The Sommers Scandal

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Ian Macdonald and Betty O'Keefe
Forests and scandals are perennial subjects of B.C. politics, and the controversy surrounding Robert Sommers, the provincial Lands, Forests, and Mines minister in 1955, combined the two. Sommers, a prominent figure in W.A.C. Bennett's Social Credit cabinet, was accused of taking bribes in exchange for granting tree farm licenses.

Veteran journalists Betty O'Keefe and Ian Macdonald revisit the era of early Social Credit politics and present the facts behind the case, including exclusive 1999 commentary from Robert Sommers on the scandal.

The story of Sommers is the story of W.A.C. Bennett's rise to power with the Social Credit party, on a platform of change and a promised departure from the corruption of earlier politics. The bribery scandal was a major blow to the claim that Social Credit was different. It is also the story of B.C. forest policy, with repercussions that continue to the present day.

Most of all, this is a story about people. The colorful cast of characters includes Gordon Gibson, the Bull of the Woods, who first accused Sommers; W.A.C. Bennett, the populist politician who changed the face of B.C.; and Bob Sommers himself, the debonair small-town schoolteacher.

 

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