Richard Bennett Hatfield (April 9, 1931 – April 26, 1991) was a
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
politician and the longest serving
premier of New Brunswick from 1970 to 1987.
[Richard Starr, ''Richard Hatfield, The Seventeen Year Saga,'' 1987, ]
Early life
The youngest of five children of
Heber Hatfield and Dora Robinson, Richard was brought up with politics in the household. His father, already a well known potato shipper, was
Hartland's mayor when he was born. In 1938, at 7 years old, his father brought him to the
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...
leadership convention in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
where he met his namesake,
R. B. Bennett. In 1940 Heber was elected Victoria-Carleton county Conservative
Member of Parliament and served until his death due to cancer in 1952. Young Richard spent a lot of time in
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
even getting to know
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker (September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 an ...
and his first wife Edna.
After graduating from high school in 1948 in his home town Hartland, Hatfield attended
Acadia University
Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...
for four years majoring in chemistry and English where he became a member of the
Sigma Chi fraternity. He also got involved in drama, an experience that seemed to have the most lasting impact of any during his years at Acadia. "That was extremely valuable" he said. "It would benefit every politician to have a bit of theatre training... too many politicians get caught up using big words to impress, but don't know how to project feelings." After Acadia, he attended
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...
to become a doctor but after a year he turned to law. He graduated
Dalhousie Law School in 1956.
Early career
Hatfield left
Halifax in 1957 and moved to
Truro
Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...
to take a job with the firm
Patterson, Smith, Matthew and Grant so he could do his six months articling period. After successfully completing his articles, he left Truro to join
Gordon Churchill who was at the time
Minister of Industry in Ottawa. He declined a job offer at the firm and he never practised law again. He stayed in Ottawa for nine months until he called his brother Fred for a job back home. Frederick Heber Hatfield (1922-2004), who was managing the potato shipping and processing operation since Heber died, agreed and Richard became vice-president of sales. He worked with his brother until 1965. When his family sold their potato chip plant to
Humpty Dumpty Snack Foods, he decided to be a politician full-time.
Political career
In 1961,
Hugh John Flemming left his Carleton County seat and ran successfully in the federal seat of
Royal
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Ill ...
. Fred, then president of Carleton County PC Association, offered the nomination to Richard, who accepted. He ran against his brother-in-law Gerald Clark, and won easily with a majority of 1,736 votes. Years later, he recalled that his father's reputation "had helped me to be elected, and now I was on my own."
When the New Brunswick Legislature was not sitting, Hatfield sold potato chips all over the Maritimes. His first few years as an MLA were uneventful, but he spent a lot of time talking to reporters about politics in Fredericton and Montreal.
He became
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
and interim leader of the
Progressive Conservatives after the
1967 general election and was elected party leader in 1969. He led the party to victory in the
1970 provincial election. During Hatfield's long tenure, he became prominent on the national stage by allying with
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...
during the constitutional negotiations that led to the 1982
patriation
Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The process was necessary because, at the time, under the '' Statute of Westminster, 1931'', and with Canada's agreemen ...
of the
Canadian constitution and the creation of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...
. He also took leadership in helping create equality between the province's Francophone
Acadian
The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...
minority and Anglophone majority.
His attempts at attracting investment to the province and developing the economy were less successful. In the 1970s, the Hatfield government financed the manufacture of the
Bricklin SV-1 in hope of creating an auto industry in the province. Although the visionary project produced an advanced sports car, huge cost overruns and poor management led to the company's demise.
Controversies and resignation
Hatfield's last years in office were plagued by personal scandal. On September 25, 1984, the
RCMP
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...
found 35 grams of
marijuana
Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
in his suitcase during a security check of luggage conducted before a flight from Fredericton to Moncton during a
royal visit by Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
.
[New Brunswick Premier is Under Fire Again](_blank)
New York Times He was charged with criminal possession of marijuana on October 26. The trial was postponed when Judge James D. Harper appeared on a radio show and suggested that privileged people should receive stiffer sentences than "Joe Blow from Kokomo who is the town drunk."
On January 29, 1985, Hatfield was acquitted by Judge Andrew Harrigan after a two-day trial. Harrigan sparked legal furor after he suggested that a journalist might have planted the drugs to create "the juiciest story ever to crack the media."
Several days after the acquittal, allegations emerged that Hatfield had invited four young men to an all-night party in his Fredericton home in 1981.
The men accused Hatfield of giving them marijuana and of using
cocaine
Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
during the evening. They also alleged that Hatfield flew them to Montreal aboard a government aircraft and put them up in a downtown hotel for the night.
Hatfield denied the allegations and stated, "It is true that they were in my home together with others, some four years ago. However, they were strangers to me. Those who know me will confirm I am extremely gregarious. I meet and talk to people on the street, in the markets and the shops, in the restaurants and bars. I invite them to my house, I go to their houses. The door to my house is usually unlocked and frequently open. That is my way. I admit I am unconventional."
No legal action was taken.
In the
1987 election, Hatfield's PC Party lost every seat in the legislature, a wipeout that had not been not seen in Canada in over half a century. Hatfield was soundly defeated in his own riding by the Liberal,
Allison DeLong, and lost by 18 points. Hatfield resigned as
Premier of New Brunswick and as party leader.
Later years and death
In 1990, he was appointed to the
Senate of Canada
The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...
by
Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, on the advice of
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...
. Soon after taking up his appointment, he was stricken with an inoperable brain tumour and died in 1991, at the age of 60. His memorial service, which was held at the Christ Church Cathedral in
Fredericton, New Brunswick, was attended by Premiers and Prime Ministers, friends and opponents.
Personal life
It was a widely known
open secret that Hatfield was
gay;
Warren Kinsella
Warren James Kinsella (born August 1960) is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, and Pundit (expert), commentator. Kinsella has written commentary in most of Canada's major newspapers and several magazines, including ''Th ...
, "Not everyone loves a parade". ''Toronto Sun
The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...
'', June 26, 2011.["Definitely out now". '']Perceptions
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...
'', September 14, 1994. in the
1978 provincial election,
New Brunswick Liberal Party leader
Joseph Daigle attracted criticism for a campaign speech in which he referred to Hatfield as a "faded pansy".
[Richard Starr, ''Richard Hatfield: The Seventeen Year Saga''. Goodread Biography, 1988. .] Janet Cawley of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' called him, "a flamboyant, eccentric and controversial figure with a penchant for modern art, rock and roll, and New York night life".
[Politician Pays Price For Life On The Edge](_blank)
Chicago Tribune His critics nicknamed him "Disco Dick".
Despite this, he never officially
came out as such during his lifetime, and his sexual orientation only began to be discussed on the record in media and biographical sources after his death.
["Gay politicians come out of the closet and into the cabinet". '']The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'', November 13, 2009. Hatfield said of his bachelor lifestyle, "the nuclear family—one wife, two kids and one dog—looks nice on Christmas cards, but they pay an awful price".
References
External links
Government of New Brunswick biography(pdf)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatfield, Richard Bennett
1931 births
1991 deaths
Acadia University alumni
Canadian LGBTQ people in provincial and territorial legislatures
Canadian Protestants
Canadian senators from New Brunswick
Schulich School of Law alumni
Deaths from brain cancer in Canada
Canadian gay politicians
Lawyers in New Brunswick
LGBTQ conservatism
LGBTQ governors and heads of sub-national entities
LGBTQ Protestants
Members of the Order of New Brunswick
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
People from Woodstock, New Brunswick
Premiers of New Brunswick
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators
Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs
20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people
20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
20th-century members of the Senate of Canada