The death of former premier John Horgan has brought about many glowing tributes to his time in office, and his success at leading the province. But his vision for a New Democrat government that bridged rural and urban British Columbia is perhaps one of his strongest legacies — even if it’s no longer reflected in the party he once led.
Horgan outlined that vision to the NDP when he briefly launched his leadership campaign in 2014, before ultimately being acclaimed as leader. As a guy who grew up working in the forestry sector, and at pulp and paper mills, the natural resource sector was a cornerstone of his BC NDP.
“We have lost our way to speak to people in resource-based communities; we have become dependent on particular points of view largely focused in the Lower Mainland,” Horgan said at the time, in quotes I recently unearthed to write my own tribute to his time as premier.
- Read Rob Shaw’s profile: Horgan’s path from ‘Angry John’ to ‘Happy Warrior’
“If we are going to win we need to speak not just in a pandering way, but in a positive way to people in resource-based communities.”
He added: “There is a chasm between the Coast and the Kootenays that is not represented by the NDP.”
That was then
That was in 2014, when the NDP held 34 seats, mainly concentrated on Vancouver Island and in Metro Vancouver, while the BC Liberals held 49, stretching across rural and urban B.C.
Reconstituting a working-class NDP was going to be the “foundation” of Horgan’s campaign. Ultimately, it would become the start of his government in 2017 and realize its true vision in 2020.
For Horgan, the emphasis on resource-based jobs came naturally.
He cut his teeth in the BC NDP of the 1990s, where unionized, hardhat-wearing, blue-collar folks in forestry, mining and construction bled New Democrat orange. He never left that ‘brown’ natural resource part of the NDP behind. For him, it was a critical part of the province’s future.
This is now
But that’s not the NDP that exists today. Premier David Eby’s post-October election caucus has few rural MLAs and is almost entirely concentrated on south Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver.
It’s reminiscent of the 2014 NDP in which Horgan despaired.
I read Horgan’s comments to Eby at a press conference in the legislature on Wednesday, asking if he agreed then, and agrees now, at the need for the NDP to expand back out to blue-collar workers and beyond the remaining base of urban progressives.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said.
“John’s words then certainly resonate for me today, and they continue to be a priority. We need to be a government for the entire province of British Columbia, and priorities of people that live in rural communities need to have the same weight and have the same influence here in the chamber and in our government as they deserve.
“And so we’re going to make sure that those voices are heard across the province.”
Eby vows to listen to rural voters, but repeats refusal to work with ‘bright line’ violators
Eby said he’s heard and understands the unique issues of rural B.C. Though he also repeated Wednesday his refusal to work with any MLA who violates his “bright-line” test of saying racist things or believing in conspiracy theories.
It’s not clear who is on Eby’s list, though there are several BC Conservative MLAs from rural BC who the NDP has accused of believing in conspiracy theories.
“We know we need to do a better job of ensuring that people in rural and remote communities are heard in this place, that their priorities are seen, that when we deliver programs that are effective for them, I think particularly around health care, where emergency room closures have particularly impacted rural communities,” said Eby.
“We’re going to make sure that we address those issues. And we’ve heard that loud and clear.”
It was only 19 months ago that Horgan resigned his seat in the legislature. The vision he had for the BC NDP is certainly further away now than when he left. It’s not clear when, or if, the party will ever get it back.