Where will history rank former B.C. Premier John Horgan?
UBC political scientist Stewart Prest says Horgan's legacy must be judged by his impact on the province and the B.C. NDP.
"He governed the province...to find common ground where it existed and trying to minimize differences as opposed to elevating them," Prest said. "It's the kind of voice we sorely miss in a more polarized political moment."
Prest said history will show that Horgan, who died Tuesday at the age of 65, guided B.C. through a "number of very tumultuous situations" without any major scandals and left the province in "relatively" good shape. But Prest's assessment also points to some blindsides.
"There are at the same time issues that some issues that we know have continued to grind along and indeed worsen during his time in office," Prest said. "So I don't think everything was perfect. The housing crisis has deepened. The opioid crisis has become more tragic. So there is clearly work left undone...in his sense, his greatest achievement might be cultural 鈥� that sense of coming to the work of politics honestly."
As for Horgan's impact on the party, Prest pointed that Horgan was the first B.C. NDP premier to lead his party to back-to-back governments, first with the help of the B.C. Greens as a minority government that lasted from July 2017 to October 2020. He then converted that government into a majority, which he headed until November 2022, handing it over to current Premier David Eby, who preserved that majority, albeit by the narrowest of margins in the election.
Geoff Meggs, who served as Horgan's chief of staff during this tenure, said Horgan's administration will be seen as a turning point in the history of province.
"After a long period of absence (16 years), the NDP became accepted as a reliable leader of government and that was an important goal of his," Meggs said. "He wanted to demonstrate the capacity, the ability of the NDP to provide solid leadership. I think the people will say he did that and point back for many, many years to things that are still existing in their daily lives that were started under him."
Items on that list include the creation of the $10-per-day daycare program in collaboration with the federal government; the elimination of Medical Service Premiums with the corresponding introduction of the Employers' Health Tax; increasing the minimum wage; and eliminating tolls on heavily commuted bridges in vote-rich Metro Vancouver.
This last item even found its way into this year's election campaign when Eby staged a pre-writ photo op with candidates in late August on the Port Mann Bridge inclusive a large billboard reminding voters of Horgan's decision. Notably, the event took place in the riding of Surrey-Guildford, which eventually gave Eby's party its bare majority.
Prest also pointed to less visible, but also more structural changes in provincial politics that took place during the Horgan years. These include the overhaul of provincial campaign financing laws, eliminating large donations from unions and corporations, and efforts to curb criminal money laundering. Prest said these measures were democratic responses to "what was starting to crumble around the edges in terms of perception of fairness" in the political system.
"I think those are the kinds of things that are easy to overlook, but when we look around at the kinds of mistrust that are evident today, those kinds of actions still needed to be done."
Horgan also did something that does not come easy to politicians: admit a mistake. That moment came in June 2022, when he suspended plans to renovate Royal B.C. Museum.
The $789-million plan first announced in May 2022 instantly drew criticism for its price tag during a period of growing inflation and logistics 鈥� the museum would have closed for a decade 鈥� and Horgan eventually shouldered the blame.
"I made the wrong call," he said at the time. "I made a call when British Columbians were thinking about other concerns."
"It was an important moment, but it's not going to be his legacy," Meggs said. "His legacy will be the childcare program. It will be the first reconciliation legislation passed unanimously by the (legislature). It will be decades of green power from Site C, which was a decision he really wrestled with."
Meggs also pointed to what might be considered a small but nonetheless highly symbolic and illustrative piece of legislation passed during the Horgan years: free tuition for people requiring adult basic education as part of completing their high school education.
"It was a game-changer for hundreds of British Columbians," Meggs said. "He never forgot the emotion that he saw and felt when he announced that initiative. It was that kind of ability of government to touch the lives of working people and lift them up that got him up in the morning and he never lost sight of those kinds of goals."
Horgan also faced a number of emergencies, inclusive the 2021 wildfire season including the destruction of Lytton, and the 2021 atmospheric river that flooded several communities in the Fraser Valley and the Interior. Then tere was perhaps the defining crisis of Horgan's premiership: the COVID-19 pandemic.
"He respected Bonnie Henry's obligation to give advice that was necessary to protect public health, but he understood it was his job to communicate that advice and to prepare to ground for it where he foresaw difficulties," Meggs said, pointing to the debate around religious services, which "were often at odds with distancing requirements."
Meggs said a meeting with faith leaders, public health officials and ministry officials organized through Horgan's office led to feedback that changed public health orders to accommodate religious observances while remaining consistent with public health needs.
"The same thing happened in business," he said. "Our government's decision was to operate businesses safely rather than shut down business and hope for the storm to pass. We never had closures as profound as they did in some other jurisdictions....so he engaged with people and people saw change as a result of that consultation."
Meggs added this form of communication and consultation gave people a high degree of confidence, while reducing burdens.
"He had a real knack for understanding how public opinion would receive certain issues and then he would give us directions to sit down and work out a plan to reduce those tensions, to ensure the communication was superior, to reduce the impact that it was having on those affected groups."
