William Andrew Cecil Bennett (September 6, 1900 – February 23, 1979) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
politician. He was the 25th
premier of British Columbia
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
from 1952 to 1972. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history. 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".
Early and family life
Bennett was born in 1900 in
Hastings, New Brunswick
Fundy National Park is a national park of Canada located on the Bay of Fundy, near the village of Alma, New Brunswick. It was officially opened on 29 July 1950. The park showcases a rugged coastline which rises up to the Canadian Highlands, th ...
, Canada, one of five children of Andrew Havelock Bennett and Mary Emma Burns.
His father was a third cousin of
Richard Bedford Bennett
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, (July 3, 1870 – June 26, 1947), was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Canada from 1930 to 1935.
Bennett was born in ...
, eleventh Prime Minister of Canada.
Bennett left formal school in grade nine, during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, to take a job in a hardware store. As an adult, he pursued
correspondence courses
Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
to improve his knowledge and job potential. He joined the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
, but the war ended before he saw active duty.
At the age of 18, he and his family moved to
Edmonton, Alberta
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...
, and then to
Westlock, Alberta
Westlock is a town in central Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1913, the town is primarily an agricultural, business, and government administration centre serving communities and rural areas within surrounding Westlock County.
Geography
Westlock i ...
, where Bennett's father operated a hardware store.
In 1927 Bennett married Annie Elizabeth May Richards.
In 1930 they moved to Victoria, and then Kelowna with their two children, Anita and R.J.
A third child,
William ("Bill") was born in 1932. In Kelowna Bennett joined such fraternal organizations as the local
Gyro Club,
Masonic Lodge
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
, and the Kelowna Club, and was active with his family in the
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...
.
Early business career
Bennett opened a hardware store in 1927, in partnership with another man, and married May Bennett soon afterwards. 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
Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''kiÊ ...
. There he opened his own hardware store, known as Bennett's Hardware.
A successful merchant, he served as President of the Kelowna Board of Trade from 1937 to 1939.
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. Three years later Bennett and Capozzi, both
teetotalers
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...
, concluded that there was no market for their apple wines. They switched to making wines from California grapes.
In 1936 they established
Calona Wines, the name a phonetic spelling of Kelowna. Bennett departed the company in 1940 to enter politics.
Enters politics
Bennett joined the
British Columbia Conservative Party
The Conservative Party of British Columbia is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. In the early half of the 20th century, the Conservatives competed with the British Columbia Liberal Party for power in the province. Since th ...
. He ran for the
South Okanagan
South Okanagan was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia beginning with the 1916 British Columbia general election, election of 1916. Following the 1975 British Columbia general election, 1975 election bound ...
nomination for the 1937 provincial election for the
British Columbia Legislative Assembly
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. Members are elected from provincial r ...
, but was unsuccessful. In 1941, he won the Conservative Party nomination and the general election. Following that election, the Conservative and Liberal parties voted to govern in
coalition
A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces.
Formation
According to ''A Gui ...
, an arrangement formally titled the British Columbia Coalition Organization.
As a coalitionist, Bennett was re-elected in
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Januar ...
. 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
South Okanagan was a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia beginning with the 1916 British Columbia general election, election of 1916. Following the 1975 British Columbia general election, 1975 election bound ...
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.
Social Credit leader and premier
Commencing with the
1952 provincial election, the province used an
alternative vote
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of ranked preferential voting method. It uses a majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referred to as ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the Un ...
system designed by the Conservative and
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
parties to keep the
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...
out of power. However, the Liberal and Conservative parties were not at all as popular among voters as expected. The combined Liberal and PC vote total was 120,000 fewer votes than in the previous election, while the Social Credit party received almost 200,000 more votes than in 1949. Even if Liberal and Conservative voters had given their second choices strictly to the other party, the old coalition still would not have taken a majority of seats. Only in eight districts did supporters of the two parties together form majority. In the election, often Liberal and Conservative voters' second preference was marked for Social Credit candidates. As well, the CCF's second preferences were overwhelmingly for Social Credit candidates.
SC won 19 seats of the total of 48, and became the largest party represented in the Assembly and formed a
minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
. The Socreds (as they were informally known) convinced an Independent Labour
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...
(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
Ernest George Hansell
Ernest George Hansell (14 May 1895 in Norwich, England – 9 December 1965) was an ordained minister as well as a Canadian federal and provincial politician.
Federal politics
Hansell ran as a Social Credit candidate in the 1935 federal election ...
, a federal MP from Alberta. Party president
Lyle Wicks
Lyle Wicks (November 1, 1912 - February 3, 2004) was a British Columbia politician.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, Wicks graduated from McLean High School in Haney, British Columbia, Canada in 1930. He was one of the first employees of the BC Plywoo ...
convened a meeting of the newly elected MLAs to elect British Columbia's new premier. Bennett, one of only three Socred MLAs who had any previous experience in the legislature, was elected party leader and premier-designate on July 15, 1952. Of the 19 votes cast, Bennett received 10, another candidate received 2, and two more (including
Philip Gaglardi
Philip Arthur Gaglardi (January 13, 1913 – September 23, 1995), sometimes known as Flying Phil, was a politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He is best known for his service as Minister of Highways in the BC government fr ...
) one vote each.
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, Bennett gained abandonment of preferential voting following his 1953 victory.
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. The only election Bennett lost as a member of Social Credit was in 1972, the last election in which he was a candidate.
Political ideology
While the Social Credit party was founded to promote the
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 ...
theories of
monetary reform
Monetary reform is any movement or theory that proposes a system of supplying money and financing the economy that is different from the current system.
Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:
* A return t ...
, these could not be implemented at the provincial level, as the
Alberta Social Credit Party
Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement wa ...
had learned in the 1930s. Bennett quickly converted the provincial party into a
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
conservative party. It was devoted to keeping the CCF out of power. But, as leader of the
Social Credit Party of Canada
The Social Credit Party of Canada (french: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadi ...
's second most powerful provincial branch, Bennett spoke for the party in federal election campaigns. During the
1957 election, he spoke for the party at a rally in
Regina, Saskatchewan
Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...
. In the
1965 election, Bennett and his cabinet ministers toured BC to encourage voters to elect Social Credit MPs to promote BC's interests.
The cabinets of the Bennett governments over 20 years had several memorable ministers, including the flamboyant
"Flying Phil" Gaglardi. He oversaw the rapid construction and expansion of highways throughout the province and a similar expansion of BC Ferries.
In 1960, the Bennett government introduced British Columbia's
first provincial flag, the first official provincial flag adopted west of Quebec.
Financial policy
A fiscal conservative, Bennett served also as the
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
, keeping tight control over government spending. He led his province into an era of modernization and prosperity.
His practice of "pay as you go" carefully tracked spending, and transferred debts to other government agencies. In 1959 Bennett announced that the province was debt free.
["William Andrew Cecil Bennett"](_blank)
''Canadian Encyclopedia'', Patricia E. Roy 10/31/2010
Government expansion
Bennett's governments nationalized certain industries, creating provincial
Crown corporations
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...
, including
BC Ferries
British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry ...
(1960) and
BC Hydro
The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, with the excep ...
(1961).
BC Rail
BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...
, formerly the Pacific Great Eastern Railway and owned by the province since 1918, had a series of major expansions to stimulate development. He also ensured investment in other infrastructure. Minister of Highways, Phil Gaglardi, oversaw major highway expansions and improvements. Major hydro-electric dam-building projects were undertaken on the
Columbia and
Peace River
The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...
s. Bennett was instrumental in establishing the
Bank of British Columbia
There have been two British Columbian/Canadian banks with the name Bank of British Columbia.
The first bank: 1862–1901
The first was established by Royal Charter in 1862, with its head office in London.Historical Essays on British Columbia'. M ...
, in which the government took a 25% ownership.
In 1955 Bennett advocated for a universal medical, dental, hospital, and pharmaceutical insurance coverage. 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
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 ...
in 1963 and
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
in 1965.
Columbia River Treaty
In 1961 Canada and the United States signed the
Columbia River Treaty
The Columbia River Treaty is a 1961 agreement between Canada and the United States on the development and operation of dams in the upper Columbia River basin for power and flood control benefits in both countries. Four dams were constructed under ...
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.
BC-Canada relations
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 Victoria Charter was a set of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada in 1971. This document represented a failed attempt on the part of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to patriate the Constitution, add a bill of rights to it and entr ...
, the most far-reaching federal-provincial agreement on constitutional amendment since
Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
. Bennett advocated that BC should have a veto over constitutional amendments, along with Ontario and Quebec.
Post-premiership
![Bennett Memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Bennett_Memorial.JPG)
Following his party's defeat in the
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
election by
Dave Barrett
David Barrett (October 2, 1930 – February 2, 2018) was a politician and social worker in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 26th premier of British Columbia from 1972 to 1975.
Early life and career
Barrett was born in Vancouver, Britis ...
's revitalized
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
(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,
W.R. "Bill" Bennett, won the South Okanagan by-election in September. W. A. C. Bennett retired as leader of the Social Credit Party on November 15, and his son Bill Bennett was elected leader of the BC Social Credit Party on November 24, 1973. NDP Premier Dave Barrett dropped the writ and sought re-election in the fall of 1975, the Socreds were returned to power with 35 seats in the 55-seat Legislature, and W. A. C.'s son Bill became the new Premier of British Columbia, inheriting his father's mantle of power as well as many of his father's cabinet members.
In 1976, W. A. C. Bennett was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
. He died in 1979, and was interred in the Kelowna Municipal Cemetery, in
Kelowna, British Columbia
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''kiÊ ...
.
In 1998, the Government of Canada honoured W. A. C. Bennett with his portrait on a
postage stamp of Canada. The
W. A. C. Bennett Dam near
Hudson's Hope
Hudson's Hope is a district municipality in northeastern British Columbia, Canada, in the Peace River Regional District. Having been first settled along the Peace River in 1805, it is the third-oldest European-Canadian community in the province, a ...
, built under the
Two River Policy, is named after him. The library at the Burnaby campus of
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
also bears his name. He was featured on the cover of ''
Time Magazine
''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...
'' on September 30, 1966.
References
Further reading
*''W.A.C.: Bennett and the Rise of British Columbia'',
David J. Mitchell ()
*''Bowering's B.C.: A Swashbuckling History'', by
George Bowering
George Harry Bowering, (born December 1, 1935) is a prolific Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer. He was the first Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate.
He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, and raised in the nearby town o ...
, Toronto 1996, Penguin Canada, .
*''Vintage Canada: The Complete Reference to Canadian Wines'', by Tony Asper, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1999.
External links
Jack Wasserman interviewing W. A. C. Bennett about the 1952 election, CBC Archives TV clipNW Council - Columbia River Treaty''Vancouver Sun'' cartoonof Bennett,
Phil Gaglardi
Philip Arthur Gaglardi (January 13, 1913 – September 23, 1995), sometimes known as Flying Phil, was a politician in the Canadian province of British Columbia. He is best known for his service as Minister of Highways in the BC government fro ...
, President
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
, and Prime Minister
Lester Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.
Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...
by
Len Norris
Leonard Matheson Norris, better known as Len Norris (1913 in London, England – 1997 in Langley, British Columbia, Canada), was a longtime editorial cartoonist for the Canadian newspaper ''Vancouver Sun'' from 1950 to 1988. Called by Walt Kelly, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, W. A. C.
1900 births
1979 deaths
20th-century Canadian legislators
British Columbia Social Credit Party leaders
British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs
British Columbia Conservative Party MLAs
Finance ministers of British Columbia
Hardware merchants
Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Members of the United Church of Canada
Officers of the Order of Canada
People from Albert County, New Brunswick
People from Kelowna
People of New England Planter descent
Premiers of British Columbia