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/526329
leS BAzSo/the province; iAn lindSAy/vAncouver Sun july 2015 BCBusiness 133 passion. Currently president of the real estate investment firm McIntosh Properties and a former chair of the UBC board of governors, Brad Bennett has, like his father and grandfather before him, been subject to the odd political recruitment campaign. He's not interested, either—in part because of his father's example. While W.A.C. Bennett seemed to revel in the power and attention, Brad says that politics for Bill Bennett was "a sacrifice second only to going to war for your country." And people seemed to sense Bill Bennett's reticence—his self-imposed distance. As the elder Bennett's biographer David Mitchell says, W.A.C. Bennett was "a big personality" and someone who—like Dave Barrett after him—campaigned with personal fervour and governed fairly informally. "Bill Bennett didn't have a personality to build on," Mitchell says. "He never really connected with people in a warm way." Bud Smith, principal secretary to Bennett in the 1980s and later a leadership contender and cabinet minister himself, says the boss's chilly public persona was a running joke within Bennett's inner circle—but one they learned to take seriously, especially because the expansive Dave Barrett was so person- ally popular. "We used to do a poll. We'd ask two questions: If you were going to a Canucks game and going to have a few beers, which leader would you like to go with? And if you suddenly got $100,000, who would you trust to look after it?" Even among Socreds, says Smith, Barrett would win the first poll with 70 per cent of the vote. And even among New Democrats, Bill Bennett would win the second—with 70 per cent of the vote. And that may explain the next three elections. People really liked Dave Barrett—but they consis- tently put their trust in Bill Bennett. When Barrett called a surprise election in 1975, Bennett swept to power with 49.25 per cent of the popular vote (the NDP won 39 per cent). In the 1979 rematch, Bennett's Socreds slipped marginally to 48.23 per cent (NDP 46 per cent). And in 1983, in the third contest of three between Bennett and Barrett, Bennett captured 49.8 per cent of the vote ( NDP 45 per cent)—a victory topped only by the all-but-unbelievable 57.6 per cent that Gordon Campbell captured after the NDP col- lapse in 2001. Remarkably, Bennett earned all those victories by bearing bad news and—in Canada's most heavily organized province—battling labour. Although 1983 was the election most remembered as the campaign for govern- ment restraint, Bennett had, from the outset, complained about the spending habits of the NDP under Barrett. He also gave voice to the anger that many on the right felt about Barrett's national- izing of the auto insurance industry (with the creation of the Insurance Corporation of B.C.) and what some characterized as Barrett's attack on property rights with the creation of the Agricultural Land Reserve. And yet, when he got elected, he kept both of these Barrett legacy pieces in place. Brad Bennett explains this by saying that his father recognized that both of these programs had become popular and in politics, "you have to pick your spots." David Mitchell goes a step further, saying that these decisions illustrate something most people don't understand. "B.C. is not in 1983, in The Third ConTesT of Three BeTween BenneTT and BarreTT, BenneTT CapTured 49.8 per CenT of The voTe (ndp 45 per CenT)—a viCTory Topped only By The all-BuT- unBelievaBle 57.6 per CenT ThaT gordon CampBell CapTured afTer The ndp Collapse in 2001 enemies and allies A 1983 Solidarity protest against Bill Bennett (left) and the Socreds campaigning that same year (right)