|
Richard Bedford Bennett
was born on July 3rd, 1870 in Hopewell
New Brunswick. As a boy his ambition was
to be a school teacher like his beloved
mother and to become Prime Minister. he
achieved the first ambition at 18 but
after two years decided on law which he
studied at Dalhousie University. He was
admitted to the New Brunswick bar in
1893.
He settled in Calgary in
1897 with the Lougheed law firm and
swiftly won fame and wealth. He was in
the territorial legislature before
Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in
1905 and then in the Alberta
legislature. In 1911 he went to the
House of Commons from Calgary and was
Borden's right hand man in many critical
events until 1917, when he did not seek
re-election.
For a few months he was
Justice Minister in the first Meighen
cabinet but he was defeated by 16 votes
by a labour candidate in Calgary West in
1921.
Calgary West returned him
in 1925, 26, 30, and 1935. The 1930
election, fought during the first stage
of the world economic depression,
brought victory to the Conservatives and
to Bennett the realization of his
boyhood ambition. He set to work
fighting the depression in Canada.
He assumed the Finance
portfolio for a year, along with that of
External Affairs. In 1932, he called the
Imperial Economic Conference in Ottawa,
when the British preferential system of
tariffs was adopted. He also founded the
Central Bank. Near the end of his |
