Bennett's Ambitious Vision

Bennett, a Conservative Prime Minister hailing from Calgary and governing in a Depression, laid the building blocks for modern Canada.

A Conservative prime minister from Calgary with a reputation as a cold-hearted tactician who has trouble delegating authority to his cabinet and wants to micromanage everything, governing after the worst economic downturn in decades, reviled for failing to do enough, seemingly out of touch with the suffering of many Canadians, seeking some secure foothold in a volatile world which puts Canada and its future at risk.

Stephen Harper? Perhaps.

But more certainly Richard Bedford Bennett, Canada’s Conservative prime minister from 1930-35. Bennett took office after the great stock market collapse of 1929. His first years in office were focused on international trade and economic stabilization. Like today, Canada’s banks had survived the Depression relatively well, unlike most U.S. banks, which had closed. But the economic downturn was exacerbated by prairie drought, and many Canadians were dislocated and destitute.

He enacted a number of measures to deal with the symptoms: support to enable farmers to remain on their farms, as well as technical assistance to rehabilitate parched land; a marketing board to help obtain the best possible crop prices; and funding for building and construction to create employment.

In 1934 and 1935, Bennett became familiar with U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt’s developing New Deal legislation, through his brother-in-law William Herridge, Canada’s minister to Washington. As a result, they developed legislation that introduced the progressive income tax, bolstered pensions for seniors, established unemployment insurance, and introduced the eight-hour work day and the 48-hour work week. Some of these programs were challenged in the courts as lying properly in provincial jurisdictions under the British North America Act, but eventually resurfaced to become critical pieces of the Canadian legislative landscape.

Bennett’s most enduring creations though were the creation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1932, based on his conviction that Canada needed a radio service that provided education, not just entertainment; the Bank of Canada in 1935, to further stabilize the banking system; and the Canadian Wheat Board in 1935.

In five years R.B. Bennett put in place a vast range of essential building blocks of modern Canada. He helped build the social country, which was substantially completed by Lester Pearson 35 years later. He built the 20th-century equivalent of the CPR, the CBC, to engender a sense of nationhood. And he secured key economic foundations in the Bank of Canada and the Wheat Board.

Bennett was not afraid to be a nation builder. He put himself at the service of his country, and put his government to work assembling the key building blocks not only to deal with the Great Depression, but to secure the future. He did it through innovation, inspiration, and with great personal courage, good lessons for our leaders today.