Solon Earl Low

Solon Earl Low (January 8, 1900 – December 22, 1962)[1] was a Canadian politician in the 20th century.

Solon Earl Low
Solon E. Low as MP for Peace River in 1946.
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Peace River
In office June 11, 1945 – March 30, 1958
Preceded by	John Sissons
Succeeded by	Ged Baldwin
Personal details
Born	(1900-01-08)January 8, 1900 Cardston, Alberta, Canada
Died	December 22, 1962(1962-12-22) (aged 62) Shelby, Montana, U.S.
Resting place	Cardston, Alberta, Canada
Political party	Social Credit
Spouse(s)	Unknown Name (1920–1922) Alice Fern Litchfield (1922–1958)
Children	8
Occupation	Farmer Teacher

Life and career

Low was born in Cardston, District of Alberta, NWT, the son of Sarah Ida (Barber) and James Paton Low.

He was a farmer, school teacher and school principal. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1935 Alberta general election that swept the Social Credit Party of Alberta to power. Low became provincial treasurer under Premier William Aberhart in 1937. He was defeated in 1940 but regained a seat in a by-election in which George Woytikew resigned for him.

In 1944, he was acclaimed the first national leader of the Social Credit Association of Canada at the party's founding convention. Though there had been a group of Social Credit MPs in parliament since 1935 under the leadership of John Horne Blackmore, the party did not have its first national convention until 1944 at which point the national party was officially founded. He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1945 federal election. Low represented Peace River, Alberta until he lost his seat, along with every other Social Credit Member of Parliament (MP), in the 1958 federal election. Low retired as party leader in 1961 and died in 1962.

Low was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2] His family moving to Edmonton in 1937 was a key event in the growth of the Church in that city. His wife Alice was the first leader of the young women program in the Edmonton Branch.[3]

Low contributed to Social Credit's reputation for antisemitism by numerous controversial comments. As Alberta treasurer he once said:

"[A]nti-Semitism is spreading because people cannot fail to observe that a disproportionate number of Jews occupy positions of control in international finance, in revolutionary activities and in some propaganda institutions, the common policy of which is the centralization of power and the perversion of religious and cultural ideals."

Ending anti-Semitism, he said, would require Jews to denounce those "arch-criminals" in their midsts who are responsible for these initiatives.

In 1947, when Low was federal leader of the Social Credit party, he used a national Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) broadcast to lambaste "the international power maniacs who aim to destroy Christianity" and the "international gangsters who are day-to-day scheming for world revolution." He also claimed there was a "close tie-up between international communism, international finance, and international political Zionism."[4] Low repudiated anti-Semitism in 1957 after having criticized Canada for not fully supporting Britain and France in the Suez Crisis and having visited the state of Israel.[5]

Notes

1. Solon Earl Low – Parliament of Canada biography
2. Prete and others. Canadian Mormons (Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 2017) p. 10.
3. Prete. Canadian Mormons, p. 280-281
4. Howard Palmer, "Politics, Religion and Anti-Smitism in Alberta, 1880-1950" in Anti-Semitism in Canada, History and interpretation, Alan Davies, editor, 1992, p. 185
5. American Jewish Committee Archives, American Jewish Yearbook v. 64 (1963)

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Preceded by Maurice Conner	MLA Warner 1935–1940	Succeeded by James Walker
Preceded by George Woytikew	MLA Vegreville 1940–1944	Succeeded by Michael Ponich
Preceded by James Walker	MLA Warner 1944–1945	Succeeded by Leonard Halmrast
Party political offices
Preceded by John Horne Blackmore parliamentary leader	National Leaders of Social Credit 1944–1961	Succeeded by Robert N. Thompson
Parliament of Canada
Preceded by John Sissons	Member of Parliament Peace River 1945–1958	Succeeded by Ged Baldwin