William Richards Bennett OBC (1932 - 2015)

Born 14 Apr 1932 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Ancestors

Died 3 Dec 2015 at age 83 in Kelowna, Central Okanagan Regional District, British Columbia, Canada

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Preceded by
Dave Barrett

27th Premier of British Columbia
December 22, 1975 – August 6, 1986

Succeeded by
Bill Vander Zalm

Biography

William Bennett OBC is Notable.

William Bennett OBC is/was a significant British Columbian.

Bill Bennett was the premier of British Columbia.

Family life

Bill Bennett was born in 1932, the son of former British Columbia premier William "WAC" Bennett and Annie Richards.

Work

Bill was first elected on September 7, 1973 as the British Columbia Legislative Assembly (MLA) for South Okanagan representing the British Columbia Social Credit League (Socred). He became the leader of his party in November of that year. He hoped to create a coalition party modelled on Bill Davis's Ontario "Big Blue Machine."

He became premier of the province in the 1975 election and was re-elected in 1979. Legacies of his time in office include: the establishment the BC Winter Games and BC Summer Games, Expo 86, and Vancouver's BC Place Stadium, SkyTrain rapid transit system and the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre.

Despite these big ticket spending projects, he also brought in severe austerity measures known as the "Restraint" program in response to economic downturn in 1983. This slashed social services and rolled back labour laws, provoking wide-spread opposition and unrest. This included labour union organized, Operation Solidarity. His controversial and less-than-successful projects included: the costly Coquihalla Highway, the boondoggle BCRIC (British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation) share distribution and a government investment of over $1 billion on the Northeast coal project that failed to produce many jobs. In 1986, Bill retired from politics and was succeeded as Premier by one of his cabinet members, Bill Vander Zalm.

In 1996, Bill was convicted under BC securities laws of insider trading involving the sale of shares in Doman Securities. He was forced to pay the British Columbia Securities Commission $1 million to cover the costs of the case.

Legacy

Though a divisive character, he is still admired by many. In 2007, Bill was appointed to the Order of British Columbia. The new replacement bridge across Okanagan Lake in Kelowna is named after him.

He passed away in 2015.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Bill Bennett
• Wikidata: Item Q19588390, en:Wikipedia

See also:

• Palmer, Bryan D.. "Solidarity". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 15 December 2013, Historica Canada. Accessed 15 August 2020.
• Bill Bennett, former B.C. premier, dead at 83 CBC News. Posted: Dec 04, 2015.
• Obituary: ‘Builder’ Bill Bennett put his stamp on B.C.. Vancouver Sun. John Mackie. Publishing date:Dec 05, 2015.