Editing Ernest Manning (section)

==Early life and career==
[[File:Ernest_Manning_c_1935.png|thumb|right|Ernest C. Manning, 1935]]
Manning was born in [[Carnduff]], Saskatchewan, in 1908 to George Henry Manning (1872–1956) and Elizabeth Mara Dixon (1870–1949). George had immigrated from [[England]] in 1900 and was followed by his fiancé in 1903. Their Carnduff homestead being inadequate, they moved to a new one in [[Rosetown, Saskatchewan]], in 1909.{{sfn|Perry|Craig|2006|p=451}} In his childhood, Ernest was not especially religious and only occasionally attended a [[Methodist]] church in town.{{sfn|Brennan|2008|p=1-5}}

Manning was among the first students of [[William Aberhart]]'s Calgary Prophetic Bible Institute (CPBI), which opened in 1927, and became its first graduate in April 1930,{{sfn|Brennan|2008|p=4-11}} having heard of it over a radio broadcast.  There he met his future wife, Muriel Preston, who was the institute's pianist and later served as the National Bible Hour's musical coordinator. As a student, Manning soon caught the attention of Aberhart and quickly became his assistant at CPBI. "During his second and third years at the institute, Manning lived in the Aberhart home. After graduation, the Aberhart devotee became a teacher at the institute and played a role in the management of the organization's business affairs."<ref name="archive.org">{{cite book |last1=Finkel |first1=Alvin |title=The Social Credit phenomenon in Alberta |date=1989 |publisher=Toronto, Ont. : University of Toronto Press |isbn=9781442682382 |page=84 |url=https://archive.org/details/socialcreditphen0000fink/page/84/mode/2up |access-date=18 April 2022}}</ref> In 1930, he began preaching on Aberhart's weekly "Back to the Bible Hour" radio program, a practice that he continued throughout his life, even after he had entered politics. The broadcasts were eventually aired on over 90 [[radio broadcasting|radio stations]] across [[Canada]] from [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]] to [[Vancouver]] and had a large listening audience.<ref>{{cite book |author1=David Marshall |editor1-last=Marguerite Van Die |title=Religion and Public Life in Canada: Historical and Comparative Perspectives |date=2001 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=9780802082459 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxZqGT-IrJ4C&pg=PA237 |access-date=2018-09-25 |chapter=11: Premier E.C. Manning, ''Back to the Bible Hour'', and Fundamentalism in Canada}}</ref>

In 1935, Manning went into the realm of provincial politics as Aberhart's right-hand man. Together, they created the Social Credit Party with the aim of bringing financial relief to Albertans, who were suffering because of the [[Great Depression]].