Stuart Douglas Boland "Bud" Smith (born May 14, 1946) is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, businessman and former politician in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He represented

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

from 1986 to 1991 as a

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

member, serving alongside

Claude Richmond Claude Harry Richmond (born August 3, 1935) is a former Liberal Party of British Columbia, BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Legislative Assembly in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of ...

in a dual-member district. Smith was born in

Kamloops, British Columbia Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

, the son of John Alan Ivan Smith Boland Smith and Anne Margaret Bain. In 1970, he received his B.A. from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

, and in 1974, he received his L.L.B. from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. In 1972, he married Daphne Marguerite Minnes. In 1986, Smith ran for the leadership of the Social Credit Party. He placed third on the first ballot, but slipped to fourth on the second. Shortly after the second ballot, he withdrew and endorsed eventual victor

Bill Vander Zalm William Nicholas Vander Zalm (born Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie van der Zalm; May 29, 1934) is a politician and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 28th premier of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991. Early life Wilhelmus Ni ...

. Smith's endorsement came as a surprise; he had been expected to lend his support to the "stop Vander Zalm" movement. Smith denied any secret deal and said he was following the will of the delegates, who wanted party renewal. His support was viewed as critical to Vander Zalm's landslide victory. When Vander Zalm assembled his initial cabinet, Smith was notably left out. On July 6, 1988, Smith was named

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. He resigned from cabinet in July 1990 after the release of several recordings where he appeared to be interfering in criminal proceeding against former tourism minister

Bill Reid William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a Canadian artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is ...

. Smith had been attempting to discredit one of the lawyers involved. The tapes were handed to the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

for investigation. Until this scandal, Smith was viewed as a potential successor to Vander Zalm. On December 13, 1990, he rejoined cabinet as Minister of Regional Economic Development. After retiring from politics, Smith served on the board of several crown corporations, including

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

and the

Royal British Columbia Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...

References

1946 births Living people Attorneys General of British Columbia British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Lawyers in British Columbia Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Kamloops Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni University of Victoria alumni {{BritishColumbia-MLA-stub