Biography of former NDP cabinet minister is a story about politics and B.C. – Vancouver Sun

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Former cabinet minister, well-known NDP firebrand and proud East Van native Bob Williams’ new biography Using Power Well offers an airbrush-free glimpse into the inner workings of local and provincial politics.

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Written along with Benjamin Isitt and Thomas Bevan the book, politics aside, is a must read for history lovers, political wonks and just anybody that likes an underdog story. Postmedia caught up with the 89-year-old Williams and asked him a few questions.

Q: The title of the book is Using Power Well. What is the key to doing that? 

A: It was true of our whole group. We were free spirited folks standing on the shoulders of all the great reformers of the province and who were not burdened with any obligations to the power elite of the province, and it was a joyous place.

Q: Who in your opinion is currently an example of a politician that is using “power well?” 

A: Well, I would have to say the current B.C. premier John Horgan and his colleague David Eby and more lately the trio that is working on forest policy.

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I’m very hopeful about Chrystia Freeland with the current federal government, because of her book Plutocrats which reveals the deep concern about privilege in our society.

Q: A memoir is about looking back, in doing so what was the time in your career you were happiest and why? 

A: I was very happy in my youth and my early days in the CCF, this was a wonderful learning time of trust and friendship. But nothing quite equalled our days in government where the only limit was our own imagination. We were not burdened with bureaucratic concerns or turf and genuinely worked together.

Q: How would you liked to be remembered? 

A: As the city councillor who planted trees on the east side. And one of the joys of all that is to see the dogwoods on Charles Street between Nanaimo and Renfrew Street in the spring. The 100 ft right of way of the street is full of mature blossoming dogwoods.

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Q: You are one of the last connections to the W.A.C. Bennett years. What first comes to mind when that name is mentioned? 

A: How able he was, how bold he was and how much he had to teach myself and Dave Barrett.

Q: What comes to mind first when you think about those first few days on the job in Victoria as an MLA in 1972?

A: It was culture shock and warfare and almost kill or be killed. It was a cruel place after a conciliatory city council.

Q: The left has always been perceived as being not great with money, anti-business if you will. You on the other hand made a lot of deals and displayed some entrepreneurial tendencies — you wanted the government to buy Rolls-Royce — when you were in government. So, why do people think the left is bad at business? 

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A: It’s simply propaganda. There is a longer-term view on the left than the right. Obama showed that with the American auto industry, which he saved. We invested in the forest sector and were incredibly successful. The subsequent government went bankrupt dealing with the inheritance we gave them. Their own endeavours in Northeast coal were an enormous failure. In B.C., the great exception of the right was W.A.C. Bennett, who took over the B.C. electric company and created B.C. Hydro as well as B.C. Ferries, he made extraordinary changes for the province.

Q: Do you think government should be run like a business? 

A: When it can be. But there are other values that the government cannot ignore, and those values might best be accommodated by a cooperative sector. The best example being Northern Italy and Bologna.

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Q: The Railway Club is a Vancouver icon. What made you want to do that venture and why do you think it was/is so special? 

A: I wanted to do it for the hell of it. It opened me up to the nature of pubs and inns and younger people as well as the brilliant musicians and artists we had. I was greatly rewarded by introducing kd lang and Spirit of the West and so much other talent here in the west.

Q: You don’t mention Dave Stupich or Bingogate. Why not, it was a big story and big issue for the NDP? 

A: In truth, I thought it was excessively covered at the time and there was no need to go over it again.

Q: You were the minister of Lands, Forests and Water Resources in the Dave Barrett government back in the early 1970s. In a full circle kind of moment, you write about recently returning to forestry policy. So how do things look all these years later? Any good news on managing that huge resource? 

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A: Yes. Our current government is taking it seriously and has halted the exploitation of some of the ancient forests and recognizing our unsettled obligations with Indigenous people. Nevertheless, forest ecologist Suzanne Simard (author of Finding the Mother Tree) is showing us we have a lot more to learn.

Q: You make it clear you are not a fan of bureaucracies. You give W.A.C. Bennett respect for keeping things lean. What happened that led us to the bureaucracy that exists today? Can it be changed? 

A: There is no doubt in my mind that the reason the Barrett government was able to do so much was because W.A.C. kept the numbers down and there was nobody to tell us we could not do it. We got the best outside advice and with ourselves we reformed the government. What has happened is a natural accretion. Who knows if a new broom is needed again?

Q: How do you think today’s NDP government is doing?

A: Pretty good, considering the realities of a complicated world.

dgee@postmedia.com

twitter.com/dana_gee

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