Hatfield, Richard Bennett

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1972
RICHARD BENNETT HATFIELD
to be Doctor of Laws

In New Brunswick, the names of Bennett and Hatfield may well be like iron particles before the twin magnets of political party and public office, but it is hard to accept predestination as the decisive factor of selection in the rough and tumble world of politics. Though Parliament Hill may have been his playground for some of his childhood, and though he may have spilled ink as a lad of ten over Mr. Diefenbaker's papers one Saturday morning, much more than inheritance and anecdote go into the life of a man before he can stand forth as a political leader.

A deep feeling for place and people are essential qualities for a leader and Premier Hatfield's roots are well set in Carleton County where he was born and where he received his early education. As a graduate of Acadia University and Dalhousie Law School, his ties to the Maritime area were broadened and deepened. And yet as Alden Nowlan, whom we honoured last year at this time, has noted, Mr. Hatfield combines cultural immersion in the Maritimes with "full membership in the global village", for he is equally at home in Ottawa or New York, London or Morocco.

Mr. Hatfield's extensive knowledge of politics reflects this dual orientation and this is well for New Brunswick, whose geographical circumstances and development needs require that its premier be familiar both with the humblest needs of its aspiring people and with the political and technological world beyond our borders.

A Member of the Legislative Assembly since 1961, Mr. Hatfield was elected leader of his party in 1969 and led it to victory in 1970. He has brought to his high office a sense of style and a set of priorities which are appropriate to the "Seventies". We at the University of New Brunswick wish him well as he grapples with the problems of finding a more secure place for our province within the global village.

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 1