Robert Bend

Robert William Bend (1914–1999), also known as Bobby Bend, was a Canadian politician, and was briefly the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party in 1969.

Biography Early life

Bend was born on 16 April 1914 in Poplar Point, Manitoba, the son of J. P. Bend (who unsuccessfully ran for the Manitoba legislature in 1927 and 1932 as a Conservative) and Annie Ada Wilson.

Politics

In 1949, Bend was elected to the Manitoba legislature for the riding of Rockwood. The election was somewhat unusual, in that Bend ran as an "Independent Progressive Conservative" supporting the Liberal-Progressive-Progressive Conservative governing coalition, while his opponent R. A. Quickfall was an Independent Liberal opposing the government. Bend won with over two-thirds of the vote.

The Progressive Conservatives left the governing coalition in 1950, but Bend continued to support the government of Liberal-Progressive Premier Douglas Campbell. He scored an easy re-election in 1953, this time running as an "Independent Liberal-Progressive". On 25 January 1955, he was named Minister of Health and Public Welfare in the Campbell government. Under his influence, the party adopted a "cowboy"/"rodeo" theme for the campaign, which made it look and sound dated. The Liberals tumbled to only five seats, the fewest they had ever won. Bend himself was narrowly defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Harry Enns in the riding of Lakeside (which Campbell had previously held for 47 years).

Bend spent 50 years as a baseball umpire and was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.

There is currently an elementary school named after him in Stonewall, Manitoba, called "École R.W. Bobby Bend School".