John Hugill

Whatever the surface incompatibilities between Hugill and the Social Credit movement, in the runup to the 1935 provincial election Aberhart found his team lacking mainstream respectability and legal expertise. Hugill provided both, and Aberhart recruited him to run as a Social Credit candidate in Calgary.[12][13] During the campaign, Hugill attracted attention by refusing (on Aberhart's instructions, and like other Social Credit candidates) to accept questions from the floor at political meetings. The Calgary Albertan commented that "it must be rather irritating for a gentleman like J. W. Hugill, a practitioner at the bar and a King's Counsel withal, skilled and experienced in the art of debate, not to be free to make use of it".[14]

On August 22, Hugill was elected one of Calgary's six Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). On the initial ballot count he was in fifth place of twenty candidates, but after the redistribution of votes in accordance with the single transferable vote system in use in Calgary at the time, he fell to sixth place, and was not elected until the eighteenth and final count.[15] Aberhart named him Attorney General several days later, and he was sworn in with the rest of Aberhart's cabinet on September 3, 1935.[16]

Hugill (in the foreground) looks on as William Aberhart (centre) and Prime Minister R.B. Bennett shake hands.

Hugill's service as Attorney General was brief and eventful. Three days after their swearing-in, he and Aberhart embarked for Ottawa to meet with Bennett, now prime minister, and seek a federal loan to prevent Alberta from defaulting on its bond and payroll obligations.[17] Despite needing Can$18 million, they secured only $2.25 million from Bennett.[18] They then set out for Detroit to meet with Henry Ford—who had financed many of his projects without involving banks, Social Credit's sworn enemies—but, on their arrival, discovered that he was away at his summer home.[19] Returning home still in need of funding, Aberhart authorized Hugill to negotiate for the services of Robert J. Magor, a Montreal financier who had successfully assisted the government of Newfoundland in emerging from dire financial straits. Magor's acceptance of a $600 per month appointment raised the ire of Social Crediters loyal to C. H. Douglas, the originator of social credit, and of Douglas himself, who saw Magor as a tool of eastern financial interests and Hugill as their man inside the government.[20]

Magor's financial advice led to the government tabling a very conservative 1936 budget that was decidedly not in keeping with social credit ideals.[9] Partly in response to the situation, British social crediter John Hargrave visited Alberta to advise the government on how it might implement social credit. At a cabinet meeting with Hargrave present, Hugill expressed that the Canadian Constitution did not give to the provinces sufficient powers to implement social credit, and that doing so would necessitate the use of the federal power over banking and currency. Hargrave, referring to Social Credit's election promises to implement social credit, responded, "surely the public ought to be told". After the meeting, Hargrave—by his account, at Aberhart's request—prepared an eleven-point plan to implement social credit in Alberta; Aberhart rejected it, but the Social Credit caucus invited Hargrave to explain it.[21] The resulting meeting featured the following exchange between Hugill and Hargrave:

Hugill: You realise, Mr. Hargrave, that this scheme you are putting forward would not be legal?

Hargrave: I am not interested in legal arguments.
Hugill: What would you do if your legislation was disallowed and your parliament dissolved?

Hargrave: There is only one way in which such a government could be "dissolved", and that is by sending in troops to throw it out, physically, neck and crop, down the steps of this parliament house. Does the Attorney-General suggest that any authority anywhere in Ottawa or elsewhere would, in those circumstances, march troops into Alberta?[22]

Much of the caucus, frustrated by the government's failure to implement social credit or even take tangible steps towards doing so, sided with Hargrave, and Hugill's cabinet colleagues did not come to his defense. Hargrave's presentation to Social Credit MLAs precipitated the 1937 Social Credit backbenchers' revolt, in which much of the Social Credit caucus threatened to bring down the government over its failure to introduce social credit. The revolt was muted with the creation of the Social Credit Board, which was to oversee the introduction of social credit.[23]

The first legislation recommended by the Social Credit Board included the Credit of Alberta Regulation Act, which provided for provincial licensing and supervision of banks, the Bank Employees Civil Rights Act, which prohibited unlicensed banks and their employees from instigating legal proceedings, and the Judicature Act, which prohibited challenges to the constitutionality of Alberta legislation.[24] Hugill did not believe that the acts were within the province's legislative competence, but avoided saying so publicly. In response to a question posed in the legislature on the province's authority over banking, he said that he could not conclusively answer such an academic question, but referred the questioner to the British North America Act, 1867. In a caucus meeting, in response to a request from Aberhart that he "[assure] us that he feels in a position on every count to recommend that the Lieutenant-Governor gives his assent to every Social Credit Measure", Hugill was more open in his beliefs.[11]

On August 6, 1937, after the three acts were approved by the legislature, John Campbell Bowen, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta requested a meeting with Aberhart and Hugill before he granted royal assent to the legislation. He asked Hugill whether he considered the bills constitutional, and Hugill replied in the negative. Aberhart immediately said that he would take personal responsibility for the legislation's constitutionality, and Bowen granted assent.[Note 3] In journalist John Barr's telling, as Aberhart and Hugill left the meeting the premier said "your resignation is accepted, Hugill",[25] while according to Elliott and Miller he said only "you know what this means, don't you?"[26] Whatever the words used, Hugill resigned later that afternoon.[26]

Historians have debated the propriety of Hugill's actions in undercutting his own government's legislation to Bowen. Elliott and Miller believe that he could have refused to answer Bowen's question, but that by not doing so he "obeyed the letter of the Alberta law that set out his duties".[26] They see his cabinet duties conflicting with his responsibility as a legal adviser, and argue that by giving Bowen his honest opinion he was upholding the oath he took as a barrister.[26] Mallory disagrees, citing a rule dating from 1882 that the Lieutenant Governor should use—or consider using—his powers of reservation only as a Dominion officer, and never on the advice of his ministers, including the Attorney General. He speculates that neither Bowen nor Hugill was aware of this rule, and criticizes the federal government for not monitoring the situation and advising Bowen as to the proper use of his powers.[27]

Having left the government, Hugill also left the Social Credit caucus, and served the rest of his term as MLA as an independent. He joined the People's League, a collection of mainstream elements opposed to Aberhart which ran nominally independent candidates in the 1940 and 1944 elections, and denounced Aberhart's government as a "tyrannical dictatorship" and the premier as the most sadistic man he had ever met.[28] Hugill himself did not seek re-election in the 1940 election.

One of Hugill's last acts as Attorney General had been attending a Toronto meeting of the Canadian Bar Association. In response to Hugill's comments about his government, Aberhart refused reimbursement of Hugill's expenses from that trip. Later, when Aberhart received word that Ryerson Press was going to publish an exposé of his government authored by Hugill, he threatened to cancel Ryerson's contracts to print Alberta's school textbooks unless the company reconsidered. The exposé was not published.[28]