BCBusiness

SOURCES: CRAFT COUNCIL OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, CIRCLE CRAFT CO-OPERATIVE, STATISTICS CANADA most powerful private–sector forces. He reacts like a Milton Friedman–trained philosopher: "The market is impressive. It adapts and adjusts to events." OK, that's a cheat. It's Glen Clark, NDP premier during the most controversial years of the 1990s. Clark, who proudly owns his partisan past, is matter-of- fact about how NDP rule could a‰ect his corporate future. "Business might be ideologi- cally against the NDP, but I don't think they have any reason to be wildly hostile," he says. "For businesses making investment decisions, you just want to know what the rules are." Clark suggests that the NDP's alliance with the Green Party might increase predictability and sta- bility because both have bound themselves to an explicit, point- by-point deal that sets out the terms by which the Greens will support the NDP on conŒdence votes. "That's a fairly detailed, public agreement," Clark says. "It will be hard for the NDP to go much beyond that agenda." Jock Finlayson, chief policy o'cer of the Business Council of British Columbia, shares Clark's equanimity. "I'm relatively sanguine," Finlayson says. "We know the premier [John Horgan] and his key min- isters reasonably well," having kept the lines of communica- tion open, before and since the election. "We're not expecting the province to go o‰ the rails or for there to be a particularly acrimonious relationship." Geo‰ Plant, an Opposition MLA during the late 1990s and attorney general under former Liberal premier Gordon Campbell, says, "The busi- ness community just wants to continue to engage, be listened to and be taken seriously." That hasn't always been the situation, Plant adds. "At certain stages in the late 1990s, the NDP tuned out the voices of private industry. You'd hear stories of shouting between the premier [then Glen Clark] and the province's most prominent business leaders." But Plant says he doesn't see the same ideological belligerence, on either side, today. Bruce Ralston, minister of jobs, trade and technološy, agrees: "Unlike the previous gov- ernment, which seemed to have its mind made up on a bunch of issues, we're open and listen- ing. We are looking forward to having a strong relationship." Ralston says the NDP's Œrst major business initiative set the tone: right after being sworn in, Premier Horgan went to Washington, D.C., to argue industry's case on the softwood lumber export dispute. As the Œrst time any B.C. premier has taken the softwood Œght person- ally to D.C., it was "very well received" by forestry industry leaders, Ralston says. This goodwill is a sign of the times, notes Mike Harcourt, NDP premier from 1991 to 1996: "People are less Œercely and hysterically ideologically focused today." And Horgan, who was Harcourt's go-to guy for any tough negotiation in the '90s, "has very quietly met and had dialogue with most of the key business leaders." Campbell-era Œnance minis- ter Carole Taylor agrees about the importance of open com- munication, saying, "It looks as though John Horgan is reaching out, which is good." Taylor has also heard positive feedback from those quiet meetings; apparently the new premier has been "asking good questions, listening—and taking notes!" Plant recommends one other characteristic for keeping rela- tions with business on an even keel: humility. "It's arrogance that's fatal," he says. "Both sides need to ask how they can change to break the mould—to prevent themselves from falling into the pattern of dysfunction and belligerence." Gordon Campbell, Liberal premier from 2001 to 2011, o‰ers a last bit of wisdom for businesspeople facing down the New Democrats. "You start by not fearing them," Campbell says. "You just go to them and say, 'This is what we want to do; what do you want to do? And how can we do it together?'" As the gift-buying season approaches, that's about how many craft markets will set up across the province to help local potters, carvers, glass blowers, jewelry makers and other artisans get their wares into holiday shoppers' hands. Indie fairs are growing fast, and convention-centre events draw visitors by the tens of thousands, but they alone can't support an artisan industry facing limited opportunity the rest of the year, says Raine McKay, executive director of the Craft Council of British Columbia. That's why her organiza- tion is considering locations for a proposed $9.9-million B.C. Centre for Craft, which it hopes to have running within seven to 10 years. "Canada is well respected for our craft tradition outside our country, but there isn't the same audience in B.C. because we haven't cultivated it," McKay explains. "The centre will give the guilds space to help their artists innovate, while we can engage the corporate world a lot more, and educate the community that has the money to pay for it." by Melissa Edwards Dream Weavers NUMEROLOGY 1,500 18 BCBUSINESS NOVEMBER 2017 UP, UP AND AWAY Growth in provincial debt under the past six premiers (in millions) SOURCE: DON SCOTT, FROM B.C. PUBLIC ACCOUNTS MIKE HARCOURT $8,672 GLEN CLARK $3,548 DAN MILLER $2,028 GORDON CAMPBELL $11,366 -$501 UJJAL DOSANJH CHRISTY CLARK $20,729 NDP Liberal

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