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The Bankers' Toadies incident occurred in 1937 in the Canadian province of Alberta when a pamphlet advocating the "extermination" of nine men identified as "Bankers' Toadies" (in other words, servants of bank owners) was distributed to Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). The men were opponents of the Social Credit government of Premier William Aberhart, which had been elected on a promise of giving Albertans monthly dividends; Aberhart blamed the banking system for his failure to follow through on this pledge.

After David Duggan, leader of the Conservative Party and one of the men named, raised his concern over the pamphlet in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, police raided the Social Credit League's Edmonton headquarters. Social Credit whip and MLA Joe Unwin and Social Credit Board advisor George Frederick Powell were arrested and charged with criminal libel and counselling to murder. Both were convicted of the libel charge, and Justice William Carlos Ives sentenced them to hard labour.

Background

William Aberhart's Social Credit League won a substantial victory in the 1935 Alberta provincial election on the strength of its promise to implement social credit, an economic theory proposed by British engineer C. H. Douglas.^[1] Social credit held that the poverty of the Great Depression was in part the fault of bankers, who kept the cost of credit, and by extension of production, high.^[2] Aberhart's solution involved, among other things, monthly "credit dividends" to Albertans in the amount of Can$25.^[3]

By 1937, Aberhart's failure to implement these dividends or make other progress towards implementing social credit made many of his backbenchers suspect that he was either unwilling or unable to do so. This belief, combined with a suspicion that he did not properly understand Douglas's theories, led to the 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt.^[4] One outcome of the revolt was Aberhart's ceding a number of the government's powers to the Social Credit Board, made up of five Social Credit backbenchers.^[5] Glenville MacLachlan, its chair, travelled to the United Kingdom, where he asked Douglas to come to Alberta and serve as its advisor. Douglas declined, but in his stead sent two of his lieutenants, L. D. Byrne and George Frederick Powell.^[6] Part of the Board's mandate was to educate the public about social credit; to this end, Powell and Social Credit whip Joseph Unwin were assigned to write educational materials.^[7]

In response to what they saw as the radically anti-business views of the Aberhart government and the Social Credit Board, Alberta's mainstream opposition parties—chiefly the Liberals and the Conservatives—began to cooperate under the auspices of the newly formed People's League.^[8]

Leaflet

In October 1937, Conservative leader David Duggan rose in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to draw its attention to a pamphlet distributed in and around the legislature building that called for his "extermination".^[9] The front of the leaflet read as follows:

My child, you should NEVER say hard or unkind things about Bankers' Toadies. God made snakes, slugs, snails and other creepy-crawly, treacherous, and poisonous things. NEVER, therefore, abuse them—just exterminate them! And to prevent all evasion demand the RESULT you want—$25.00 a month and a lower cost to live.^[10]

The back of the pamphlet listed nine men identified as "toadies". Besides Duggan, they were

S. W. Field, lawyer and president of the People's League
H. H. Parlee, lawyer and president of the Liberals' Edmonton constituency association
John Lymburn, lawyer, member of the People's League, and former Attorney-General of Alberta
H. R. Milner, lawyer and president of the Conservatives' Edmonton constituency association
G. D. Hunt, investment broker
L. Y. Cairns, lawyer, member of the Conservatives' provincial executive
G. W. Auxier, lawyer and secretary of the People's League
William Antrobus Griesbach, lawyer, member of the Senate of Canada, and former member of the House of Commons of Canada and mayor of Edmonton^[11]

Below this list of names were the words "Exterminate Them. And to prevent all Evasion, Demand the Result You Want—$25.00 a MONTH and a lower cost to live."^[11]

On October 3, the police raided the Social Credit League's Edmonton office and seized 4,000 copies of the pamphlet.^[9] Griesbach pressed charges against Powell and Unwin for criminal libel and counselling to murder.^[12]

Trial

Aberhart, who besides being Premier was Attorney-General, tried to prevent the trial from proceeding by withdrawing the Crown prosecutor assigned to it. Either trial judge William Carlos Ives^[13] or a justice of the peace^[14] countered by appointing a private prosecutor so the case could go ahead. Both defendants were held on $20,000 bail.^[15] Both hired lawyers: Powell was represented by Hugh Calais Macdonald, while Unwin retained one R. Jackson.^[7] George Steer acted for the prosecution.^[16]

On October 27, both men appeared before police magistrate A. H. Gibson for their preliminary hearings on the criminal libel charge (the counselling to murder charge had been dropped). Unwin opted for a jury trial, while Powell elected to be tried by a judge alone. Unwin's trial proceeded first, on November 12.^[11] He testified that he had ordered the pamphlets, which were paid for by the government, and then circulated them as a publication of the "United Democrats", a fictitious organization that listed its address as that of Unwin's home. According to Unwin, the leaflet's text, minus the named individuals, had been provided to him by Powell, he had sent it to the printer's in exactly that form, and he was surprised to see the list of names in the final version.^[13] Though his testimony was vague and apparently evasive,^[16] he admitted to destroying 4,000 copies of the leaflet on the day of the police raid.^[17] He was convicted and Ives, dismissing his role in the affair as that of an "errand boy", sentenced him to three months hard labour.^[14]

Powell's trial proceeded immediately after Unwin's, and his testimony contradicted much of what Unwin had said. Powell claimed that Unwin had put the list of names on the pamphlet,^[13] and that Powell had expected that it would list organizations rather than individuals.^[16] Ives found Unwin's testimony more credible, convicted Powell on November 15, and sentenced him to six months hard labour. He also recommended that he be deported to his native United Kingdom following his sentence. Appeals by both men against conviction and sentence were unsuccessful.^[11]^[13]^[16]

Aftermath

The case attracted considerable media attention and mixed reactions.^[17] A Toronto spokesman for the Communist Party of Canada protested the arrests and called for a "united front" against the People's League.^[11] Aberhart maintained that the men had been jailed on the basis of some harmless political humour, and encouraged the federal government to grant them clemency; Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King responded that to do so would be to engage in "direct interference by the federal executive with the free and proper functioning of our courts".^[13] Every night, some Social Crediters drove to the Fort Saskatchewan Penitentiary, where the men were being held, to show their support.^[18] On February 11, 1938, the legislature passed a resolution calling for the men's release.^[19]

Douglas reacted to his deputy's arrest with anger, telling reporters that "whoever is instigating the proceedings is asking for a great deal of trouble, and is likely to get it."^[19] On December 10, 1937, he wrote King to tell him that he had been invited to come to Alberta to provide advice, and asked if he would be risking arrest and deportation if he did so. King responded that as long as Douglas, unlike Powell, refrained from running afoul of the Criminal Code, he had nothing to fear.^[20]

At the end of Unwin's sentence, Social Credit MLAs celebrated with a snake dance on the floor of the Legislature.^[18]

Powell was released after four months' imprisonment, on March 21, 1938, in an attempt by King to bolster his Liberals' chances in a federal by-election in Edmonton East the same day;^{[citation needed]} the by-election was won by Social Crediter Orvis A. Kennedy, and a jubilant celebration followed. Once again, the Communists expressed solidarity with the Social Crediters, with Jan Lakeman thanking the voters for giving "an overwhelming defeat to the forces of reaction".^[18] Powell left Canada immediately upon his release, but not before being paid $4,000 by the Alberta government as thanks for his services.^[21]

On August 18, 1938, police magistrate A. H. Gibson, who had presided over the prosecution of Unwin and Powell, was dismissed without cause by provincial Order in Council. Gibson believed that his dismissal was due to "the government's resentment over my action in the Powell-Unwin case and the fact that they hold me more or less to blame for the fact that the accused men were sent to jail."^[22]

Aberhart's Social Crediters were re-elected with a reduced majority in the 1940 provincial election; Aberhart remained premier until his death in 1943. Unwin however was defeated in 1940 by Labour candidate Angus James Morrison.^[23] Though he lived until January 4, 1987, Unwin remains most remembered for his involvement in the Bankers' Toadies incident.^[24]

Notes

^ Elliott 198
^ Barr 26–27
^ Elliott 157
^ Elliott 249
^ Elliott 261
^ Elliott 264
^ ^a ^b "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (trial)". Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2012-03-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ Elliott 270
^ ^a ^b Barr 109
^ Barr 109–110
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Barr 110
^ "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Elliott 274
^ ^a ^b Brennan 54
^ "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (significance)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (inside the courtroom)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ ^a ^b "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (outside the court house)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c Elliott 276
^ ^a ^b Mallory 82
^ Mallory 82–83
^ Elliott 277
^ Mallory 83
^ "Election results for Edson, 1940". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
^ "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (Joseph Unwin)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

References

Barr, John J. (1974). The Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of Social Credit in Alberta. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited. ISBN 0-7710-1015-X.
Brennan, Brian (2008). The Good Steward: The Ernest C. Manning Story. Calgary: Fifth House Ltd. ISBN 978-1-897252-16-1.
Elliott, David R.; Miller, Iris (1987). Bible Bill: A Biography of William Aberhart. Edmonton: Reidmore Books. ISBN 0-919091-44-X.
Mallory, J. R. (1954). Social Credit and the Federal Power in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6301-2.

External links

[1] Elliott 198

[2] Barr 26–27

[3] Elliott 157

[4] Elliott 249

[5] Elliott 261

[6] Elliott 264

[trial-7] "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (trial)". Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2012-03-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[8] Elliott 270

[Barr_109-9] Barr 109

[10] Barr 109–110

[Barr_110-11] Barr 110

[12] "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies". Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[Elliott_274-13] Elliott 274

[Brennan_54-14] Brennan 54

[15] "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (significance)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[inside-16] "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (inside the courtroom)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[outside-17] "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (outside the court house)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[Elliott_276-18] Elliott 276

[Mallory_82-19] Mallory 82

[20] Mallory 82–83

[21] Elliott 277

[22] Mallory 83

[23] "Election results for Edson, 1940". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 22, 2009.

[24] "Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (Joseph Unwin)". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-10-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|1937 assassination threat in Canada}}
 {{good article}}
 [[File:Joseph Unwin portrait.png|thumb|upright|right|alt=A head and shoulders, black and white photographic portrait of a white man with receding dark hair|Social Credit [[whip (politics)|whip]] [[Joseph Unwin]] was implicated in the affair and ultimately imprisoned for three months.]]
-The '''Bankers' Toadies incident''' occurred in 1937 in [[Alberta]], Canada when a pamphlet was discovered advocating the "extermination" of nine men identified as "Bankers' Toadies". The men were opponents of the [[Social Credit Party of Alberta|Social Credit]] government of [[Premier of Alberta|Premier]] [[William Aberhart]], which had been elected on a platform of giving all Albertans monthly dividends; Aberhart blamed the banking system for his failure to follow through on this pledge.
+The '''Bankers' Toadies incident''' occurred in [[History of Alberta|1937 in the Canadian province of Alberta]] when a [[pamphlet]] [[Incitement to violence|advocating the "extermination"]] of nine men identified as "Bankers' Toadies" (in other words, servants of bank owners) was distributed to [[Member of the Legislative Assembly|Members of the Legislative Assembly]] (MLAs). The men were opponents of the [[Social Credit Party of Alberta|Social Credit]] government of [[Premier of Alberta|Premier]] [[William Aberhart]], which had been elected on a promise of giving Albertans monthly dividends; Aberhart blamed the banking system for his failure to follow through on this pledge.
-After [[David Milwyn Duggan|David Duggan]], leader of the [[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta|Conservative Party]] and one of the men named, raised his concern over the pamphlet in the [[Legislative Assembly of Alberta]], [[police raid]]ed the Social Credit League's Edmonton headquarters. Social Credit [[whip (politics)|whip]] [[Joe Unwin]] and [[Social Credit Board]] advisor George Frederick Powell were arrested and charged with [[criminal libel]] and counselling to murder. Both were convicted of the libel charge, and Justice [[William Carlos Ives]] sentenced them to hard labour.
+After [[David Milwyn Duggan|David Duggan]], leader of the [[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta|Conservative Party]] and one of the men named, raised his concern over the pamphlet in the [[Legislative Assembly of Alberta]], [[police raid]]ed the Social Credit League's Edmonton headquarters. Social Credit [[whip (politics)|whip]] and MLA [[Joe Unwin]] and [[Social Credit Board]] advisor George Frederick Powell were arrested and charged with [[criminal libel]] and counselling to murder. Both were convicted of the libel charge, and Justice [[William Carlos Ives]] sentenced them to [[hard labour]].
 ==Background==
-[[William Aberhart]]'s [[Social Credit Party of Alberta|Social Credit League]] won a substantial victory in the [[Alberta general election, 1935|1935 Alberta provincial election]] on the strength of its promise to implement [[social credit]], an economic theory proposed by British engineer [[C. H. Douglas]].<ref>Elliott 198</ref>  Social credit held that the poverty of the [[Great Depression]] was in part the fault of bankers, who kept the cost of [[credit (finance)|credit]], and by extension of production, high.<ref>Barr 26–27</ref>  Aberhart's solution involved, among other things, monthly "credit dividends" to Albertans in the amount of [[C$]]25.<ref>Elliott 157</ref>
+[[William Aberhart]]'s [[Social Credit Party of Alberta|Social Credit League]] won a substantial victory in the [[1935 Alberta general election|1935 Alberta provincial election]] on the strength of its promise to implement [[social credit]], an economic theory proposed by British engineer [[C. H. Douglas]].<ref>Elliott 198</ref>  Social credit held that the poverty of the [[Great Depression]] was in part the fault of bankers, who kept the cost of [[credit (finance)|credit]], and by extension of production, high.<ref>Barr 26–27</ref>  Aberhart's solution involved, among other things, monthly "credit dividends" to Albertans in the amount of [[Can$]]25.<ref>Elliott 157</ref>
-By 1937, Aberhart's failure to implement these dividends or make other progress towards implementing social credit made many of his [[backbencher]]s suspect that he was either unwilling or unable to do so. This belief, combined with a suspicion that he did not properly understand Douglas's theories, led to the [[1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt]].<ref>Elliott 249</ref>  One outcome of the revolt was Aberhart's ceding a number of the government's powers to the [[Social Credit Board]], made up of five Social Credit backbenchers.<ref>Elliott 261</ref>  [[Glenville MacLachlan]], its chair, travelled to the [[United Kingdom]], where he asked Douglas to come to Alberta and serve as its advisor. Douglas declined, but in his stead sent two of his lieutenants, L. D. Byrne and George Frederick Powell.<ref>Elliott 264</ref>  Part of the Board's mandate was to educate the public about social credit; to this end, Powell and Social Credit [[whip (politics)|whip]] [[Joseph Unwin]] were assigned to write educational materials.<ref name="trial">{{Wayback|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial.htm|title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (trial)|date=20101122194138}}</ref>
+By 1937, Aberhart's failure to implement these dividends or make other progress towards implementing social credit made many of his [[backbencher]]s suspect that he was either unwilling or unable to do so. This belief, combined with a suspicion that he did not properly understand Douglas's theories, led to the [[1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt]].<ref>Elliott 249</ref>  One outcome of the revolt was Aberhart's ceding a number of the government's powers to the [[Social Credit Board]], made up of five Social Credit backbenchers.<ref>Elliott 261</ref>  [[Glenville MacLachlan]], its chair, travelled to the [[United Kingdom]], where he asked Douglas to come to Alberta and serve as its advisor. Douglas declined, but in his stead sent two of his lieutenants, L. D. Byrne and George Frederick Powell.<ref>Elliott 264</ref>  Part of the Board's mandate was to educate the public about social credit; to this end, Powell and Social Credit [[whip (politics)|whip]] [[Joseph Unwin]] were assigned to write educational materials.<ref name="trial">{{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial.htm |title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (trial) |access-date=2012-03-25 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122194138/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial.htm |archive-date=2010-11-22 }}</ref>
 [[File:David Milwyn Duggan.JPG|thumb|upright|left|alt=A head-shot of a white-haired man|[[David Milwyn Duggan|David Duggan]] raised the issue of the leaflet, in which he was named, in the legislature.]]In response to what they saw as the radically anti-business views of the Aberhart government and the Social Credit Board, Alberta's mainstream opposition parties—chiefly the [[Alberta Liberal Party|Liberals]] and the [[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta|Conservatives]]—began to cooperate under the auspices of the newly formed [[People's League (Alberta)|People's League]].<ref>Elliott 270</ref>
@@ Line 22: / Line 23: @@
 *H. H. Parlee, lawyer and president of the Liberals' [[Edmonton (provincial electoral district)|Edmonton]] [[constituency association]]
 *[[John Lymburn]], lawyer, member of the People's League, and former Attorney-General of Alberta
-*H. R. Milner, lawyer and president of the Conservatives' Edmonton constituency association
+*[[H. R. Milner]], lawyer and president of the Conservatives' Edmonton constituency association
 *G. D. Hunt, investment broker
-*L. Y. Cairns, lawyer, member of the Conservatives' provincial executive
+*[[L. Y. Cairns]], lawyer, member of the Conservatives' provincial executive
 *G. W. Auxier, lawyer and secretary of the People's League
-*[[William Antrobus Griesbach]], lawyer, member of the [[Canadian Senate]], and former member of the [[Canadian House of Commons]] and mayor of [[Edmonton]]<ref name="Barr 110">Barr 110</ref>
+*[[William Antrobus Griesbach]], lawyer, member of the [[Senate of Canada]], and former member of the [[House of Commons of Canada]] and mayor of [[Edmonton]]<ref name="Barr 110">Barr 110</ref>
 Below this list of names were the words "''Exterminate Them''. And to prevent all Evasion, Demand the Result You Want—$25.00 a MONTH and a lower cost to live."<ref name="Barr 110"/>
-On October 3, the police raided the Social Credit League's Edmonton office and seized 4,000 copies of the pamphlet.<ref name="Barr 109"/>  Griesbach pressed charges against Powell and Unwin for criminal libel and counselling to murder.<ref>{{Wayback|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies.htm|title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies|date=20101122194136}}</ref>
+On October 3, the police raided the Social Credit League's Edmonton office and seized 4,000 copies of the pamphlet.<ref name="Barr 109"/>  Griesbach pressed charges against Powell and Unwin for criminal libel and counselling to murder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies.htm |title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies |access-date=2007-07-31 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927091306/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies.htm |archive-date=2011-09-27 }}</ref>
 ==Trial==
-[[File:W. C. Ives.JPG|thumb|upright|right|alt=A middle aged white man in judicial robes holds a book with his left hand, rests his right on a table, and looks towards the camera.|Justice [[William Carlos Ives|W. C. Ives]] presided over the trials.]]Aberhart, who besides being Premier was Attorney-General, tried to prevent the trial from proceeding by withdrawing the [[Crown prosecutor]] assigned to it. Either trial judge [[William Carlos Ives]]<ref name="Elliott 274">Elliott 274</ref> or a [[justice of the peace]]<ref name="Brennan 54">Brennan 54</ref> countered by appointing a private prosecutor so the case could go ahead. Both defendants were held on $20,000 [[bail]].<ref>{{Wayback|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_significance.htm|title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (significance)|date=20101122194143}}</ref>  Both hired lawyers: Powell was represented by Hugh Calais MacDonald, while Unwin retained one R. Jackson.<ref name="trial"/>  George Steer acted for the prosecution.<ref name="inside"/>
+[[File:W. C. Ives.JPG|thumb|upright|right|alt=A middle aged white man in judicial robes holds a book with his left hand, rests his right on a table, and looks towards the camera.|Justice [[William Carlos Ives|W. C. Ives]] presided over the trials.]]Aberhart, who besides being Premier was Attorney-General, tried to prevent the trial from proceeding by withdrawing the [[Crown prosecutor]] assigned to it. Either trial judge [[William Carlos Ives]]<ref name="Elliott 274">Elliott 274</ref> or a [[justice of the peace]]<ref name="Brennan 54">Brennan 54</ref> countered by appointing a private prosecutor so the case could go ahead. Both defendants were held on $20,000 [[bail]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_significance.htm |title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (significance) |access-date=2009-10-23 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227072703/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_significance.htm |archive-date=2012-02-27 }}</ref>  Both hired lawyers: Powell was represented by Hugh Calais Macdonald, while Unwin retained one R. Jackson.<ref name="trial"/>  George Steer acted for the prosecution.<ref name="inside"/>
-On October 27, both men appeared before police magistrate A. H. Gibson for their [[preliminary hearing]]s on the criminal libel charge (the counselling to murder charge had been dropped). Unwin opted for a [[jury trial]], while Powell elected to be tried by a judge alone. Unwin's trial proceeded first, on November 12.<ref name="Barr 110"/> He testified that he had ordered the pamphlets, which were paid for by the government, and then circulated them as a publication of the "United Democrats", a fictitious organization that listed its address as that of Unwin's home. According to Unwin, the leaflet's text, minus the named individuals, had been provided to him by Powell, he had sent it to the printer's in exactly that form, and he was surprised to see the list of names in the final version.<ref name="Elliott 274"/>  Though his testimony was vague and apparently evasive,<ref name="inside">{{Wayback|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial_courtroom.htm|title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (inside the courtroom)|date=20101122194139}}</ref> he admitted to destroying 4,000 copies of the leaflet on the day of the police raid.<ref name="outside">{{Wayback|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial_courthouse.htm|title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (outside the court house)|date=20101122194139}}</ref>  He was convicted and Ives, dismissing his role in the affair as that of an "errand boy", sentenced him to three months hard labour.<ref name="Brennan 54"/>
+On October 27, both men appeared before police magistrate A. H. Gibson for their [[preliminary hearing]]s on the criminal libel charge (the counselling to murder charge had been dropped). Unwin opted for a [[jury trial]], while Powell elected to be tried by a judge alone. Unwin's trial proceeded first, on November 12.<ref name="Barr 110"/> He testified that he had ordered the pamphlets, which were paid for by the government, and then circulated them as a publication of the "United Democrats", a fictitious organization that listed its address as that of Unwin's home. According to Unwin, the leaflet's text, minus the named individuals, had been provided to him by Powell, he had sent it to the printer's in exactly that form, and he was surprised to see the list of names in the final version.<ref name="Elliott 274"/>  Though his testimony was vague and apparently evasive,<ref name="inside">{{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial_courtroom.htm |title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (inside the courtroom) |access-date=2009-10-23 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227072713/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial_courtroom.htm |archive-date=2012-02-27 }}</ref> he admitted to destroying 4,000 copies of the leaflet on the day of the police raid.<ref name="outside">{{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial_courthouse.htm |title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (outside the court house) |access-date=2009-10-23 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227072721/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_trial_courthouse.htm |archive-date=2012-02-27 }}</ref>  He was convicted and Ives, dismissing his role in the affair as that of an "errand boy", sentenced him to three months hard labour.<ref name="Brennan 54"/>
 Powell's trial proceeded immediately after Unwin's, and his testimony contradicted much of what Unwin had said. Powell claimed that Unwin had put the list of names on the pamphlet,<ref name="Elliott 274"/> and that Powell had expected that it would list organizations rather than individuals.<ref name="inside"/>  Ives found Unwin's testimony more credible, convicted Powell on November 15, and sentenced him to six months hard labour. He also recommended that he be deported to his native [[United Kingdom]] following his sentence.  Appeals by both men against conviction and sentence were unsuccessful.<ref name="Barr 110"/><ref name="Elliott 274"/><ref name="inside"/>
@@ Line 41: / Line 42: @@
 ==Aftermath==
-[[File:King1947.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=An older white man in a pinstriped three piece suit sits facing the camera, his right hand resting in front of him on a table.|Prime Minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] initially refused to grant clemency to the convicted Social Crediters.]]The case attracted considerable media attention and mixed reactions.<ref name="outside"/>  A [[Toronto]] spokesman for the [[Communist Party of Canada]] protested the arrests and called for a "united front" against the People's League.<ref name="Barr 110"/>  Aberhart maintained that the men had been jailed on the basis of some harmless political humour, and encouraged the federal government to grant them [[clemency]]; [[Prime Minister of Canada]] [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] responded that to do so would be to engage in "direct interference by the federal executive with the free and proper functioning of our courts".<ref name="Elliott 274"/>  Every night, some Social Crediters drove to the [[Fort Saskatchewan]] Penitentiary, where the men were being held, to show their support.<ref name="Elliott 276">Elliott 276</ref>  On February 11, 1938, the legislature passed a resolution calling for the men's release.<ref name="Mallory 82"/>
+[[File:William Lyon Mackenzie King - William Lyon Mackenzie King (39295031694).jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=An older white man in a pinstriped three piece suit sits facing the camera, his right hand resting in front of him on a table.|Prime Minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] initially refused to grant clemency to the convicted Social Crediters.]]The case attracted considerable media attention and mixed reactions.<ref name="outside"/>  A [[Toronto]] spokesman for the [[Communist Party of Canada]] protested the arrests and called for a "united front" against the People's League.<ref name="Barr 110"/>  Aberhart maintained that the men had been jailed on the basis of some harmless [[political humour]], and encouraged the federal government to grant them [[clemency]]; [[Prime Minister of Canada]] [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] responded that to do so would be to engage in "direct interference by the federal executive with the free and proper functioning of our courts".<ref name="Elliott 274"/>  Every night, some Social Crediters drove to the [[Fort Saskatchewan]] Penitentiary, where the men were being held, to show their support.<ref name="Elliott 276">Elliott 276</ref>  On February 11, 1938, the legislature passed a resolution calling for the men's release.<ref name="Mallory 82"/>
-Douglas reacted to his deputy's arrest with anger, telling reporters that "whoever is instigating the proceedings is asking for a great deal of trouble, and is likely to get it."<ref name="Mallory 82">Mallory 82</ref>  On December 10, 1937, he wrote King to tell him that he had been invited to come to Alberta to provide advice, and asked if he would be risking arrest and deportation if he did so. King responded that as long as Douglas, unlike Powell, refrained from running afoul of the ''[[Criminal Code of Canada]]'', he had nothing to fear.<ref>Mallory 82–83</ref>
+Douglas reacted to his deputy's arrest with anger, telling reporters that "whoever is instigating the proceedings is asking for a great deal of trouble, and is likely to get it."<ref name="Mallory 82">Mallory 82</ref>  On December 10, 1937, he wrote King to tell him that he had been invited to come to Alberta to provide advice, and asked if he would be risking arrest and deportation if he did so. King responded that as long as Douglas, unlike Powell, refrained from running afoul of the ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]'', he had nothing to fear.<ref>Mallory 82–83</ref>
+At the end of Unwin's sentence, Social Credit MLAs celebrated with a [[snake dance]] on the floor of the Legislature.<ref name="Elliott 276"/>
-At the end of Unwin's sentence, the Social Credit members of the legislature celebrated with a [[snake dance]].<ref name="Elliott 276"/>  Powell was released early, on March 21, 1938, in an attempt by King to bolster his Liberals' chances in a by-election in [[Edmonton East]] the same day; the by-election was won by Social Crediter [[Orvis A. Kennedy]], and a jubilant celebration followed. Once again, the Communists expressed solidarity with the Social Crediters, with [[Jan Lakeman]] thanking the voters for giving "an overwhelming defeat to the forces of reaction".<ref name="Elliott 276"/>  Powell left Canada immediately upon his release, but not before being paid $4,000 by the Alberta government as thanks for his services.<ref>Elliott 277</ref>
+Powell was released after four months' imprisonment, on March 21, 1938, in an attempt by King to bolster his Liberals' chances in a federal by-election in [[Edmonton East]] the same day;{{cn|date=August 2022}} the by-election was won by Social Crediter [[Orvis A. Kennedy]], and a jubilant celebration followed. Once again, the Communists expressed solidarity with the Social Crediters, with [[Jan Lakeman]] thanking the voters for giving "an overwhelming defeat to the forces of reaction".<ref name="Elliott 276"/>  Powell left Canada immediately upon his release, but not before being paid $4,000 by the Alberta government as thanks for his services.<ref>Elliott 277</ref>
-On August 18, 1938, police magistrate A. H. Gibson, who had presided over the prosecution of Unwin and Powell, was dismissed without cause by provincial [[Order in Council]]. Gibson believed that his dismissal was due to "the government's resentment over my action in the Powell-Unwin case and the fact that they hold me more or less to blame for the fact that the accused men were sent to jail."<ref>Mallory 83</ref>  Aberhart's Social Crediters were re-elected with a reduced majority in the [[Alberta general election, 1940|1940 provincial election]]; Aberhart remained premier until his 1943 death. Unwin was defeated in 1940 by [[Labour candidates and parties in Canada|Labour]] candidate [[Angus James Morrison]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/administration/maps_choice.php?Year=1940&Constit=Edson |title=Election results for Edson, 1940 |publisher=Alberta Online Encyclopedia |accessdate=October 22, 2009}}</ref> Though he lived until January 4, 1987, Unwin remains most remembered for his involvement in the Bankers' Toadies incident.<ref>{{Wayback |url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_people_unwin.htm|title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (Joseph Unwin)|date=20101122194141}}</ref>
+On August 18, 1938, police magistrate A. H. Gibson, who had presided over the prosecution of Unwin and Powell, was dismissed without cause by provincial [[Order in Council]]. Gibson believed that his dismissal was due to "the government's resentment over my action in the Powell-Unwin case and the fact that they hold me more or less to blame for the fact that the accused men were sent to jail."<ref>Mallory 83</ref>
+Aberhart's Social Crediters were re-elected with a reduced majority in the [[1940 Alberta general election|1940 provincial election]]; Aberhart remained premier until his death in 1943. Unwin however was defeated in 1940 by [[Labour candidates and parties in Canada|Labour]] candidate [[Angus James Morrison]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/administration/maps_choice.php?Year=1940&Constit=Edson |title=Election results for Edson, 1940 |publisher=Alberta Online Encyclopedia |access-date=October 22, 2009}}</ref> Though he lived until January 4, 1987, Unwin remains most remembered for his involvement in the Bankers' Toadies incident.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_people_unwin.htm |title=Alberta Online Encyclopedia: Bankers' Toadies (Joseph Unwin) |access-date=2009-10-23 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227072726/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/bankerstoadies/bankerstoadies_people_unwin.htm |archive-date=2012-02-27 }}</ref>
 ==Notes==
@@ Line 56: / Line 61: @@
 *{{cite book |last=Brennan |first=Brian |title=The Good Steward: The Ernest C. Manning Story |year=2008 |publisher=Fifth House Ltd |location=[[Calgary]] |isbn=978-1-897252-16-1}}
 *{{cite book|last=Elliott|first=David R. |last2=Miller |first2=Iris |title=Bible Bill: A Biography of William Aberhart|year=1987|publisher=Reidmore Books |location=[[Edmonton]] |isbn=0-919091-44-X}}
-*{{cite book |last=Mallory |first=J. R. |title=Social Credit and the Federal Power in Canada |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=1954 |location=Toronto |isbn=0-8020-6301-2}}
+*{{cite book |last=Mallory |first=J. R. |title=Social Credit and the Federal Power in Canada |url=https://archive.org/details/socialcreditfede0000mall_m0o7 |url-access=registration |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |year=1954 |location=Toronto |isbn=0-8020-6301-2}}
 ==External links==
-*[http://web.archive.org/web/20101122194141/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/audio/law_2_10.m3u Radio drama based on the incident (audio file)]
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101122194141/http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/audio/law_2_10.m3u Radio drama based on the incident (audio file)]
 *[http://qt.lexicom.ab.ca:8000/aberhartfoundation/premier_clips/from_ab_of_alta/6d_%20joe_unwin_banker%27s_toadies_1.mp3 Joseph Unwin's account of the incident (audio file)]
@@ Line 67: / Line 72: @@
 [[Category:History of Alberta]]
 [[Category:Politics of Alberta]]
+[[Category:1930s political events]]
+[[Category:Political events in Canada]]
+[[Category:Canadian criminal case law]]
+[[Category:Canadian social credit movement]]