With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1441359
( the informer ) F I V E Q U E ST ION S 5. MUCH OF THE BOOK IS ABOUT YOU AS A YOUNG PERSON. WHEN YOU LOOK AT PEOPLE TODAY WHO ARE JUST STARTING OUT, DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE FOR THEM? The big message I have is that they're very lucky to be living in British Columbia. I really believe in the future of our province, and I think the future is just as bright as when I arrived here in 1947, just short of the age of 10. And I think there are big opportunities ahead. One of the great resources we have is an abundance of water compared to other parts of the world. We don't want it in the quantities we had it [during the recent floods], but it can be used for so many things. It can be used for industrial purposes; it can be used for agriculture; it will help grow trees; it can be used for aquaculture. And most importantly, it's a great source of clean energy. I believe that we need to have a commission that studies the application of clean, reasonably priced electricity and how this can transform our society. • 1 Some people have assumed that because you're the great-great-grandson of B.C. coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, everything was handed to you. How far is that from the truth? My father and my stepmother lived much beyond their means, but apparently there had been a trust fund left by my grandfather for my educa- tion. That's what I found out when I was 21. The Royal Trust Co. asked me to sign a release, and I had no idea that my pri- vate schools had been paid for that way. I didn't want to sign the release, but they dangled $500 in front of me. It's the old rags to riches in one generation, and then the other way in three. It often works that way in fami- lies. Certainly it did in the Dunsmuir family. 2 You've travelled a lot, often in adventurous fashion. How important is having MICHAEL AUDAIN The philanthropist, art collector, and founder and chair of developer Polygon Homes talks about his new memoir, One Man in His Time by Nick Rockel JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 BCBUSINESS 25 a lot of housing; can you help me? I got to meet him and some other developers, and we came up with a scheme to use the development industry to build a lot of social housing in a short period. Some of my friends from way back in the early days, they'd probably accuse me of selling out for money. But for the first 10 years I was in busi- ness, after I started Polygon Homes [in 1980], I didn't really make any money. We had a terrible recession in the early 1980s, and it took a long time for the province and the hous- ing market to climb out. 4 As you point out in the book, there aren't any quick fixes to the housing crisis. But you're firmly on the side of increasing density, right? I am, and it's interesting that finally, I think, the provincial government is coming around to recognizing that you can't fix the very high housing costs that we have here just through demand-side programs. You have to expand land supply. It's difficult for the gov- ernment because they don't control the supply of land; it's controlled by the munici- palities. Often, we may have a building where we'd like to say, OK, you can go 16 floors. And I say to people, Well, why aren't we going 30 or 40 floors on the same site? Why are we only going 16 floors? And of course, they bring out all the local zon- ing and everything. HOBBY Reading spy novels LAST BOOK I READ Kim by Rudyard Kipling (the best spy story ever written) FAVOURITE RADIO SHOW 6 a.m. BBC World News MOST MEMORABLE CONCERT Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Zubin Mehta at Lincoln Center in 2018 FAVOURITE PLACE IN B.C. Pender Harbour ONE THING I CAN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT My Economist pocket diary PET PEEVE Canada's Criminal Code treating drug possession as a crime GUILTY PLEASURE Flying business class those kinds of experi- ences for people who want to understand the world and make their mark on it? It's very, very important to travel when you're young. Think of Steve Jobs, who spent time in India at ashrams; think of Pierre Trudeau, who travelled very extensively when he was young. I've spent a lot of time in Asia more than anywhere else. I think I've been to every Asian country except Bhutan, and some of them I've been to many times. 3 You've had five different career paths. Why was it what you describe as a natural progression to go from reform-minded social worker to large- scale residential property developer? It's partly a matter of Lady Luck, because often, it's who you meet. I was working on housing policy for quite a while, living in Ottawa. Then Dave Barrett, who was premier in the early '70s, asked me to come back to B.C. He wanted me to get a lot of housing built. There were only two people in the provincial government who had anything to do with housing. So I immediately phoned up Jack Poole, the CEO of Daon Development, and said, I've been asked to build