Thursday, April 19, 2001
British Columbia, the book - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
On the steps of His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor’s Rockland Avenue residence in Victoria, the Hon. Ujjal Dosanjh announced that British Columbians -- thanks to Garde Gardom’s signature -- will go to the polls on the 16th of May, 2001. Five years in the making, it’s hard to believe we’ve come this far.
This election -- as much as we want it -- isn’t happening at a good time in British Columbian politics. Most want the NDP out, but doing so will come at a cost that will be detrimental to the NDP and the Liberals, as political entities as well. My tummy is telling me that tremendous window dressing is happening in both camps. They’re manufacturing issues that BCers will claim the meat of the campaign, when in reality their fundamental visions for BC are undefined. The Liberals will wrestle with a large caucus after the 16th. What that caucus will be composed of is the question. You’ll have old Socreds with Alliance/Reformers, with true Liberals and even some of Gordon Wilson’s old small-l liberals left behind. Gordon Campbell attempts to be the modern day Bill Bennett, but he’s got a hell of lot more ways to go. At the juncture where we find ourselves now, he’s leaving things behind. The nature of British Columbian politics is awfully volatile now. Both Campbell and Dosanjh are running now, but I doubt come the time of the next election, their vehicles will exist. Can BC handle the change we want so badly, when that change will bring greater change to our landscape down the road?
The NDP faces the grandest paradox of modern political life in the world, frankly. This campaign will occur with the world’s attention paid on the goings-on in Quebec City. Capitalists will square off with anarchists, socialists alike. It won’t be a peaceful or tranquil showing, but ever more an example at the struggles the NDP faces as a party, both federally and provincially. The fundamental principles of the NDP will be tested in Quebec City, just as they were tested in Seattle and Vancouver and Washington DC. The NDP’s fight to survive is not only rooted in the need for them to form a decent opposition to the Liberals, but also whether there should be an NDP in BC -- an NDP at all across Canada -- in the 21st Century. But of course, Dosanjh and his candidates will fail to point that out anytime soon.
Twenty-eight days is an eternity in politics. A lot can happen. From my vantage point, I’ll try and give you my take right through to voting day the 16th of May. I still am at this point undecided. This proves to be an interesting ride.
Tomorrow, by the way, I’ll have a column reviewing the new Tom Green movie Freddy Got Fingered. I saw it last night at an advanced screening and... well, let’s wait till Friday.
VANCOUVER -- Last fall bookstores across the province were stocked with editions of the Encyclopedia of British Columbia. It’s a heavy tome. Some six pounds in weight and about eight and a half by eleven inches in size, the book costs a hefty $99.99.
It’s worth every penny though.
Edited by Daniel Francis and published by Harbour Publishing, the book is a resource par excellence when it comes to Canada’s westerly most province, a convoluted province in the eyes of other Canadians. We’ve got a vast and interesting history and this book has it all. I haven’t heard much on what its left out, so I will safely assume that it’s got everything.
I’ve often lamented the lack of books on the political history of BC. This book doesn’t present that, but it makes for a great start. The articles are succinct and to the point. They make for great reference. Eight prominent British Columbians sat on the encyclopedia’s advisory board. Included is West Beyond The West author Jean Barman, Senator Pat Carney, Peter C. Newman, bookseller Celia Duthie and Arthur Erickson, the architect.
Included with the 806 pages is a CD-ROM too, which is good. It’s chock full of pictures with interesting features on Native history to the great rivers of BC. See what former Vancouver mayor Gerry McGeer looked like, as well as shots of all the different species of salmon found on the wet coast.
Any encyclopedia would be chock full of trivia. To fill this space some fun facts on BC: BC became a province in 1871 and the longest river located entirely in BC is the Fraser.
New Caledonia was the name fur traders knew BC as in historical times. And Emery Barnes was the first black elected to the Legislature. He was according, to his bio on page 49, a member of the BC Lions team that won the Grey Cup of 1964.
It’s got a list of the recipients of the members of the Order of BC up to June 2000, as well as election results aplenty.
Francis, it’s editor writes on composing the book: “At Hudson’s Hope I plunged underground into the bowels of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam to view the giant turbines that generate close to 30 percent of the province’s hydroelectricity. I saw whales in the Inside Passage, hoodoos at Farewell Canyon, the largest tree crusher in the world at Mackenzie, the open Pacific breaking onto the stone beach at Yuquot, the world’s tallest totem pole at Alert Bay, the site of the Last Spike at Craigellachie, a historic salmon cannery at Port Edward, the goats on the roof at Coombs. And each time I returned home feeling I had hardly scratched the surface, there was so much still to see.”
Francis’ efforts, along with his publisher Howard White are well applauded from my vantage point. It’s a hell of a book and everyone who lives in the province should have a copy. Those living outside should have one too. For all our faults, political or otherwise, this book stirs the passions of the magic that is British Columbia. I defy anyone who claims Vancouver or the province as boring, to read this book and not feel proud, honoured and amazed at this incredible region. Distinctly Canadian.