BCBusiness

32 BCBusiness nOVEmBER 2018 WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, PART 2: JOHN HORGAN, CHIP OFF THE OLD ANTILABOUR BLOCK "My father was an Irish immigrant who could sell anything to anybody," Horgan says. "He was not a trade unionist. Quite the contrary." But Pat Horgan died when John was just an infant. His mother, Alice, got a job with the municipality of Saanich to support the family. One day she got into a •ght with a supervisor. "She ended up telling him to go to hell," Horgan remembers. "As she was storming out of the o-ce, the union rep said, 'Don't leave mad—tell me what happened, and we'll see what we can do.' The supervi- sor ended up being dismissed, and my mom was a strong union supporter ever after." On May 10, 2017, very few political observers were able to see the future. The previous day's election had been a cli‹- hanger; the makeup of the next govern- ment was still wide open. Questions about what might have been—and about what would be—gripped the province. What might have been, but for a handful of votes in Courtenay-Comox? What will be if the BC NDP can't •nd a Liberal MLA to sit as Speaker? What will be if Premier Christy Clark can cut a deal with BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver? Few would have guessed that well over a year later, John Horgan would not only be the 36th premier of B.C. but would •nd him- self in a relatively stable governing situation. Nor would any have been likely to pre- dict that Horgan would spend so much of his •rst year in the national spotlight. The dispute with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion thrust him onto the national stage like few B.C. premiers before him. Meanwhile, his decision to continue with the Site C hydroelectric project and leave the door open to lique•ed natural gas (LNG) development surprised those who might have expected him to be a hostage to his Green Party allies. Comfortably settled into the premiership, he's been defeating most expectations of what would be. The surprises appear to extend to Hor- gan himself. During the televised leaders' debate, moderator Jennifer Burke asked him, "Do you have an anger management issue?" Weaver, his future political partner (see p.36), tried to goad him with school- yard taunts: "Are you gonna get mad at me, too, now, John?" Vancouver Sun writer Rob Shaw described him in one column as "Angry John," and "Hulk Horgan." In their book A Matter of Condence: The Inside Story of the Political Battle for BC, Shaw and Global News BC reporter Richard Zussman report that Horgan told caucus mates, "I can't win. They are going to rip me into pieces because I'm the angry guy." And now? Most of the anger in Horgan's world seems to be external. Alberta politi- cians call him nasty names, federal cabinet ministers attack him, and the BC Liberals join in. But Horgan keeps on smiling. He has become a new man. Call him Happy Horgan. "Horgan's transition from opposition politician to premier has been dramatic," says Vancouver Sun political columnist Vaughn Palmer, "the most dramatic I've wit- nessed in 34 years of covering B.C. politics. In Opposition he was a frustrated and often angry man. As premier, so far, he has been genial, accessible, generous and outgoing." Father to two grown sons with Ellie, his wife of 34 years, Horgan clearly doesn't feel comfortable with the "angry man" tag. (Years afterward, he still recalls his •rst meeting with this writer: "You said to me, 'Hey, you don't seem so angry.'") With his large frame, grey hair and hint of beard, he •lls out a suit perfectly well yet seems like he'd be more at home on a construction site. Looking relaxed on a May afternoon, he insists that Happy Horgan is not a new identity. "What I've been able to be for the past 10 months is exactly who I am," he says, "someone who is optimistic and hope- ful and wants to e‹ect positive change." He acknowledges, though, that his pre- vious job can a‹ect one's mood. "I once said that being leader of the Opposition is tougher than being premier, and I still maintain that it's a tough job," Horgan says. "Because the expectation for the leader of the Opposition, and [BC Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson] is experiencing this right now, you are obliged to condemn the government day after day. And over time that becomes very di-cult for the soul, because as human beings we are innately optimistic. We want to be hopeful each day. The leader of the Opposition is paid fortnightly by the Queen to be grumpy and angry and belligerent. The worst day in government is better than the best day in Opposition." As for Wilkinson, his assessment of the premier certainly •ts that job description. "John Horgan is extremely short-sighted when it comes to the complexity of our economy," he says. "He thinks he can tax job creators but not impact job creation. He thinks he can poke the federal govern- ment in the eye over the Kinder Morgan pipeline but remain close allies on a wide range of programs that require federal co- operation—which means everything from environmental protection to marijuana to •ghting gang crime to health funding. So John Horgan has big problems with eco- nomic policy that his team wants to ignore, and he continues to have major internal battles within his own NDP caucus—and that problem will only get worse." And what of Horgan's strengths? "John Horgan is clearly dedicated to public ser- vice within the NDP mindset," Wilkinson says. "He has spent most of his adult life working in politics, and although that often leads to tunnel vision, his unwavering com- mitment to his ideals is remarkable." "John Horgan is clearly dedicated to public service within the NDP mindset. He has spent most of his adult life working in politics, and although that often leads to tunnel vision, his unwavering commit- ment to his ideals is remarkable" — Andrew Wilkinson, BC Liberal Leader

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