On the political side, Bennett served in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories from 1898 until 1905, when he briefly held the post as the inaugural leader of the Alberta Conservative Party.

Bennett became prime minister after the 1930 election, where the Conservatives won a majority government over William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party.

Over time, Bennett's government became increasingly interventionist, attempting to replicate the popular "New Deal" enacted by Franklin Roosevelt in the United States.

He was the eldest of six children and grew up nearby at the Bay of Fundy home of his father, Henry John Bennett, in Hopewell Cape, the shire town of Albert County.

[2] His great-great-grandfather, Zadock Bennett, migrated from New London, Connecticut, to Nova Scotia c. 1760, before the American Revolution, as one of the New England Planters who took the lands forcibly removed from the deported Acadians during the Great Upheaval.

[1] The Bennetts had previously been a relatively prosperous family, operating a shipyard in Hopewell Cape, but the change to steam-powered vessels in the mid-19th century meant the gradual winding down of their business.

When James Lougheed needed a junior for his Calgary, Alberta law office, Bennett was recommended by the dean, Dr. Richard Chapman Weldon.

His leadership projects completed included the first storage reservoir at Lake Minnewanka, a second transmission line to Calgary, and the construction of the Kananaskis Falls hydro station.

He worked with his childhood friend, Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, on many successful ventures, including stock purchases, land speculation, and the buying and merging of small companies.

Bennett did not always follow party policy; in one instance in 1914, he spoke against the Robert Borden-led Conservative government's bill to provide financial support to the Canadian Northern Railway.

[1] At age 44, Bennett tried to enlist in the Canadian military once World War I broke out, but was turned down as being medically unfit, perhaps because he had lost two of his toes.

They didn't necessarily form government due to Liberal prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King negotiating support from the Progressive Party.

Bennett put himself forward as a candidate, but had little expectation of winning, believing along with most observers that the convention would either vote to reinstate Meighen, or confirm interim leader Hugh Guthrie as his permanent successor.

In the event, Meighen lacked the support to attempt a comeback, while Guthrie's chances were ruined by a poorly received speech that alienated the Quebec delegates, allowing Bennett to emerge as a compromise candidate and win the leadership on the second ballot.

By May 1930, Bennett had personally donated $500,000 (equivalent to $9,000,000 in 2023) to the party; one-fifth of that went to Quebec, where the Conservatives had been wiped out for the past four elections due to them imposing conscription in 1917.

This serious mistake, which drew wide press coverage, gave Bennett his needed opening to attack King, which he did successfully in that year's election campaign.

[12] When responding to letters from citizens talking about the struggles they were facing, Bennett wrote back with personal notes and tucked cash into the envelopes.

[citation needed] Bennett's government then passed the Unemployment Relief Act that provided $20 million for public works at the federal and local levels.

An additional concern of the federal government was that large numbers of disaffected unemployed men concentrating in urban centres created a volatile situation.

Enacted in the aftermath of the Winnipeg general strike, Section 98 dispensed with the presumption of innocence in outlawing potential threats to the state: specifically, anyone belonging to an organization that officially advocated the violent overthrow of the government.

Even if the accused had never committed an act of violence or personally supported such an action, they could be incarcerated merely for attending meetings of such an organization, publicly speaking in its defence, or distributing its literature.

Camp workers laboured on a variety of infrastructure projects, including municipal airports, roads, and park facilities, along with a number of other make-work schemes.

Camp workers in BC struck on 4 April 1935, and, after two months of protesting in Vancouver, began the On-to-Ottawa Trek to bring their grievances to Bennett's doorstep.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) read the Riot Act to a crowd of 3,000 strikers and their supporters in Regina on 1 July 1935, resulting in two deaths and dozens of injured.

[1][26] In 1935, Bennett's government passed the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act which established an enterprise that would eventually teach 100,000 farmers how to recover southern Saskatchewan from the Dust Bowl.

In a series of live radio speeches to the nation in January 1935, Bennett introduced a Canadian version of the "New Deal", involving unprecedented public spending and federal intervention in the economy.

[12] Bennett led the Conservative Party and Opposition for the next three years until he was succeeded by his former Cabinet minister Robert James Manion in the July 1938 leadership convention.

[38][39] The honour, conferred on the recommendation of British PM Winston Churchill, was in recognition for Bennett's valuable unsalaried work in the Ministry of Aircraft Production, managed by his lifelong friend Lord Beaverbrook.

[7] Bennett's interest in increasing public awareness and accessibility to Canada's historical records led him to serve as vice-president of the Champlain Society from 1933 until his death.

[42] Textbooks typically portray Bennett as a hard-driving capitalist, pushing for American-style high tariffs and British-style imperialism, while ignoring his reform efforts.