William Stewart King

William Stewart King is a former British Columbia politician residing in Revelstoke. King was a member of Dave Barrett's 1972 BC NDP provincial government, serving in the post of Minister of Labour.

King was born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan on September 15th, 1930 to Irish immigrants Patrick and Minnie King. He married Audrey Lennard on October 10th, 1953, with who he had two children Linda and William Jr. He attended Nelson High School in Nelson,BC and the Labour College of Canada at the University of Montreal in 1967.

William, or "Bill" as he is known to family and friends, first entered Politics in 1943, when as a teenager he acted as a runner between polling stations and the campaign headquarters of Herbert Herridge, CCF MLA for Rossland-Trail. After moving to Revelstoke in 1952 he became an organizer for the CCF at the constituency level and canvassed successfully for Vincent Segur in the 1952 election. In 1960 King served as campaign manager for the late George Hobbs, who won the Revelstoke-Slocan seat for the CCF.

1968 proved to be a big year for King, he served on the provincial council of the NDP and was elected to the BC provincial Legislature in the Revelstoke-Slocan constituency on July 15, 1968 in a by election, but was defeated in the 1969 General Election.

He was re-elected on August 30th, 1972 as part of the NDP government. When Barrett appointed his Cabinet on September 16, 1972 he named King as Minister of Labour. During his time as Minister of Labour, King would introduce BC's first Labour Code, Human Rights legislation, and was the first to appoint women to key civil service positions in BC.

In the general election of 1975 NDP leader Dave Barrett lost his seat in the Legislature. King would serve as leader of the opposition in legislature until Barrett returned after winning at June 1976 by-election.

King would continue to serve as the MLA for Revelstoke and surrounding area until the 1983 elections, despite the ever shifting boundaries of the riding.

After the election of a new NDP government in 1991, King would serve in various advisory roles to the cabinet and Premier.

King has 3 grandchildren Jared Butcher, Matthew King, and Cory King.