Editing R. B. Bennett (section)

===Criticisms===

Most historians consider his premiership to have been a failure at a time of severe economic crisis.<ref>Larry Glassford, "Review of Boyko, John, Bennett: The Rebel Who Challenged and Changed a Nation."  Boyko says he was a success.</ref> [[H. Blair Neatby]] says categorically that "as a politician, he was a failure".<ref>[[H. Blair Neatby]], ''The Politics of Chaos: Canada in the Thirties'' (Toronto: Macmillan, 1972), p 53.</ref> [[Jack Granatstein]] and [[Norman Hillmer]], comparing him to all other Canadian prime ministers concluded, "Bennett utterly failed as a leader. Everyone was alienated by the end—Cabinet, caucus, party, voter and foreigner."<ref>J. L. Granatstein and Norman Hillmer, ''Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders'' (Toronto: HarperCollins, 1999), p 113.</ref>

Bennett was ranked #12 by a survey of Canadian historians out of the then 20 Prime Ministers of Canada through [[Jean Chrétien]]. The results of the survey were included in the book ''Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders'' by [[J. L. Granatstein]] and [[Norman Hillmer]].

A 2001 book by [[Quebec separatism|Quebec nationalist]] writer [[Normand Lester]], ''[[Le Livre noir du Canada anglais]]'' (later translated as ''The Black Book of English Canada'') accused Bennett of having a political affiliation with, and of having provided financial support to, [[fascism|fascist]] Quebec writer [[Adrien Arcand]]. This is based on a series of letters sent to Bennett following his election as prime minister by Arcand, his colleague Ménard and two Conservative caucus members asking for financial support for Arcand's antisemitic newspaper ''[[Le Goglu]]''.<ref>Lester, Normand (2001) ''Le Livre noir du Canada anglais''; Montreal: Les Éditions des Intouchables, p.255. The letter is conserved at the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. A photocopy can be found at the archives of the Canadian Jewish Council in Montreal, under P0005 ARCAND, Adrien (collection).</ref>