Added by you! William Andrew Cecil Bennett
W.A.C. Bennett’s lively two-decade reign as Premier of British Columbia (from 1952 to 1972) corresponded with a period of robust economic growth in the province. Known as “Cece” to his friends and “Wacky” to his adversaries, the New Brunswick-born Bennett moved to B.C. in 1930, was elected as a Conservative MLA in 1941, and become leader of the Social Credit party in 1952. Bennett was a paradoxical Premier. Remembered for his distrust of labour unions and social welfare spending, he also nationalized hydro generation and promoted public health care. With his first successful campaign of 1952 fuelled largely by voter discontent with the B.C. health system, Bennett enacted a series of health reforms provincially, while advocating for the introduction of a federal system of Medicare.
