Richard Bedford Bennett

Background

Richard Bedford Bennett, at Hopewell Hill, N. B. , on July 3, 1870.

Education

His family was Loyalist and he was educated in the New Brunswick schools and at Dalhousie University, Halifax, N. S.

Career

He began the practice of law in New Brunswick, but in 1897 moved to Calgary, Alberta, which was his official residence until 1939. Bennett was a member of the North-West Assembly from 1898 to 1905, the Alberta Legislature from 1909 to 1911, and the Canadian House of Commons from 1911 to 1917. In 1917 he was appointed director-general of National Service, and in 1921 he became minister of justice and attorney general in the government of Prime Minister Arthur Meighen. Returned to Parliament in the general elections of 1925 and 1926, Bennett was chosen as Conservative leader at a national party convention the next year. He became prime minister in 1930 when his party won the election on a platform of tariff protection. Among the achievements of his government were the Ottawa agreements of 1932, which established a system of British Commonwealth preferences, and the founding of the Bank of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1935, as a result of the continuing effects of economic depression in Canada, the country rejected Bennett's "New Deal, " a system of government control of economic life. An ardent imperialist, Bennett, after 1939, made his home in England. In 1941 he was created Viscount Bennett of Mickleham, Surrey, England, and of Calgary and Hopewell in Canada. Bennett's ability as a lawyer had won him great wealth; during his political career he had been known as a brilliant orator and a dictatorial leader whose policies had disturbed many Conservative colleagues. He died June 26, 1947, at Mickleham, England.

Achievements

• Bennett's government became increasingly interventionist, attempting to replicate the popular "New Deal" enacted by Franklin Roosevelt to the south. Bennett was created Viscount Bennett, the only Canadian prime minister to be honoured with elevation to the peerage.

Connections

He never married or had children.