Acting as President of the Alberta Woman's Christian
Temperance Union demanded great organizational skills and
tremendous energy. Louise McKinney toured the province
repeatedly, delivering talks designed to encourage and
provide direction to WCTU locals throughout the province.
Under her guidance, the WCTU grew to be a powerful force
in shaping the development of the young province—the
emphasis of its mission was contained in its name. The Union
worked for temperance, but more importantly, the
organization was devoted to all Christian principles, and
accordingly, its work was typical of that of the Social
Gospel Movement. It provided McKinney with an opportunity to
apply her strong religious faith to improving the society in
which she lived. Thus, the WCTU played an active part in
obtaining equal franchise for women in 1916. So too, the
WCTU took an interest in social service and immigrant work.
Although the WCTU was involved in many initiatives and
issues, the Temperance Movement was its primary focus. They
strongly believed that alcohol had no place in building the
young Dominion, but was instead a hindrance to the health
and development of Canadians. Thus, they launched and
vigorously promoted programs to educate people about the
dangers of alcohol and the sad aftermath and destruction
wrought by alcohol addiction.
McKinney played a major part in the successful
prohibition campaign of 1915, which made Alberta the first
province to enact prohibition. Following this victory, she
struggled to keep the Temperance Movement active in
education campaigns and efforts to ensure that the law was
enforced. However, after achieving prohibition, the sense of
urgency waned, and temperance education programs were
neglected. As agitation for temperance ceased, public
opinion swung away from prohibition, and to the dismay of
Louise McKinney, prohibition was later repealed. |