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To mark Canada’s 150th birthday, we are counting down to Canada Day with profiles of 150 noteworthy British Columbians.

“Amazing Grace” to her fans, Grace Mary McCarthy brought the Social Credit Party back from near collapse in 1972 after an NDP led by Dave Barrett shattered the two-decade reign of W.A.C. Bennett.

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McCarthy lost her own seat in that history-changing election. But as president of Social Credit, she worked untiringly to rebuild, hunting supporters. When she assumed the job, Social Credit had fewer than 500 paid-up members; by the next election, it had 75,000. In 1975, Bill Bennett, the previous premier’s son, returned Social Credit to power for 11 years. McCarthy served as his provincial secretary, deputy premier and minister for tourism and small business.

Hard work came naturally. Some said it must have been printed into her genes.

Born Grace Winterbottom in Vancouver on Oct. 14, 1927, she graduated from King Edward High School in 1944, cashed in a war bond worth $50 and opened a flower shop. She was 17. She couldn’t open a bank account, get credit or even get a phone. She later said her dad had to sign for everything. His confidence was sound. She proved so good at business that by the time she decided to enter public life in 1960, by now married and a mother, she had a successful retail chain of five flower shops across the city. She was elected parks commissioner for three terms before winning the Vancouver-Little Mountain seat in the provincial legislature in 1965. She was re-elected in 1969, lost in 1972, but won again in 1975, 1983 and 1986.