Hart ministry

Hart ministry
23rd ministry of British Columbia
Date formed	December 9, 1941 (1941-12-09)
Date dissolved	December 29, 1947 (1947-12-29)
People and organisations
Monarch	George VI
Lieutenant Governor	William Culham Woodward (1941–1946)) Charles Arthur Banks (1946–1947)
Premier	John Hart
Member parties	Liberal Party   Conservative Party
Status in legislature	Majority (coalition)
Opposition party	Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation
Opposition leader	Harold Winch
History
Election	1945
Legislature terms	20th Parliament of British Columbia 21st Parliament of British Columbia
Predecessor	Pattullo ministry
Successor	Johnson ministry

The Hart ministry was the combined Cabinet (formally the Executive Council of British Columbia) that governed British Columbia from December 9, 1941, to December 29, 1947. It was led by John Hart, the 23rd premier of British Columbia, and was a coalition government that comprised members of both the Liberal Party and Conservative Party.

The Hart ministry was established shortly after the 1941 election. The incumbent Pattullo ministry, a single-party Liberal government, lost its majority in the Legislature, but Premier Duff Pattullo resisted calls to form a coalition.^[1] In response, Liberal delegates voted to establish a coalition government, and elected John Hart, who supported a coalition, as their new leader.^[2] The next day, Pattullo announced his resignation as premier, and Hart invited Royal Maitland, the Conservative leader, to join his government.^[3] The Pattullo ministry was thus replaced by the Hart ministry on December 9, 1941.^[4]

The Hart ministry governed through all of the 20th Parliament of British Columbia and, following its re-election in the 1945 election, continued into the 21st Parliament of British Columbia. On October 2, 1947, Hart announced his intention to retire.^[5] It was succeeded by the Johnson ministry on December 29, 1947.^[6]

On August 30, 1942, Rolf Wallgren Bruhn, the Minister of Public Works and Minister of Railways, died in office.^[7] Hart temporarily took responsibility for the portfolios until Herbert Anscomb was sworn in as the new minister on September 15.^[8] Anscomb held the portfolios in conjunction with his prior role as Minister of Mines and Minister of Trade and Industry until October 28, when Ernest Crawford Carson was appointed to cabinet for the latter two.^[9]

On May 7, 1944, longtime minister Wells Gray died.^[10] Anscomb took responsibility for the municipal affairs portfolio, while Hart took lands and forests; the two had already been acting ministers for the portfolios during Gray's illness.^[11] On November 8, Hart passed the lands portfolio to new cabinet minister Edward Tourtellotte Kenney.^[12]

On November 16, 1945, Henry George Thomas Perry resigned as Minister of Education; he was succeeded by George Weir on November 19.^[13] Also on November 19, agriculture minister K. C. MacDonald died.^[14] Frank Putnam was sworn in as the new agriculture minister on November 21. Putnam had previously been agriculture minister in the short-lived minority government of the Pattullo ministry.^[15]

On March 28, 1946, Royal Maitland, Attorney General and leader of the Conservative Party, died unexpectedly.^[16] Selecting a replacement was a difficult task: the coalition agreement had ensured the attorney general post would be given to a Conservative, but no Tory MLAs were lawyers. Additionally, the new party leader would be entitled to a high-ranking ministry. One suggestion was to recruit Howard Green, the MP for Vancouver South, as Conservative leader and attorney general.^[17] Ultimately, Hart appointed Gordon Sylvester Wismer, a Liberal, as the new attorney general, but pledged to increase the size of cabinet and appoint two more Conservatives.^[18] On April 12, Hart reorganized his cabinet accordingly, bringing Leslie Harvey Eyres and Roderick Charles MacDonald, both Conservatives, to cabinet. Hart also relinquished the finance ministry, which he had held for much of the last 13 years to Anscomb, who had become the new Conservative leader; Carson, in turn, took over Anscomb's previous portfolio of public works.^[19]

On February 21, 1946, the government announced plans to establish a Department of Health; until then, health policy had been the purview of the Provincial Secretary.^[20] The Department of Health and Welfare was formally established on October 1, 1946, with George Sharratt Pearson as its inaugural minister.^[21]

On February 15, 1947, the government announced plans to establish an independent Department of Fisheries.^[22] Previously, fisheries were the responsibility of the Department of Trade and Industry, overseen by the Commissioner of Fisheries; the reorganization saw the commissioner named deputy minister of the new department and the incumbent Minister of Trade and Industry, Leslie Harvey Eyres, given the additional role as Minister of Fisheries.^[23] Officials believed the new department would "dignify" the industry, as every other province had a fisheries minister.^[24] However, opposition leader Harold Winch criticized the plan as something "just to give [Eyres] another ministry".^[23] Eyres was sworn in as the minister on April 17, 1947.^[25]