[1] Born in 1921, Beard was educated at Neepawa schools,[1][2] and worked in a variety of projects in northern Manitoba.
Running in the vast northern constituency of Churchill,[1] he defeated Liberal candidate Francis Bud Jobin by 197 votes.
[1] Beard resigned from the Progressive Conservative Party and stepped down as an MLA in 1968, complaining that the PC government was neglecting northern affairs.
[4] He ran as an independent in the 1969 election, and narrowly defeated three other candidates to regain the Churchill riding.
[1] For the next three years, Beard was a legitimately independent MLA—siding with or against the NDP government of Edward Schreyer on a case-by-case basis.