[1] After serving as a backbencher for over twelve years, Bell was appointed to cabinet on December 14, 1948 as Douglas Campbell's Minister of Agriculture.
He served in this capacity until November 7, 1952, when he was named Minister of Health and Public Welfare.
[1] Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation leader Lloyd Stinson once described him as "competent but unspectacular".
The Liberal-Progressives were defeated in the 1958 election, and Bell lost to Progressive Conservative candidate John Thompson[1] by 1,273 votes in the redistributed constituency of Virden.
His brother James R. Bell was a provincial livestock commissioner[2] and later served as deputy minister of agriculture.