  production in support of allied nations war effort. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used. The stamp to look out for in this issue is the $1.00 blue stamp displaying a Canadian made destroyer. It is worth $65 for a mint one.

The Canadian war effort in World War II was hampered on many fronts. The French decended residents of Quebec were extremely opposed to conscription into the army. The Premier of Quebec extracted a promise from the liberal government that there would be no conscription for overseas troops. This lead to a few existing army units going to Britain where they were only to be used if Germany invaded. There were also new units of so called zombie soldiers that were not allowed to deploy outside Canada so took little part in the war.

This was controversial on ethnic lines. The army was a vast majority of soldiers of English decent. They volunteered in great numbers and were anxious to take a more active role. On the other hand the French were almost completely unrepresented. The Liberal government of the time was worried about Canadian standing in the world if it turned out that for the most part Canada sat out.  Churchill largely ignored Canada already because they were unwilling to go where Britain wanted and he thought them poorly trained and led. The Liberal Party also thought that it would hurt there reelection chances to have sat out the war. So an election was held to allow conscription and more overseas deployment. The measure passed and rules changed but again with no support in French Quebec. It was widely believed in Quebec that the Canadian central government had agreed to post war take many displaced Jews into Catholic Quebec. This was untrue. Pierre Trudeau, the future Prime Minister was  a young campaigner against the change and indeed himself did not serve overseas. Canadians did eventually take part in D-Day  and the liberation of France and Italy.

The sacrifices of Dominions and Colonies of Great Britain in the World Wars did much to loosen the ties with the old home country. This was even true in places like Canada and Australia where so many of the people were of English decent. The time when a country could maintain control of large armies of foriegnors was at an end.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Were Canadian efforts in World War II, not enough, too much, or not enough? I am of English decent, but born in Quebec, and have never quite understood how Quebecois could sit out the liberation of France. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.