The past came roaring back to life 50 years ago today.

Kelowna politician Bill Bennett led the Social Credit party to a resounding victory, defeating an NDP government that had been elected just three years earlier.

“The enthusiasm and the optimism with the election of Bill Bennett and the Socreds was very high,” 89-year-old Kelowna resident Cliff Serwa, who has lived in Kelowna since 1945, recalled in an interview. “It was like an ignition spark that really got the province going again.”

Serwa was a co-founder of the Big White Ski Resort and in ’75 he says B.C.’s business climate was stagnating in what he remembers as a time of over-regulation by the NDP government, radical policies, and unabashed favouritism toward public sector unions.

“After Bill Bennett came in, the attitude in th

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