Six months from now, Adrian Dix might be premier and the New Democratic Party might have its hands on the levers of political control in this province.
To listen to Christy Clark, B.C. Liberals everywhere and anxious business types, the return of the NDP to the halls of power in Victoria would leave the provincial economy in ruins, send every person with a dollar in their pocket and a brain in their heads running for Alberta and Saskatchewan, bankrupt government coffers and leave radical union hellraisers - like those teachers! - in charge of everything.
Forty years after Dave Barrett was elected to power and the B.C.'s right-wing leaders still can't help falling back on those tired stereotypes - wrong then and wrong now - to
demonize all things NDP.
Fortunately, Harbour Publishing has just released a new book about Barrett, examining his three years as premier and his long-term effect on the province in a more reasonable and thoughtful way.
The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power 1972-1975, offers a warts-and-all portrayal of the Barrett government that also details how Barrett still holds the record for the most bills passed in the legislature in a single mandate.
Short story - Barrett got things done and got them done fast.
Geoff Meggs, a current Vancouver city councillor who once served as Glen Clark's communications director, and Rod Mickleburgh, a senior reporter with the Globe and Mail's Vancouver bureau, whose newspaper career includes a stop here at The Citizen, explain how deep the Barrett legacy runs, including institutions and government policy that future Social Credit and Liberal governments dared not dismantle.
Take ICBC, for example.
Born in 1973, the Insurance Corporation of B.C. was created to provide universal
insurance coverage for all B.C. drivers.
Although it has its flaws, a publicly-owned-and-operated auto insurance provider has proven itself as something worth keeping.
Bill Bennett, Bill Vander Zalm and Gordon Campbell made no effort to dismantle it
during their years in power.
Or how about the Agricultural Land Reserve?
Although it has been weakened in its 40 years of existence, the ALR has been mostly successful at keeping large sections of the Lower Mainland and the Okanagan in the hands of farmers, rather than having all the land scooped up by developers who would have, in the words of Joni Mitchell, "paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
The agricultural sector in the Fraser Valley and the wine industry in the Okanagan likely wouldn't exist anywhere near the size they are today if Barrett hadn't created the ALR in 1973.
It continues to protect valuable agricultural land today, even in central and northern B.C., forcing mining companies to respect ranchers and their grazing lands when
building roads to their prospecting operations.
"Are we here for a good time or a long time?" Barrett asked his colleagues at his first cabinet meeting, as if he already knew his tenure would be brief.
Once the shock wore off, the B.C. right-of-centre reorganized itself and made running Barrett out of town its priority.
Meanwhile, Barrett knew he would have to disappoint many of his supporters, particularly in the labour movement.
While he "nationalized" auto insurance and protected agricultural land, he did make B.C. a socialist province. Despite pressure to do so, he did not take over B.C. Tel from its American owner and he did not hand the keys over to the unions when it came to bargaining rights.
A revitalized right wing and demoralized supporters in his own camp spelled doom for Barrett in the 1975 election, yet he finished with a near-identical share of the popular vote.
His greatest amount of public support came in the 1979 election, when 46 per cent of voters put their X next to an NDP candidate but
Barrett still lost.
Barrett was so respected as party leader and as a politician, however, that he continued to lead into 1983, losing his third consecutive election, before finally calling it quits.
Should Adrian Dix become premier next spring, he could do a lot worse than use Barrett as an inspiration, whose legacy has long outlived his three short years in government.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
