introduction of "Greenbacks." McGeer's lifelong mission was to attain a position where he could implement his reform ideas, but his flamboyant, aggressive, and eccentric style and theories alienated the powerbrokers in his own party. Federal politics While still mayor, McGeer ran as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1935 federal election and won in the riding of Vancouver—Burrard by a thin margin. In previous attempts, McGeer suffered defeats in the federal elections of 1925, 1926, and 1930. He was re-elected in 1940 and appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Mackenzie King on 9 June 1945. Although he attained his goal of becoming elected to the federal government, McGeer was once again relegated to the back benches of Mackenzie King's government. He had a warm relationship with King through much of his political career, but King did not embrace McGeer's monetary schemes but eventually saw things his way. Despite the reservations of the political elite, McGeer was immensely popular outside those circles because of his fiery oration skills. His tirades against bankers and the banking system proved especially popular during the Great Depression, and he regularly lectured to packed houses across the country. Civic comeback McGeer returned to civic politics with another landslide election victory in 1946, this time on a Non-Partisan Association slate. Again he ran on a campaign to rid the city of vice and police corruption. Ill-health made him less exuberant than his earlier mayoral term, but he nonetheless persisted with his reforms. Twenty-six men on the police force were demoted or dismissed and the chief constable was replaced by Walter Mulligan, who was the youngest chief in Vancouver to date. McGeer died in office in 1947 and therefore did not see the fruits of his latest reform drive. In 1955, revelations surfaced that McGeer's chosen police chief had instituted a pay-off system in Vancouver, resulting in an extensive police inquiry. Mulligan fled the country, one high-ranking member of the force committed suicide, and another attempted suicide. Meanwhile, a Superintendent from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police took over as the new chief. Legacy McGeer's monetary reform ideas were certainly his greatest passion and achievement. His was one of the most forceful voices in Canada advocating government intervention in the usurious British monetary system and nationalizing the Bank of Canada. Gerald Gratton McGeer's economic ideas are most fully elaborated in his 1935 book, "The Conquest of Poverty". See