Both parties then went dormant running no candidates in the 1951 or 1955 provincial elections, although the federal party continued to run candidates in Ontario during federal elections throughout the 1950s. In the 1959 provincial election the Social Credit party ran five candidates under the leadership of Edgar Shipley Birrell. Birrell, a Toronto furrier, Social Credit member since 1944, and Leaside town councillor from 1955 to 1960 had been elected party leader in February 1959, and stood as the party's candidate in York East Birrell remained party leader until March 1962.