Henry Herbert Stevens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Herbert Stevens, PC (December 8, 1878 – June 14, 1973) was a Canadian politician and businessman. Stevens was born in Bristol, England and immigrated to Canada with his father at the age of nine. His first job was as a grocery clerk. He then worked as a firefighter on the Canadian Pacific Railway and later as a stagecoach driver. In 1900, he travelled to the Philippines and then to China where he was present during the Boxer Rebellion before returning to British Columbia where he found work as a miner. He became active in politics won a seat on the Vancouver city council in 1910.
Stevens was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1911 general election as a Conservative. He served in the short-lived Cabinets of Prime Minister Arthur Meighen in 1921 as Minister of Trade and Commerce and in 1926 as Minister of Customs and Excise.
He was an opponent of Asian immigration saying, in 1914, "We cannot hope to preserve the national type if we allow Asiatics to enter Canada in any numbers."[citation needed]
When R.B. Bennett took the Tories to victory in the 1930 general election, he made Stevens his Minister of Trade and Commerce. In 1934, Stevens was chairman of a royal commission on price spreads in which he exposed abuses by big business, attacked corporate interests and called for radical reform. He then resigned from Cabinet when his recommendations were ignored, and formed the Reconstruction Party of Canada to run in the 1935 Canadian election. He was the only candidate to win a seat. He subsequently crossed the floor to rejoin the Conservative Party in 1938, and ran as a candidate in the 1940 Conservative leadership convention. He was eliminated on the first ballot, losing to Arthur Meighen.
Stevens did not enter the 1945 general election, but ran again in Vancouver Centre in 1949 and again in 1953, losing both times.
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| Parliament of Canada | ||
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| Preceded by George Cowan, Conservative |
Member of Parliament for Vancouver City 1911–1917 |
Succeeded by Federal riding abolished in 1914 |
| Preceded by Federal riding created in 1914 |
Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre 1917–1930 |
Succeeded by Ian Alistair Mackenzie, Liberal |
| Preceded by Michael Dalton McLean, Conservative |
Member of Parliament for Kootenay East 1930–1940 |
Succeeded by George MacKinnon, Liberal |
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