Richard Gavin Reid - Life After Politics

Life After Politics

After the election, Reid orchestrated a quick transfer of power. The Social Credit victory had provoked a bank run, and he wanted to re-establish stability as quickly as possible. Moreover, the province needed to borrow a large sum of money to meet even its short-term obligations, and the UFA, as a lame duck government, was unable to make promises to would-be creditors. Once in office, confronted with a dire financial situation, Aberhart accused the UFA government of mismanagement. Reid responded in January 1936 that there had been no such mismanagement, that the province's financial problems were due to Social Credit's policies, both real and promised, and that had the UFA won re-election in 1935 it could have continued governing without serious difficulty. He also resisted insinuations that it had been too restrained in helping impoverished farmers: as late as 1969 he was offering the view that shrinking sources of provincial revenue made further assistance impossible.

Apart from these occasional forays defending his record, Reid withdrew from politics. He became a commission agent, and later the librarian for Canadian Utilities Limited. For this latter role, he was made an honorary member of the Edmonton Library Association. During World War II, he served on the Canadian government's mobilisation board. Richard Reid died in Edmonton 17 October 1980 at the age of 101. He was cremated, and his ashes buried in Edmonton.

Historians generally view Reid as a victim of circumstance: like many governments across Canada, his was defeated by the Great Depression. Rennie argues that Reid's approach to government, frugal and non-interventionist, was well-suited to the prosperous 1920s but less so to the 1930s, and highlights his lack of charisma. But he also writes that virtually nobody could have won the 1935 election for the UFA. Foster agrees, assessing Reid as "a quietly competent, gentle man" who "merited the confidence of his colleagues", but who was in 1935 "distinctly out of his element". As Rennie closes, "In 1935 Albertans wanted a saviour. Richard Gavin Reid was a mere mortal."