MLA: Bill Bennett - Kootenay East

Dear Heavenly Father as we pray for MLA: Bill Bennett we praise You Lord for Your word that declares in Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and have our being”. May he embrace this truth and be blessed. The wealth of his experience, training, sound leadership, wisdom and enthusiasm are always evident as he contends for his constituents in Kootenay East. We pray he and his family will be covered by Your protection, love and grace. We know his service to this province is not without sacrifice of himself, his wife, Beth, and sons Dylan and Daniel for which we are grateful and give You thanks for. In the Name of Jesus, we pray.

Bill was first elected to represent the riding of Kootenay East in the southeast corner of British Columbia, Canada, in 2001, re-elected in 2005 and in 2009.  Bill has served as Minister of Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources, Minister of Community and Rural Development, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and Minister of State for Mining.

Bill has chaired the BC Legislative Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, the B.C. Outdoor Caucus, the Kootenay Caucus and currently chairs the BC Legislative Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides. He has also been a member of various legislative committees, including the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth, the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations, Select Standing Committee on Health, and the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts. He has also served on many other government committees, particularly focused on land use and natural resource issues.

Before being elected, Bill was a partner in a law firm in Cranbrook. In 1976, he earned an honours degree in English from the University of Guelph and in 1992, at the age of 42, a law degree from Queen’s University. Bill owned and operated fly-in wilderness fishing and hunting lodges in the Northwest Territories and Manitoba from 1977 to 1993. Bill served as president of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce in 1997 and 1998 and was incoming chair of the BC Chamber of Commerce in 2000 when he made the decision to enter provincial politics. Bill was twice elected Cranbrook Business Person of the Year and served as president of the Kootenay Bar Association.

Bill and his wife Beth married in 1974 and have two sons, Dylan and Daniel. Bill enjoys the outdoors by hunting, fishing, hiking and snowboarding in the Canadian Rockies.