H. H. Stevens

H. H. Stevens. Henry Herbert Stevens (December 8, 1878 – June 14, 1973) was a prominent and controversial Canadian politician and businessman. A long-serving Member of Parliament from British Columbia, he held the cabinet portfolio of Minister of Trade and Commerce under Prime Minister Arthur Meighen. Stevens is most remembered for his fervent anti-Asian activism and for chairing the royal commission on price spreads that precipitated his dramatic break with the Conservative Party and the founding of his short-lived Reconstruction Party of Canada.

Early life and career

Henry Herbert Stevens was born in Bristol, England, in 1878 and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1887, settling in Peterborough, Ontario. He left school at a young age and worked in various commercial jobs before moving west to Vancouver, British Columbia, around 1900. In Vancouver, he established himself as a successful businessman, becoming a partner in a wholesale grocery firm and later serving as president of the Vancouver Board of Trade. His business acumen and involvement in civic affairs, including a term as a city alderman, provided the foundation for his entry into federal politics, where he would become a vocal advocate for British Columbia's economic interests.

Political career

First elected as the Conservative MP for Vancouver Centre in the 1911 election, Stevens quickly gained a reputation as a skilled parliamentarian and a staunch defender of imperial trade preferences. He served as Minister of Trade and Commerce in the short-lived Meighen government of 1921. After losing his Vancouver Centre seat in the 1930 election, he was immediately returned in a by-election in Kootenay East. Under Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, he was appointed Minister of Trade and Commerce again in 1930 and later served as Minister of Fisheries beginning in 1932. His political career was fundamentally altered by his chairmanship of the 1934 Royal Commission on Price Spreads and Mass Buying, whose findings criticized large corporations and advocated for stronger labor laws and competition policies.

Stevens Commission and anti-Asian activism

The "Stevens Commission" report created a major rift with the conservative business establishment and Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, leading to Stevens's resignation from the cabinet in 1934. In 1935, he broke with the Conservative Party entirely to form the populist Reconstruction Party of Canada, which campaigned on the commission's recommendations. Throughout his career, Stevens was also one of Canada's most outspoken proponents of anti-Asian immigration policies. He was a central figure in the 1907 anti-Asian riots in Vancouver and consistently advocated for exclusionary laws, influencing policies like the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 and contributing to the pervasive discrimination faced by the Chinese and Japanese communities in British Columbia.

Later life and death

After the Reconstruction Party failed to win any seats besides his own in the 1935 election, Stevens's political influence waned. He lost his seat in the 1940 election as a candidate for the National Government party. He returned to business life in Vancouver, remaining a commentator on public affairs but never holding elected office again. Henry Herbert Stevens died in Vancouver on June 14, 1973, leaving a complex legacy as a crusader against corporate monopolies and a leading architect of state-sanctioned racial discrimination in Canada.

Electoral record

Stevens contested federal elections over three decades, primarily in British Columbia. He was first elected in Vancouver Centre in 1911 and held that seat until his defeat in 1930. He promptly re-entered the House of Commons representing Kootenay East later that same year. After forming the Reconstruction Party, he retained Kootenay East in the 1935 election but was ultimately defeated in the 1940 election while running under the National Government banner in the riding of Vancouver Centre, marking the end of his parliamentary career.

Category:1878 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Canadian people of English descent Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia Category:Canadian anti-Asian racism Category:People from Vancouver