Upon first glance, there is little meat to R.B. Bennett’s life, especially his personal life. He had few close friends, and the friends he did keep were upper-class British gentlemen, not the most relatable sort of guys. He had no love life to dig into, rarely drank, and had remarkably few scandals to entertain the public. He had no known odd quirks, such as his predecessor - and successor - William Lyon Mackenzie King, who believed in ghosts, had three dogs all named Pat, and made decisions based on the pattern of his shaving cream that day. All in all, R.B. Bennett was an upright standing citizen, whose most notable personality trait was an undying love for the United Kingdom, King and Country.

And most Canadians will likely remember him as the prime minister at the height of the Great Depression. When I told my mom I was writing about Bennett this week, she said the two words that have haunted his legacy - “Bennett Buggy" - cars that were towed by horses instead of running on gasoline, because people simply couldn’t afford the gasoline to use the cars.

People opted to move their cars using horses instead of expensive gas during the height of the depression. Thusly, they were dubbed “Bennett Buggies” after RB Bennett.

He did, however, start multiple organizations that are still in operation today, both in the public and private sector. And more than one that are close to my heart personally and that I still use on a daily basis. When he moved to Alberta in the early 1900s, he hobnobbed with prominent people, such as James Lougheed - grandfather of Peter Lougheed and the namesake of the Lougheed House in downtown Calgary. But Bennett was fundamental in the incorporation of the first Calgary Public Library in 1908. The Calgary Public Library’s main branch downtown has recently gotten a facelift and looks so cool! Maybe that’s just the nerd in me, but I’ve very excited to discover it. And Bennett helped to start that.

Look how cool the design of this library looks - so COOL!

The other public service that Bennett spearheaded is the beloved CBC. My childhood is stapled with memories of the As It Happens theme song, as my mom would blast CBC every night during dinner.

Bennett started the CBC during his time in the prime minister’s office. There were national radio stations before the CBC that made a useful blueprint for the crown corporation, most of which were used to keep riders entertained on long cross-country train journeys. However, much like other aspects of his life, Bennett looked to Britain and their national radio station, the BBC, as a model for how to mould the CBC. Bennett established the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission in 1932, a precursor to the CBC.

"This country must be assured of complete Canadian control of broadcasting from Canadian sources. Without such control, broadcasting can never be the agency by which national consciousness may be fostered and sustained and national unity still further strengthened." - R.B. Bennett on the importance of a nationalized radio station.

While the health of the CBC hasn’t been stable over the years, it is still an active service to Canadians, broadcasting in English, French and a few Indigenous languages up North. And I still listen to it, because of nostalgia and an appetite for information. I doubt I’m the only 30-something one with strong childhood memories of the CBC at dinner.

While RB Bennett provides a dull tapestry as a Canadian politician and is not remember as an especially apt prime minister when compared to other who held the office, he did give Canadians, and me personally, some valuable institutions. Now, if you need me, I’ll be roaming the aisles at the new Calgary Library, with a shit-eating grin on my face the entire time.