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Stock-car mayor kept city rolling |
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Written by BRUCE STRACHAN
Citizen columnist
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Wednesday, 14 May 2008 |
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BRUCE STRACHANDON ZUROWSKI
He had a good run; Kinsley was first elected to council in 1984 and served four terms as mayor.
He will be tough to replace; Kinsley had some faults, but he knew the business of municipal politics far better than most, including those who seek to replace him.
I always likened his political style to his former avocation of stock-car racing. Look as far down the track as you can and trust your instincts on the periphery, go full-speed ahead, keep the finish line in sight and don’t sweat the small stuff.
That was Kinsley’s skill set and it served him well.
At times though, his experience made the job look easy and critics who didn’t understand the issues were quickly dismissed, a perceived fault in politics.
As an example, his stands on the operations lease of the British Columbia Railroad and the Terasen Gas franchise were met with considerable opposition. Yet to Kinsley, both deals were go-ahead no-brainers.
BCR was hopelessly in debt and desperately in need of capital improvements. The provincial taxpayer couldn’t be expected to finance the massive infrastructure upgrades BCR - and its Prince George operations -- required.
The Terasen Gas franchise and lease agreement was an obviously beneficial arrangement that made financial sense and was initiated by Kinsley.
On both issues Kinsley made the correct call.
Since taking on B.C. Rail, CN Rail has invested $20 million in the Prince George intermodal distribution centre with a predicted economic benefit of $63.6 million in gross domestic product.
To date, the Terasen Gas franchise agreement has returned $6.2 million to city coffers.
On these two issues, Kinsley’s opponents are long gone, but rest assured, the grudges remain.
And, as so often happens in politics, Kinsley took some bad and unsupported raps. It’s been said he was behind the curve on our air-quality concern.
That criticism fails, though, when one looks at the record.
Kinsley campaigned to improve local air quality during the 2005 civic campaign. In January 2006 he established the Mayor’s Task Force on Air Quality Improvement.
The future city council will have the responsibility of acting on the task force recommendations. But it was Colin Kinsley who got the clean-air ball rolling three years ago.
All of which leads us to the question of his replacement.
As Citizen editor Dave Paulson wrote in Wednesday’s paper, this won’t be easy.
Two names are being bantered around; former councilor and 2005 mayoralty candidate Dan Rogers, and current council member Don Zurowski.
Both have spent a lot of time at city hall and they do well at the polls, but sitting on the comfortable sidelines in a city councillor’s chair is far cry from the harsh spotlight that focuses on the centre desk.
Rogers has lot of energy, but he can’t seem to corral a verb and a noun into one complete declarative thought.
Had he said, “I will rebuild the Cameron Streeet Bridge” in 2005, we probably wouldn’t even be having this conversation. But unlike Colin Kinsley, Dan Rogers just can’t seem to find the finish line.
Don Zurowski suffers from the same problem. He readily acknowledges the challenges facing our community, but has yet to offer any concrete solutions.
And therein lies the problem facing city electors and prospective mayoralty candidates this fall.
We need specifics from our candidates. Action plans with defined outcomes. Wandering around an idea doesn’t get it done.
As Colin Kinsley leaves, he sets up great expectations for continued strong leadership in our city.
If you liked Kinsley, you like change - if you didn’t, you want change.
Those voter expectations will favour -- indeed demand -- a fresh new face in the Mayor’s chair.
* * *
Ex Libris
Joan Jarman is not exactly retiring -- never has been actually -- but she is leaving the Prince George Public Library.
Jarman has been the voice of our public library for 25 years. She’s been on the air in Prince George as long as any local broadcaster and probably not too many know it, but Joan’s good works have put our Prince George Public Library on the big-time map.
Thanks to Joan, our library is a two-time winner of the John Cotton Dana award, the most prestigious prize given in North America for excellence in library public relations.
Few Canadian libraries are recipients of the Dana award, and of those, most are in large cities. There is one smaller-community exception though and it’s our public library.
Thanks for everything, Joan. You took our showcase library building and gave it international recognition.
There’s nothing like being up there with the best.
Bruce Strachan is a former B.C. cabinet minister and Prince George city councillor. His column appears Thursdays. E-mail:
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 May 2008 )
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