R. B. Bennett

For the British composer named Richard Bennett, see Richard Rodney Bennett.

Rt. Hon. Richard Bedford Bennett

Richard Bedford Bennett.
Rank:	11th
Predecessor:	Mackenzie King
Successor:	Mackenzie King
Term of Office:	August 6, 1930 - October 23, 1935
Date of Birth:	July 3, 1870
Place of Birth:	Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick
Spouse:	never married
Profession:	lawyer
Political Party:	Conservative
Religion:	Anglican

The Right Honourable Richard Bedford 1st Viscount Bennett, PC , KC , LL.B (July 3, 1870 – June 26, 1947) was the eleventh Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930 to October 23, 1935.

Early days

R. B. Bennett was born in Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick, Canada, and studied at Dalhousie University, graduating in 1893 with a law degree. Bennett spent time as a school teacher, principal, lawyer, and businessman, before entering local politics. Before moving to Alberta, he was a partner in a law firm in Chatham, New Brunswick. Max Aitken (later known as Lord Beaverbrook) was his office boy. He served for a time as an alderman of the Town of Chatham.

Go west young man

Bennett moved to Alberta as a young man and settled in Calgary. A lifelong bachelor, he led a rather lonely life in boarding houses and later hotels. Social life, such as it was, centered on church. There was, however, no scandal attached to his personal life. Bennett worked hard and gradually built up his legal practice.

Prairie politics

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in the Northwest Territories general election, 1902 as an Independent representing Calgary West.

In 1905, when Alberta was carved out of the territories and made a province, Bennett became the first leader of the Alberta Conservative Party and, in 1909, won a seat in the provincial legislature before switching to federal politics.

Ottawa

Elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1911, Bennett returned to the provincial scene to again lead the Alberta Tories in the 1913 provincial election but kept his seat in Ottawa when his Tories failed to take power in the province. He was appointed Minister of Justice in 1921 shortly before the federal Tory government of Arthur Meighen was defeated. Bennett returned to government as Minister of Finance in 1926 and became Conservative leader in 1927 at the first Conservative leadership convention.

Prime minister

He was elected Prime Minister of Canada in 1930, defeating William Lyon Mackenzie King. This occurred as the worst depression of the century was hitting the country. Bennett tried to fight the depression by expanding trade within the British Empire and imposing tariffs for imports from outside the Empire promising that his measures would blast Canadian exports into world markets, but his success was limited, and his impersonal style and reputation for wealth alienated many struggling Canadians.

When his imperial preference policy failed to generate the desired result, Bennett's government, in common with governments around the world, had no real alternative plans to enact. The party's pro-business, pro-banking inclinations provided no relief to the millions of unemployed who were now becoming increasingly desperate and agitated. The Conservatives seemed indecisive and unable to cope and rapidly lost the confidence of Canadians becoming a focus of popular discontent, even though their policies were largely the same as those of other western governments. At that time, government intervention in the economy was not widely accepted as a good thing. This thinking was shaken to its roots as the Depression raged on unabated across the world. In Canada, car owners who could no longer afford gasoline reverted to having their vehicles pulled by horses and dubbed them Bennett Buggies.

R. B. Bennett faced pressure for radical reforms from within and without the party. The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, formed in 1932, prepared to fight its first election on a socialist programme; the Social Credit movement was gaining supporters in the west and shocked the country by winning the Alberta provincial election and forming the provincial government in September, 1935; Bennett's own government suffered a defection as his Trade minister, Henry Herbert Stevens, left the Conservatives to form the Reconstruction Party of Canada when Bennett refused to enact Stevens' plans for drastic economic reform and government intervention in the economy to deal with the crisis.

Reacting to fears of communist subversion, Bennett used the controversial Section 98 of the Canadian Criminal Code. That section allowed for the imprisonment of anyone who was a member of an organisation that officially advocated the violent overthrow of the government, even if the accused had never committed an act of violence or even personally supported such an action. With this law, the leaders of the Communist Party of Canada, including Tim Buck were arrested and imprisoned for sedition. However, this action proved to be a damaging embarrassment for the government, especially when Buck was the victim of an apparent assassination attempt when he was shot at while confined to his cell during a prison riot, despite the fact he was not participating in any way. The government's case against Buck lost credibility, and ultimately backfired, as Buck was soon released and fêted as a hero who championed civil liberties.

Bennett attempted to prevent social disorder by evacuating the unemployed to relief camps, located far from most cities. There they worked on national infrastructure, including building many of the municipal airports that dot the country to this day. But their isolation from family may have exacerbatee social tensions. Ultimately, radicalized worked organized the On to Ottawa Trek of unemployed protesters; they intended to ride the rails from Vancouver to Ottawa (gathering new members along the way), in order to bring their demands for relief to Bennett personally. The trek ended in Regina on 1 July 1935, when the RCMP, on orders from the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Hugh Guthrie fearing mob violence and terror, attacked a crowd of 3,000 strikers, leaving one dead, and dozens injured.

Following the enacting of the New Deal policies of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and as economic thinking changed as to how to cope with the global Depression, Bennett changed agreed to adopt different tactics. His government introduced a "New Deal" of unprecedented public spending and federal intervention in the economy. Bennett proposed progressive income taxation, a minimum wage, a maximum number of working hours per week, unemployment insurance, health insurance, an expanded pension programme, and grants to farmers. The Conservative's conversion to the concept of massive federal government interference in the economy, some might say even to a welfare state was seen as too little, too late. The provinces, which in fact would have benefitted from many of the new federal programs, objected on the grounds Parliament had no jurisdiction to act because social welfare was a provincial concern as a matter of property and civil rights. The federal judicial system (and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) agreed with the provinces, and eventually struck down virtually all of Bennett's legislation, and a good deal of possibly helpful provincial legislation as well.

Defeat

Bennett had the bad fortune of being elected at the onset of a global Depression which neither Bennett, nor the outgoing Liberal administration had a hand in starting. His government relied on traditional economic laissez faire theory as a cure, then changed its approach even though much of what he did was unconstitutional. The Tories were routed in the October 1935 generaly election, winning only 40 seats to 173 for Mackenzie King's Liberals. Nothing that Mackenzie King did subsequently significantly improved the lives of Canadians, because federal interference in the economy was completely blocked by the courts under both the Liberals and the Conservatives. Eventually Canada pulled out of the Depression not as a result of government programs, but because of the industrialization and jobs created by the onset of World War II. Many of Bennett's reforms continue today, including the CBC and the Bank of Canada, and Employment Insurance and national marketing boards (which while struck down by the courts were eventually upheld as a result of subsequent judicial decisions and constitutional amendment).

In 1940, the constitution was amended to give Parliament the power to create a national unemployment scheme, and cooperation between Canada and the provinces resulted in successful schemes of government support. In addition, the federal government used its delaratory powers to gain control over the marketing of grain and other commodities.

Exile and death

Richard Bennett retired to Britain in 1938, and, in 1941, became the first, and only, former Canadian Prime Minister to be elevated to the British House of Lords (as Viscount Bennett), of Mickleham, Surrey.

He died on 26 June1947, at Mickleham, England, and is buried in St Michael's Churchyard, Mickleham, Surrey, England. He is the only former Prime Minister not buried in Canada.

Supreme Court Appointments

Bennett appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of Canada:

• Oswald Smith Crocket
• Frank Joseph Hughes
• Henry Hague Davis
• Patrick Kerwin

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Silver and Gold: Bennett and the Great Depression — Historical essay, illustrated with photographs
• Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament