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Into the sunset |
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Written by MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
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Friday, 28 November 2008 |
Seated in his beloved convertible, Mayor Colin Kinsley waves goodbye as the sun sets at the PGARA track, where he used to race cars before becoming mayor. (Citizen photo by Brent Braaten)
a man who drove himself hard to get the job done
Ask colleagues what it was like to work with Colin Kinsley during the dozen years he's been Prince George's mayor, and two attributes consistently emerge -- his work ethic and his generosity.
Known for a relentless schedule of 80-hour work weeks both at home and abroad, Kinsley was a hard guy to keep up to, according to former city manager George Paul.
"When we were on trips he was always up later than me and up before me," said Paul, who stepped down from his job at city hall two years ago and is now doing consulting work. "He's just got an amazing constitution and he devotes it just so gigantically to trying to make things better in Prince George."
Kinsley's time as mayor officially ends Monday when the new city council is sworn in.
Kinsley's drive was not lost on Cliff Dezell, who served 19 years on city council.
"Sometimes, you wonder whether or not Colin had himself cloned and there were three of him doing all these things because I don't, for the life of me, understand how he was able to function so effectively in so many places for such a long time," Dezell said.
Indeed, Kinsley's devotion to the job went well beyond chairing a city council meeting every second Monday.
Fraser-Fort George Regional District, North Central Municipal Association, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, World Winter Cities Association for Mayors, the Municipal Finance Authority and B.C. Transit are just a few of the organizations he's been a part of.
In those roles, Kinsley went to bat not only for Prince George but for north-central B.C. as a whole said former Fort St. John mayor Steve Thorlakson.
He remembers a time in the early 1990s when there was an opportunity to establish a mine on the north end of Williston Lake and the company behind it was looking for a town to set up its headquarters.
Fort St. John's economy was in a lot of trouble in those days and Thorlakson asked Prince George's council of the day -- John Backhouse was mayor and Kinsley was a councillor -- for their support in encouraging the company to locate its office in Fort St. John.
"And you know what, to their credit and to a certain degree the political risk involved, they both agreed wholeheartedly and lived up to that," said Thorlakson.
It was an approach Kinsley continued when he became mayor in 1993 after nine years as a councillor.
"He always saw Prince George as something other than the centre," Thorlakson said. "He always placed a lot of value on the spokes, and on the rim of the wheel, and not just the hub."
As far as former Quesnel mayor Steve Wallace is concerned, Kinsley really is the kind of guy who will give you the shirt off his back.
"I'll tell you a story about how good this guy is," said Wallace. "I once showed up to a meeting and I didn't have a suit, I'd forgotten to put it in the suitcase or something.
"Colin gave me the shirt off his back. He gave me the shirt, he gave me the tie, he gave me the sports jacket, and I gave a speech and got elected to the board of directors for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities."
Wallace isn't tall, but he's not as short as Kinsley.
"Let's just say, I looked a little bit like an elf," Wallace said.
Municipal Finance Authority chair Saanich mayor Frank Leonard said Kinsley was as solid as a rock.
"The MFA, being a financial institution, looks for stability and reliability and consistency and Colin was all of that and a real booster for our organization as well," Leonard said, adding he never left open an opportunity to promote Prince George.
"He kept reminding us that Prince George isn't in the north, it's in the centre of British Columbia," Leonard said. "He also liked to point out the (Fraser-Fort George) Regional District is about the size of France."
Kidding aside, Wallace said Kinsley was instrumental in bringing a transit service to Quesnel and in securing funding for projects throughout north-central B.C. while vice chair of the MFA.
Indeed, Wallace contends Kinsley was one of the 10-most influential mayors in Canada but was careful to never make too big a deal about how important he could be.
"The fact is, with smaller towns there is a degree of jealousy within the community and there is a degree of 'maybe the guy's getting too big for his britches and maybe he should be in town more rather than looking after other towns and travelling around,'" Wallace said.
"Colin always knew that, so he never touted his MFA position. He never wore it on his sleeve and he took all the criticism of traveling to China and all these kinds of things that he did in stride and he did it at great financial sacrifice and he did it at great personal sacrifice.
"You don't get anybody who's been involved in municipal politics who has a bad word to say about Colin Kinsley."
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Last Updated ( Friday, 28 November 2008 )
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