W. A. C. Bennett
Robert Denis Browne-Clayton | |
---|---|
In office June 15, 1949 – June 5, 1973 | |
Preceded by | Robert Denis Browne-Clayton |
Succeeded by | Bill Bennett |
Personal details | |
Born | William Andrew Cecil Bennett September 6, 1900 Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada |
Political party | BC Conservative (1937–1951) Social Credit (1951–1978) |
Spouse |
Annie Elizabeth May Richards
(m. 1927) |
Children | 3, including Bill |
William Andrew Cecil Bennett PC OC (September 6, 1900 – February 23, 1979) was a Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of British Columbia from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. He was a member of the Social Credit Party (Socreds).
Notable achievements by the Bennett government included the adoption of BC's first provincial flag, the establishment of the second Bank of British Columbia, and the creation of BC Hydro and BC Ferries. Bennett led the Socreds to a total of seven consecutive election victories. Though he led the party to defeat in the 1972 election, his son Bill Bennett led it to victory in the 1975 election and served as premier until 1986.
Early and family life
Bennett was born in 1900 in
Bennett left formal school in grade nine, during the
In 1927 Bennett married Annie Elizabeth May Richards.
He was usually referred to as W. A. C. Bennett, although some referred to him either affectionately or mockingly as "Wacky" Bennett. To his close friends, he was known as "Cece".[citation needed]
Early business career
Bennett opened a hardware store in 1927, in partnership with another man, and married May Bennett soon afterwards.[4] Bennett was able to sell his interest just before the 1929 Stock Market crash. He decided to leave the tough Alberta economic conditions.
He moved with his family to the Okanagan Valley, in the interior of British Columbia, settling in
In 1932 Bennett, Giuseppe Guezzi, and Pasquale "Cap" Capozzi established a wine-making company to produce wine from the vast surplus of Okanagan apples that were going to waste during the Depression.[5] Three years later Bennett and Capozzi, both teetotalers, concluded that there was no market for their apple wines. They switched to making wines from California grapes.[6] In 1936 they established Calona Wines, the name a phonetic spelling of Kelowna. Bennett departed the company in 1940 to enter politics.[6]
Enters politics
Bennett joined the
As a coalitionist, Bennett was re-elected in 1945. He resigned the seat in 1948 in order to run as Progressive Conservative candidate in the Yale federal by-election of that year, but did not win. Regaining the Coalition nomination for the South Okanagan seat, Bennett was returned to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly in the 1949 provincial election.
After failing in his bid to become leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative Party in 1951, Bennett left the party to sit as an independent member. In December of that year, he took out a membership in the Social Credit League.
Premier of British Columbia
Commencing with the
The Social Credit party won 19 seats of the total of 48, and became the largest party represented in the Assembly and formed a minority government. The Socreds (as they were informally known) convinced an Independent Labour Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) to support them as well.
Not even the Socreds had expected to win the election. They entered the campaign without a full-time leader; their nominal leader was
On August 1, Bennett was sworn in as Premier of British Columbia; he was repeatedly reelected and served for 20 years. In order to get a stronger mandate, Bennett deliberately engineered the defeat of his initial minority government; he forced an election for June 1953 based on a school funding proposal. After Social Credit was re-elected with a clear majority in 1953, Bennett abandoned the preferential voting method.
The Social Credit Party won seven consecutive elections during W. A. C. Bennett's involvement and leadership: 1952, 1953, 1956, 1960, 1963, 1966, and 1969.[9] The only election Bennett lost as a member of Social Credit was in 1972, the last election in which he was a candidate.
As premier during election season he would often warn the public "the socialist hordes are at the gates, my friend."[10]
Political ideology
While the Social Credit party was founded to promote the
The cabinets of the Bennett governments over 20 years had several memorable ministers, including the flamboyant
In 1960, the Bennett government introduced British Columbia's first provincial flag, the first official provincial flag adopted west of Quebec.[11]
Financial policy
A fiscal conservative, Bennett served also as the
Government expansion
Bennett's governments nationalized certain industries, creating provincial
In 1955 Bennett advocated for a universal medical, dental, hospital, and pharmaceutical insurance coverage.[14] The federal government introduced universal, publicly funded medical and hospital insurance as part of what became known as Medicare. The provincial government introduced a retail sales tax to fund the program.
In the 1960s, there was an expansion of higher education: Post-secondary education institutions were created and expanded. BC gained its second and third degree-granting universities: the University of Victoria in 1963 and Simon Fraser University in 1965.
Columbia River Treaty
In 1961 Canada and the United States signed the Columbia River Treaty to jointly manage this important resource. While the signatories were the federal governments of Canada and the United States, Premier Bennett was reported to have played a major part in the negotiations. Under treaty provisions, the U.S. paid British Columbia C$275 million (plus interest) for the downstream power generation rights over the following 30 years. BC used the money to fund construction of dams on the Columbia River for power generation and flood control.[15]
Intergovernmental relations
Federal relations
In 1970, B.C premier W. A. C. Bennett mused that Trudeau's government is "Quebec nationalist"-oriented. He also implied that Quebec received special treatment from Ottawa as a result of this arrangement.[16]
Furthermore, B.C. premier W. A. C. Bennett believed that Pierre Trudeau implemented bilingualism because he was a Quebec‐oriented politician who was mainly interested in promoting and protecting French Canada.[17] During an off the cuff remark at an Ontario Liberal rally, Pierre Trudeau referred to Bennett as a "bigot who thinks there are too many French people in Ottawa."
Bennett proposed that Canada be considered as a group of regions instead of provinces: Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, Western Canada, and BC. He also proposed that the four western provinces be expanded north, with BC absorbing the Yukon Territory. Although there was no formal reorganization of jurisdictions, the concept of different regions, instead of provinces, has become part of how Canadians discuss the country.
BC hosted the 1971 constitutional conference in Victoria. From this emerged the Victoria Charter, the most far-reaching federal-provincial agreement on constitutional amendment since Confederation. Bennett advocated that BC should have a veto over constitutional amendments, along with Ontario and Quebec.
During a 1977 interview with Peter Gzowski, Bennett claimed that most premiers were in agreement about the negative aspects of equalization payments. Bennett believed that they led to more government "bureaucracy". Bennett favoured direct payments to those in need and advocated for negative income taxes or guaranteed income. Bennett took this proposal to the premier of Quebec and prime minister Trudeau.[18]
BC-Quebec relations
Bennett on more than one occasion said "British Columbia [is] the best friend that Quebec's got".[18]
In 1964, the Province of British Columbia provided the Province of Quebec with a $100 million loan. $60 million from that loan went to Hydro-Québec. The loan faced controversy in the Quebec legislature.[19]
In 1967 the premier proposed that Quebecers should vote on whether or not they want to stay in Canada and that the referendum should ask "one simple question".[20]
Post-premiership
Following his party's defeat in the 1972 election by Dave Barrett's revitalized New Democratic Party (the successor to the CCF), he served as Leader of the Opposition until resigning his seat as member for South Okanagan in June 1973.
His son,
In 1976, W. A. C. Bennett was made an Officer of the
In 1998, the Government of Canada honoured W. A. C. Bennett with his portrait on a
References
- ^ a b c "WILLIAM ANDREW CECIL BENNETT" (PDF). United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.
- ISBN 978-0-14-024040-5, pp. 299-300.
- ^ a b c Tozer, Anita (1976). "W.A.C. Bennett". Sunny Okanogan.
- ISBN 978-0-14-024040-5, pp. 300.
- ^ History, Calona Vineyards
- ^ OCLC 42682596.
- ISBN 978-0-14-024040-5, pp. 300-301.
- OCLC 11727080.
- OCLC 11727080.
- ^ Mickleburgh, Rod (May 17, 2012). "There are pinkos everywhere and Rich Coleman needs to broaden his attack on them". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ List of Canadian flags#Provincial
- ^ a b "William Andrew Cecil Bennett". Canadian Encyclopedia, Patricia E. Roy 10/31/2010
- .
- ^ Canadian Museum of History (April 21, 2010). "Making Medicare: The History of Health Care in Canada, 1914-2007". www.historymuseum.ca. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
- ^ "Columbia River Treaty". www.nwcouncil.org. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
- ProQuest 2240411680. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ Walz, Jay (April 21, 1972). "Trudeau Campaign for Bilingualism Is Raising Touchy Canadian Issues". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ a b "W.A.C. Bennett, former B.C. premier". CBC. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ProQuest 2240519248. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ProQuest 2379819601. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ "A Letter From The Publisher: Sep. 30, 1966". Time. 30 September 1966. Archived from the original on February 20, 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
Further reading
- W.A.C.: Bennett and the Rise of British Columbia, ISBN 0-88894-395-4)
- Bowering's B.C.: A Swashbuckling History, by ISBN 0-14-024040-3.
- Vintage Canada: The Complete Reference to Canadian Wines, by Tony Asper, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1999.