R B Bennett

Writing a life of Bennett, who reportedly destroyed his correspondence every seven years, presents challenges for the biographer. Yet, as P.B. Waite shows, Bennett's lasting contributions to Canada are beyond doubt. He describes Bennett's bold initiatives, including his attempt to introduce unemployment insurance and a minimum wage, as well as his founding of the Bank of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - achieved in the teeth of opposition from banking and media magnates. Waite also contemplates Bennett's friendships, his relationships, and his lifelong bachelorhood, shedding new light on his life and personality. With warmth, wit, and a deep knowledge of its subject, In Search of R.B. Bennett brings Bennett the man - his penchants, prejudices, weaknesses, and strengths - before the reader.

In 1897, a young man from New Brunswick, R.B. Bennett (1970-1947), arrived in Calgary, penniless, to practice law. Thirty years later he left for Ottawa to assume the leadership of the Conservative party of Canada and eventually to serve as prime minister. Gray tells the story of those 30 years and the events that laid the foundations of Bennett's political and business careers. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

No Canadian prime minister has a reputation as uncertain as that of R.B. Bennett (1870-1947). The Conservative party leader of the country during the worst years of the Great Depression, Bennett's fortune and ascension to the British House of Lords alienated him from the Canadian people during his lifetime, while his burial in England has kept him aloof from his country even in death. Writing a life of Bennett, who reportedly destroyed his correspondence every seven years, presents challenges for the biographer. Yet P.B. Waite shows that, while many details of Bennett's life may be unknown or disputed, his contributions to Canada are beyond doubt. Waite describes Bennett's bold initiatives, including his attempt to introduce unemployment insurance and the minimum wage, and the foundation of the Bank of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - achieved in the face of staunch opposition from banking and media magnates. He also studies Bennett's personal relationships and his lifelong bachelorhood, sifting through rumours and weighing conflicting opinions to shed new light on his life and personality. A remarkable study of a polarizing figure, In Search of R.B. Bennett uncovers the best and worst of the life and times of a pivotal Canadian leader.

Ch. 3 (p. 49-54), "Fascism in Quebec", discusses antisemitism in Quebec in the 1920s-30s. Ch. 4 (p. 55-66), "The Department of Immigration and the Rise of Hitler", and ch. 5 (p. 67-83), "Fighting a Losing Battle - a Portrait of Sam Jacobs", show how federal bureaucrats in the departments of the Interior and External Affairs, and Prime Ministers R.B. Bennett and Mackenzie King, stringently opposed Jewish immigration after Hitler's rise to power. The Jewish member of parliament Sam Jacobs failed to change their policy.

This engaging book explores how the need for electricity at the turn of the century affected and shaped Banff National Park. It is also a lively national story, involving the irrepressible and impetuous Max Aitkin (later Lord Beaverbook), R.B. Bennett (local legal advisor and later prime minister), and a series of local politicians and bureaucrats whose contributions confuse and conflate issues along the way.

When R.B. Bennett assumed the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in 1926, he inherited a party out of step with a modernizing Canada. Three years later, in the early days of the Depression, he led the Tories to power with a mandate to bring back prosperity. Larry A. Glassford explores the politics of Bennett's leadership, the strategies with which he tackled the Depression, and the reception he and the Conservative party received from voters and press of the day. Bennett's initial efforts to tackle the Depression took the form of activist reaction: raising tariffs, trying to balance the budget, defending the dollar. When these measures all failed to bring recovery, the Bennett-led government edged towards a reform program, creating such permanent institutions as the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (later the CBC), the Bank of Canada, and the Wheat Board. Bennett tried to package his reforms as a Canadian 'New Deal,' a daring move but one that failed to revive the party. The voters were confused: did the Conservative party stand for reaction or reform? Tories themselves could not decide. The Liberals swept back into power in 1935. At the 1938 Conservative convention which chose Bennett's successor, the perplexing dichotomy remained. Fifty years after the Great Depression, the common perception of Bennett is still of the great Canadian capitalist, driving his government, his party, and the country to the never-never land of American-style high tariffs and British-style imperialism. Glassford demonstrates the inaccuracy of that caricature, and offers instead a fresh analysis of Bennett and his party.