AHC: Alberta oil boom occurs...in the 1920s

IOTL, it was known that Alberta had oil deposits as far back as 1914; it wasn't until the late 1940s that the Alberta oil boom happened.

So, here's a challenge: have it discovered in the early 1920s.

Effects, anyone?
 
IOTL, it was known that Alberta had oil deposits as far back as 1914; it wasn't until the late 1940s that the Alberta oil boom happened.

So, here's a challenge: have it discovered in the early 1920s.

Effects, anyone?

As I speculated on the last thread about a similar scenario, an earlier Alberta oil boom would likely propel the ruling party to decades of power.

Basically, a 1920s boom insulates the province from the full effects of the Depression, and allows the governing party(Liberal or UFA, depending when the boom occurs) a greater economic base to put forward relief programs and whatnot. This butterflies away the rise of William Aberhart and his heterodix, funny-money approach to economic relief, in favour of more conventional "New Deal" style policies.

Following the Depression, the government continues to coast on oil royalties, doing what post-Aberhart Social Credit did in OTL, ie. build lots of schools and hospitals, but unencumbered by the bible-thumping image that made Social Credit unelectable by the early 1970s. If the government is UFA, they might rebrand themselves in the 1960s as a more conventionally left-wing party, though not neccessarily in direct alliance with the NDP.

If the government is Liberal(ie. if the oil strike takes place before 1921), they'll probably maintain friendly associations with the federal Liberals, but drift apart during the Trudeau years, becoming something like the BC Liberals of the OTL millenium era.

By the early 80s, people might decide that they are sick of the ruling party, and put someone else in for a bit. Maybe things alternate between the C.D. Howe-style Liberals and the quasi-leftish UFA for a bit. The ability of Alberta governments to bribe their way out of calamaties with oil money probably prevents(as it did in OTL until a few weeks ago) the rise of a genuine socialist party.
 
And, as I also wrote on the last thread, if a Liberal-era oil strike butterflies away the ascension of the UFA, that may mean no eugenics in Alberta. Which would be a good thing.
 
IOTL, it was known that Alberta had oil deposits as far back as 1914; it wasn't until the late 1940s that the Alberta oil boom happened.

So, here's a challenge: have it discovered in the early 1920s.

Effects, anyone?

The technology isn't really there to make the Alberta oil fields viable.

Ja. From everything I'm seeing, the 1947 hit was much deeper than anything previously drilled in the province, and many experts believed that formation couldn't hold oil.

I suppose it's possible, but you've got to have someone prepared to sink a bucketload of money into the project in the face of expert disapproval.

Actually, up to 1930, the Federal Government owned all the mineral rights, so the Alberta government would get no royalties earlier than that, even if oil were discovered.
 
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