Bill Bennett | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theBritish Columbia Legislative Assembly forKootenay East East Kootenay (2001-2009) | |
| In office May 16, 2001 – May 9, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Erda Walsh |
| Succeeded by | Tom Shypitka |
| Minister of State for Mining ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office June 16, 2005 – February 7, 2007 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Pat Bell |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Krueger |
| Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office June 23, 2008 – June 10, 2009 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Stan Hagen |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Krueger |
| Minister of Community and Rural Development ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office June 10, 2009 – June 11, 2010 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Kevin Krueger (Community Development) |
| Succeeded by | Ben Stewart |
| Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office June 11, 2010 – October 25, 2010 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Blair Lekstrom |
| Succeeded by | Bill Bennett |
| Minister of Energy ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office October 25, 2010 – November 17, 2010 | |
| Premier | Gordon Campbell |
| Preceded by | Bill Bennett |
| Succeeded by | Steve Thomson |
| Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office September 5, 2012 – June 10, 2013 | |
| Premier | Christy Clark |
| Preceded by | Ida Chong |
| Succeeded by | Coralee Oakes |
| Minister Responsible for Core Review ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office June 10, 2013 – June 12, 2017 | |
| Premier | Christy Clark |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Minister of Energy and Mines ofBritish Columbia | |
| In office June 10, 2013 – June 12, 2017 | |
| Premier | Christy Clark |
| Preceded by | Rich Coleman |
| Succeeded by | Rich Coleman |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1950[1] |
| Political party | BC Liberals |
| Other political affiliations | Independent (2010-2011) |
| Spouse | |
| Residence | Cranbrook, British Columbia |
| Alma mater | University of Guelph (B.A.) Queen's University (LL.B.) |
| Profession | lawyer |
William Bennett (born 1950) is a former Canadian politician. From 2001 until 2017, Bennett represented the riding ofKootenay East in theLegislative Assembly of British Columbia. As part of theBC Liberal Party caucus, he served in severalcabinet posts underPremiersGordon Campbell andChristy Clark.
Bennett grew up inCampbellford,Ontario, where his parents owned a furniture store.[2] After leaving school at grade 9, he found work in his late teens at a fly-in fishing lodge near theNorthern Ontario town ofRed Lake.[2] He later returned to school, graduating from theUniversity of Guelph in 1976 with an honours degree in English, and went on to own and operate fly-in fishing and hunting lodges in theNorthwest Territories andManitoba.[1][3]
He then returned to Campbellford with his family and attended law school atQueen's University, earning a law degree in 1992.[2][3] He subsequently moved toCranbrook, British Columbia, and practiced law there beginning in 1994.[2] He had also served as president of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce and the Kootenay Bar Association.[1][3]
He married his wife Beth in 1974; they have two sons together.[1][3]
Bennett ran for theBC Liberals in the2001 provincial election, defeating the incumbentNew Democratic candidateErda Walsh to becomemember of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) forEast Kootenay.[4] After being re-elected at the2005 provincial election, he was appointed to cabinet byPremierGordon Campbell as Minister of State for Mining,[5] but resigned from the post in February 2007 after it was revealed that he had sent a profanity-laden email to a constituent.[2][6] He then returned to cabinet as Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts in June 2008.[5]
In the2009 provincial election, Bennett was re-elected MLA in the renamed riding of Kootenay East.[3] He was appointed Minister of Community and Rural Development that June, then became Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources in June 2010.[5] Amidst the controversial introduction of theHarmonized Sales Tax, Bennett openly criticized Campbell's leadership in an October 2010 interview with theVancouver Sun.[2] Campbell initially stated that he had no plans to remove Bennett from cabinet;[7] however, Bennett was dismissed from his post on November 17,[5] and removed from the Liberal party caucus two days later.[8]
He sat in the legislature as anindependent member following his ouster from caucus, and supportedGeorge Abbott in the subsequentLiberal leadership election to replace the outgoing Campbell.[2][4] He was re-instated into the Liberal caucus in April 2011 afterChristy Clark took over as premier and Liberal leader,[9] and was appointed Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development by Clark in September 2012.[10][11]
Following his re-election as Kootenay East MLA in2013, he was appointed as Minister of Energy and Mines and Minister Responsible for Core Review that June.[10] He announced in June 2016 that he would not run inthe following year's provincial election.[4][12] After finishing his term as MLA in 2017, he received appointments to the boards of directors of Eagle Plains Resources and Copper Creek Gold.[13][14]
Besides his cabinet posts, he had also served as chair of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, and the Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides while in legislature.[3]
| 2013 British Columbia general election:Kootenay East | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Bill Bennett | 10,252 | 62.99 | +11.78 | $126,532 | |||
| New Democratic | Norma Blissett | 6,023 | 37.01 | +1.39 | $74,121 | |||
| Total valid votes | 16,275 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 138 | 0.84 | ||||||
| Turnout | 16,413 | 53.41 | ||||||
| Source:Elections BC[15] | ||||||||
| 2009 British Columbia general election:Kootenay East | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Bill Bennett | 8,404 | 51.21% | +3.2 | $159,218 | |||
| New Democratic | Troy Sebastian | 5,844 | 35.62% | −8.1 | $92,272 | |||
| Conservative | Wilf Hanni | 1,612 | 9.82% | – | $24,562 | |||
| Green | Jen Tsuida | 549 | 3.35% | −4.92 | $850 | |||
| Total Valid Votes | 16,409 | 100% | ||||||
| Total Rejected Ballots | 53 | 0.32% | ||||||
| Turnout | 16,462 | 55.87% | ||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | Expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Bill Bennett | 8,060 | 48.01% | $98,363 | ||
| NDP | Erda Walsh | 7,339 | 43.72% | $54,902 | ||
| Green | Luke Gurbin | 1,389 | 8.27% | – | $200 | |
| Total Valid Votes | 16,788 | 100% | ||||
| Total Rejected Ballots | 111 | 0.66% | ||||
| Turnout | 16,899 | 60.03% | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | Expenditures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Bill Bennett | 10,206 | 61.85% | $41,778 | ||
| NDP | Erda Walsh | 3,638 | 22.05% | $41,196 | ||
| Unity | Bruce Parke | 651 | 3.95% | $100 | ||
| Green | Joni Krats | 1,287 | 7.80% | – | $509 | |
| Marijuana | Fred Sima | 718 | 4.35% | $844 | ||
| Total valid votes | 16,500 | 100.00% | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 59 | 0.36% | ||||
| Turnout | 16,559 | 68.76% | ||||