John Hart
A Businessman in British Columbia Politics
Diplomacy works better than bluster, as John Hart knew well. Hart, an Irish immigrant with a talent for compromise and a famously winning smile, was at the heart of BC politics during the first half of the twentieth century. Drawing on government records, politicians’ papers, and newspaper reports, John Hart illuminates his remarkable achievements.
Hart, a businessman, ran and won in seven elections. He served as a Liberal member of the legislature, finance minister, and ultimately premier in a career spanning four decades. He managed British Columbia’s finances during and immediately after the First World War, using his knowledge of the bond market to refinance old debts while improving the provincial credit rating. During the Depression and the Second World War, many of his financial dealings were with the federal government. As premier, he established the BC Power Commission, negotiated with Alaskan and Washington State politicians about transportation, initiated major highway construction, and laid the groundwork for the northern extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway. As premier, Hart led a coalition with the Conservatives that provided businesslike governance and established the persistent BC political theme of free enterprise versus socialism.
Like all good biography, John Hart is also the story of a particular time and place. It helps fill a large gap in the political and economic historical record of British Columbia.
This exemplary, well-documented study will interest scholars and students of Canadian history, political science, federal-provincial relations, and public administration, and more generally people who enjoy reading political biography and the history and politics of British Columbia.
John Hart gives a particular kind of insight into the practice of politics during a transformative time. Seen at this close range, political history is an extremely valuable window into the inner workings of democracy.
At a time when most premiers were excelling at being bombastic and disruptive, John Hart, in his restrained political and personal style, remained committed to workable solutions. Through Roy’s considerable and impressive research, John Hart demonstrates that there remains another way to hold public office – a much-needed lesson today.
Patricia E. Roy is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Victoria and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Her major publications include A White Man’s Province, The Oriental Question, and The Triumph of Citizenship, three books on the responses of white Canadians to Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their descendants; Boundless Optimism, a biography of BC premier Sir Richard McBride; and The Collectors, a history of the Royal British Columbia Museum. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
