Editing R. B. Bennett (section)

===Bennett's New Deal===
[[File:BennettRoosevelt.jpg|thumb|200px|Bennett (left) meets American president [[Franklin Roosevelt]] (who is helped to stand up by his naval aide).]]

In January 1934, Bennett told the provinces that they were "wasteful and extravagant", and even told Quebec and Ontario that they were wealthy enough to manage their own problems.<ref name=w162>{{harvnb|Wells|Fellows|2016|p=162}}</ref> One year later, he had changed his tune. Following the lead of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] in the United States, Bennett, under the advice of [[William Duncan Herridge]], who was Canada's [[Envoy (title)|Envoy]] to the United States, the government eventually began to follow the Americans' lead. 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. [[Progressive income tax]]ation, a [[minimum wage]], a maximum number of working hours per week, [[unemployment insurance]], [[health insurance]], an expanded [[pension]] program, and grants to farmers were all included in the plan.<ref name="BennettBio" /><ref name=ce>[http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bennetts-new-deal/ "Bennet's New Deal"], ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''</ref>

In one of his addresses to the nation, Bennett said:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-06 |title=Richard Bedford Bennett, Great Depression, 1935 |url=https://greatcanadianspeeches.ca/2020/01/06/richard-bedford-bennett-great-depression-1935/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Great Canadian Speeches |language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In the last five years great changes have taken place in the world&nbsp;... The old order is gone. We are living in conditions that are new and strange to us. Canada on the dole is like a young and vigorous man in the poorhouse&nbsp;... If you believe that things should be left as they are, you and I hold contrary and irreconcilable views. I am for reform. And in my mind, reform means government intervention. It means government control and regulation. It means the end of [[laissez-faire]].}}

Some of the measures were alleged to have encroached on provincial jurisdictions laid out in section 92 of the [[British North America Act, 1867]]. The courts, including the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]], agreed and eventually struck down virtually all of Bennett's reforms.<ref name=ce/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/federal/newdeal.htm| title = R. B. Bennett s New Deal (1935) – Studies on the Canadian Constitution and Canadian Federalism – Quebec History|website=Faculty.marianopolis.edu}}</ref>