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/394777
proclaimed "redneck" persona and recognize that politics is all about pragmatism. Bennett is the premier's best com- municator and one of her cabinet's sharpest minds. A Grade 9 dropout who went back to school as a mature student and got a law degree from Queen's University in his early 40s, he's been given some of the most challenging economic roles: fix BC Hydro (increasing rates and investing in infrastructure); rebuild trust and create a new regulatory framework for the mining industry (after the Mount Polley tailings pond disaster); and, as minister responsible for the Core Review—a key plank in the Liberals' re-election platform—rethink how gov- ernment delivers its services (he's already shaken up the Agricultural Land Reserve, axed the Pacific Carbon Trust and shut down the Provincial Capital Commission). "Bill is prepared to be imaginative," Premier Clark explained when I reached her by phone in her Kelowna riding. "He's prepared to offer ideas that maybe nobody's thought of, that some people might be too shy to mention. Bill is no shrinking violet. If he comes up with a big idea—even if it's way outside the box—he'll present it if he thinks it's worth consider- ing. Bringing that amount of imagination to the table is really crucial for me. I don't think you can run a modern organization without it." Bennett, like his boss, is also extremely media savvy. That's why, on this sunny summer day, we've ended up at St. Eugene, with its panoramic views of the Purcell and Rocky Mountains. A diverse group of residents and business people (among them executives from Teck, Canfor and Columbia Power, as well as Jeff Cynoweth, owner of the WHL Kootenay Ice) are strolling through the resort's immaculate 18-hole course for the Ktunaxa Nation charity golf tournament. St. Eugene is the embodiment of modern Cranbrook: a successful native-run tourist business, on the grounds of a former residential school, with close ties to the area's resource companies. It's also a much better photo-op. bcbusiNess.ca November 2014 BCBusiness 45 of cabinet, twice, and forced to sit as an independent for telling Premier Gordon Campbell publicly that it was time to go. He was considered so toxic, so disloyal, that some cabinet ministers threatened to quit if Christy Clark let him back into cabinet when she became leader. She did welcome him back—and most of the dissenters stuck around. To understand why, you have to look past Bennett's salty-tongued, self- cranbrook chronicles (Counter clockwise from top left) Bennett speaking to constituents, young and old, at Sam Steele Days; a street scene. "Bill is no shrinking violet. If he comes up with a big idea—even if it's way outside the box—he'll present it if he thinks it's worth considering. Bringing that amount of imagination to the table is really crucial for me. I don't think you can run a modern organization without it." — Premier Christy Clark