# Alexander Bell Patterson

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For those of a similar name, see [Alexander Paterson (disambiguation)](/source/Alexander_Paterson_(disambiguation)).

**Alexander Bell Patterson** (April 22, 1911 – April 2, 1993) was a long-time Canadian [member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(Canada)) (MP) and was briefly leader of the [Social Credit Party of Canada](/source/Social_Credit_Party_of_Canada).[1]

## Life and career

Bell was born in Raymore, Saskatchewan, the son of an Irish father, Robert Patterson, and a Scottish mother, Mary Bell, who immigrated to Canada in 1901.[2] He grew up on the family's farm until moving to [Portage la Prairie](/source/Portage_la_Prairie) to work in a grocery store. Later he attended the [Salvation Army](/source/Salvation_Army) Leadership Training School in Toronto. In 1938, he married Charlotte Nice, a Salvation Army officer from Neepawa, Manitoba. They raised four children.

From 1935 until 1953, he led churches in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. In 1953, while minister of the [Church of the Nazarene](/source/Church_of_the_Nazarene) in [Abbotsford, British Columbia](/source/Abbotsford,_British_Columbia), he was elected to [House of Commons of Canada](/source/House_of_Commons_of_Canada) in the [1953 election](/source/1953_Canadian_federal_election) from the [riding](/source/Electoral_district_(Canada)) of [Fraser Valley](/source/Fraser_Valley_(electoral_district)), [British Columbia](/source/British_Columbia). He was defeated in the [1958 election](/source/1958_Canadian_federal_election). He ran for the party leadership at the [1961 Social Credit leadership convention](/source/Social_Credit_Party_of_Canada_leadership_conventions) but withdrew before the first ballot.

Patterson returned to Parliament in [1962](/source/1962_Canadian_federal_election). He became acting leader of the Social Credit Party in 1967 when leader [Robert N. Thompson](/source/Robert_N._Thompson) resigned citing the party's lack of financial support from its BC and Alberta wings. Once the writs were dropped for the 1968 election, Thompson sought and won the [Progressive Conservative Party of Canada](/source/Progressive_Conservative_Party_of_Canada) nomination in his riding. [Bud Olson](/source/Bud_Olson) had left the party a few months before joining the [Liberal Party of Canada](/source/Liberal_Party_of_Canada), leaving Patterson as the acting leader of the remaining three-person Social Credit [caucus](/source/Caucus) into the [1968 election](/source/1968_Canadian_federal_election) in which all three MPs were defeated, including Patterson in [Fraser Valley East](/source/Fraser_Valley_East).

Patterson returned to Parliament in the [1972 election](/source/1972_Canadian_federal_election) representing [Fraser Valley East](/source/Fraser_Valley_East) as a Progressive Conservative, and was subsequently re-elected as a Tory until his retirement from politics in 1984.

## References

1. ["Profile"](https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Profile?personId=11802). *lop.parl.ca*. Retrieved 2022-07-04.

1. [\[1\]](https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Canadian_Parliamentary_Companion/dktSEybmP8oC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Alexander+Bell+Patterson+1911&dq=Alexander+Bell+Patterson+1911&printsec=frontcover)

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