Frankly Speaking

A smiling Dave Barrett is an apt image of the former premier and longtime NDP MLA, and NDP MP for one term. He had a passion for politics, but he also had a wonderful sense of humour and was the most entertaining politician on the stump that I've ever seen in B.C. Dave Barrett was remembered at two public memorial events last weekend, in Victoria and Vancouver. Barrett, who died at the age of 87 in early February, was B.C.’s first NDP premier. He headed a government that was in office for just under three and one-half years, from 1972 to 1975. It was a “government in a hurry,” passing 357 bills in its few years in office and ushering in an era of remarkable change in B.C. Some of its most significant achievements have been commented on extensively, most frequently the establishment of the Agricultural Land Reserve, the creation of ICBC, bringing Hansard and question period to the provincial legislature and one of the first pharmacare programs in Canada. Not much at...

Attorney-General David Eby is setting the table for some significant changes at the Insurance Corporation of B.C. It is important to remember that ICBC has been a highly-political Crown corporation, used by all political parties for their own purposes, since it took over the car insurance market in 1974. The Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) is in crisis. ICBC is set to lose $1.3 billion in the current fiscal year, and once again it is the subject of intense political gamesmanship. On Monday, Attorney General David Eby called a press conference to officially confirm the deficit. He pledged a number of measures to try and ease the bleeding. At the same time, he said the former BC Liberal government left ICBC as a “blazing dumpster fire” by ignoring its problems, and even changing an independent report commissioned in 2014 which examined ICBC’s financial issues. “They knew the dumpster was on fire, but they pushed it behind the building instead of trying to put the fire o...

Bill Bennett’s time as premier of B.C. ended almost 30 years ago, in the summer of 1986. The era in which he governed is a distant memory to some. For others, it was long before their time. Bennett died on Dec. 3 at the age of 83. He had been mostly out of the public spotlight since leaving the premier’s office. However, his 10 and one half-years as premier led to B.C. truly entering the modern era that we are part of today. It turned B.C. into much more than a resource-based economy, and the province’s political apparatus also changed dramatically. These changes had a significant effect on Surrey, Delta and White Rock. Decisions made by his government still have a direct effect on this region. The biggest single change came as a result of two related decisions - the decision to host a world’s fair called Expo 86 on former rail yard land in downtown Vancouver, and the decision to build a rapid transit line called SkyTrain. Expo was controversial. A number of politicians an...

B.C. Government photo The W.R. Bennett Bridge over Okanagan Lake at Kelowna is one of the few reminders of the 11-year reign of Bill Bennett as B.C. premier, from 1975-86. He died in Kelowna on Thursday at the age of 83. Bill Bennett, premier of B.C. from 1975 to 1986, died on Thursday after years of battling Alzheimer's disease. He was one of the most significant premiers of the 20th century in B.C., and he, along with his NDP predecessor Dave Barrett, brought B.C. into the modern era. Bill Bennett was a reluctant politician, at least at first. He was recruited in 1973 to run for the seat his father W.A.C. Bennett, B.C. premier for 20 years, vacated after losing to Barrett in the 1972 provincial election. The South Okanagan seat was a Social Credit bastion, but even before he said he would seek the seat, Bennett was under terrific pressure to take over as Social Credit leader. He had no political experience and had shown little interest in politics until that time. Bill B...