This article presents a concise, historical overview of university extension and continuing education in western Canada. It argues that, over the course of the twentieth century, the major universities in western Canada made three basic claims regarding the purposes of their extension and continuing education units. Prior to 1940, universities claimed that such units extended the resources of the university for the benefit of citizens not enrolled as full-time students. In the 1940s and 1950s, universities claimed that such units fostered social and economic progress. Since the 1960s, universities have claimed that such units existed to meet the lifelong learning needs of individuals. This article argues that the evolution of such claims reflected ideological and political-economic developments, such as the rise of wage labour as the primary means of making a living in the region. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)