Manning was born in Carncluff, Saskatchewan in 1908 and was raised on a farm. In 1935, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as a member of the Social Credit Party. That same year he became Alberta's Provincial Secretary and Minister of Trade and Industry. In 1943 he became premier of Alberta, succeeding William Aberhart. Upon retirement in 1968, Mr. Manning established his own consulting firm, Manning Consultants Limited. In 1970 he was appointed to the Canadian Senate.
In 1936 Ernest Manning married Muriel Aileen Preston. They had two sons, Keith and Preston. Preston Manning was the first leader of the Reform Party of Canada (a Canadian federal political party later known as the Canadian Alliance, and one of the forebears of today's Conservative Party of Canada).
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