Les Benjamin | |
Birth Date: | 29 April 1925 |
Birth Place: | Medicine Hat, Alberta |
Birth Name: | Leslie Gordon Benjamin |
Death Place: | Regina, Saskatchewan |
Profession: | Manager, railway station agent, secretary, telegrapher |
Party: | New Democratic Party |
Residence: | Regina, Saskatchewan |
Office: | Member of Parliament |
Term Start1: | 1968 |
Term End1: | 1979 |
Constituency1: | Regina—Lake Centre |
Predecessor1: | first member |
Successor1: | riding dissolved |
Term Start2: | 1979 |
Term End2: | 1988 |
Constituency2: | Regina West |
Predecessor2: | first member |
Successor2: | riding dissolved |
Term Start3: | 1988 |
Term End3: | 1993 |
Constituency3: | Regina—Lumsden |
Predecessor3: | first member |
Successor3: | John Solomon |
Spouse: | Constance E. Friesen |
Leslie Gordon "Les" Benjamin (April 29, 1925 – June 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served in the House of Commons of Canada. Benjamin was first elected to the House of Commons in 1968 as a New Democratic Party MP from Saskatchewan. In parliament, as the NDP's Transport critic, he often clashed with Otto Lang over the Crow Rate that allowed subsidized rail transport for prairie farmers and was an opponent of deregulation. He retired from parliament in 1993.
When Ronald Reagan addressed the Parliament of Canada in 1987, Benjamin heckled him by crying "he's mad!".[1]
Benjamin was of Welsh heritage with his father's family coming to Canada from the Rumney Valley.
Prior to entering politics, Benjamin worked variously as a railway station agent, telegrapher and secretary.