Friday, November 23, 2012 - North Shore News - A7
NDP can learn from history
A new book on a pivotal time in B.C. history is an excellent guide for how a government can ensure it won’t survive, no matter how good its intentions.
Even though the book is about the NDP government of the 1970s, one assumes current NDP leader Adrian Dix realizes it contains lessons he won’t want to repeat if he forms government next spring. The book — The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power 19721975 — paints a picture of a government on a frantic rollercoaster ride, eager to fulfill ambitions that had lingered for decades and wanting to do so as quickly as possible. The authors, Rod Mickleburgh and Geoff Meggs, provide a sympathetic account of Barrett’s wild ride. While mindful of the historic legacy of his government, they don’t sugarcoat the sense of near-chaos, poor planning and lack of strategy that ultimately doomed Barrett’s administration. There’s no question the NDP government of the 1970s established a rich and enduring legacy of landmark legislation that changed B.C. for the better in so many areas of society. The list is a long one: protection of agricultural land, a modern and
View from the Ledge Keith Baldrey
fair labour code, a provincial ambulance service, public auto insurance, community colleges, a legislature question period, neighbourhood pubs, and Pharmacare. The NDP also banned the strap in schools and abolished pay toilets. In all, they passed more than 350 bills in three years at a breathtaking average rate of two bills a week. But in their rush to do so much, they made many missteps. The Barrett government picked fights everywhere, including with their own supporters, many of whom were blind to the realities of government and what it took to get re-elected. Barrett also contributed in a great way to the polarization of B.C. politics, which ultimately worked against him and the NDP in the years following. After his defeat in 1975, Barrett fought two more elections
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against Social Credit premier Bill Bennett and lost each time. Polarization pitted the NDP against a larger pool of voters united against them, thus ensuring their loss. The book also shows how much B.C.’s political culture has changed since then, and here is where the lessons for Dix — and for Premier Christy Clark as well — come in. First, the organized labour movement is a shadow of its former self. Barrett had to deal with powerful private sector union leaders who threatened to bring down his government after he legislated more than 50,000 striking workers back on the job. In fact, it can be argued much of that labour movement deserted the NDP in the 1975 election, which was akin to cutting off their nose to spite their face, as the Social Credit government was far less friendly to its interests. But labour no longer has that kind of political might. Much of its power now resides among public sector unions, which are more narrowly focused on their own plight. This removes a potential headache for Dix should he become premier. He won’t face the same kind of pressure from the labour movement that kept Barrett up late at nights. Another thing that jumps out of The Art of the Impossible is how the forest industry has also almost disappeared from
the political arena. Back then, forestry was the dominant industry in this province and even talk of work stoppages in it were huge events. Union leaders like Jack Munro and Art Gruntman wielded considerable political power. Today, the industry has suffered thousands of job losses and simply doesn’t have the financial or political clout that played such a prominent role during Barrett’s time. Neither Dix nor Clark shows any signs of emulating Barrett’s approach to governing. Dix keeps stressing he has a “modest” agenda for government, and has repeatedly said he doesn’t intend to bring in a lot of legislation should he gain power. As for Clark, she seems genuinely disinterested (if not contemptuous) of the legislature and the legislated process itself. But given Barrett’s penchant for polarizing the electorate, it’s interesting that it’s not the current NDP leader who seeks to do that. Dix is trying to turn down the temperature and play less partisan politics. But Clark is the one trying to polarize everything, to make the choice next May a stark one between left and right with nothing in the middle. It is Clark who is behaving more like Barrett. Such are the ironies of B.C. politics! Keith.Baldrey@globalnews.ca
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