John Hart (Canadian politician)

John Hart
Hon. John Hart (2nd to the right)
23rd Premier of British Columbia
In office December 9, 1941 – December 29, 1947
Monarch	George VI
Lieutenant Governor	William C. Woodward Charles Arthur Banks
Preceded by	Thomas Dufferin Pattullo
Succeeded by	Byron Ingemar Johnson
MLA for Victoria City
In office September 14, 1916 – June 20, 1924 Serving with George Bell, Harlan Carey Brewster, Henry Charles Hall, Joseph Clearihue, Joshua Hinchcliffe, John Oliver
Preceded by	Henry Frederick William Behnsen Frederick Davey Richard McBride Henry Broughton Thomson
Succeeded by	Robert Allan Gus Lyons
MLA for New Westminster
In office November 2, 1933 – June 15, 1949 Serving with Herbert Anscomb, Robert Connell, Byron Ingemar Johnson, Joseph Douglas Hunter, William Thomas Straith, Nancy Hodges
Preceded by	James Harry Beatty Reginald Hayward Joshua Hinchcliffe Harold Despard Twigg
Succeeded by	Daniel John Proudfoot
Personal details
Born	(1879-03-31)March 31, 1879 Mohill, County Leitrim, Ireland
Died	April 7, 1957(1957-04-07) (aged 78) Victoria, British Columbia
Political party	British Columbia Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Harriett (Mackay)
Religion	Catholic

John Hart (31 March 1879 in Mohill, County Leitrim, Ireland – 7 April 1957 in Victoria, British Columbia) was the 23rd Premier of British Columbia, Canada, from December 9, 1941 to December 29, 1947.

The son of an Irish farmer who was also named John Hart, he came to Victoria in 1898.

Hart worked in the finance industry and founded his own firm in 1909. In 1908, he married Harriet McKay. He entered politics in the 1916 election, elected to the provincial legislature as a Liberal member from Victoria City. He served as minister of finance from 1917 to 1924, and from 1933 to 1947. Hart retired from politics to attend to his business from 1924 to 1933.

Hart became premier following the 1941 election when Pattullo's Liberals failed to win a majority. Unlike Pattullo, Hart was willing to form a coalition government with the Conservative Party. This allowed the Liberal-Conservative Coalition to govern with a majority in order to block the socialist Cooperative Commonwealth Federation from forming the government.

From 1941 to 1945, Hart governed at a time of wartime scarcity, when all major government projects were postponed. Hart's coalition government was re-elected in the 1945 election by a decisive margin. In that contest, Liberals and Conservatives ran under the same banner for the first time in BC history.