Beyond Fragments: The Canadian State and the Origins of Alberta Political Culture

Abstract

This article traces the origins of Alberta political culture to an unlikely source: the federal government’s immigration marketing posters from the early-twentieth century. Through a qualitative document analysis of the “Last Best West” campaign, the findings reveal how the Government of Canada helped cultivate values of settler colonialism, populism, individualism, frontier masculinity, and moral traditionalism among the settler population. The article closes with a discussion of how these values continue to influence Alberta politics today.