The word on John Horgan used to be that he was too impatient and blustery to lead the left-leaning New Democratic Party in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, and Horgan became leader as the party was sixteen years in opposition and despairing of its come-from-ahead defeat in the 2013 provincial election.
The pundits underestimated the onetime lacrosse player, who represents a riding (district) along the Strait of Juan de Fuca west of Victoria.
Horgan, sixty-two, brought the NDP back to forty-one (of eighty-seven) seats in the 2017 election and forged a barebones governing alliance with three legislators from the Green Party. The alliance made him premier.
Horgan effectively governed for three years before jettisoning power sharing with the Greens and calling a snap election in the fall of 2020.
The election gave New Democrats a majority in the Legislature and breakthroughs in areas, e.g. Fraser Valley/Langley and Richmond, long dominated by the (not-very-liberal) Liberal Party.
The NDP’s record handling the coronavirus, with daily lay-it-out briefings by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix, helped it to victory. The Liberals have lost ground in urban and suburban regions of the province, and are now largely a party of rural and interior British Columbia.
The past week saw Horgan mark four years and 109 days in the premier’s office, a record for NDP premiers.
He is the lone party leader who’s been able to twice take the New Democrats to power, with the party capturing a record 47.7% of the vote in 2020.
But the best of times can be painful times.
As the anniversary arrived, Horgan informed the province – in a manner “characteristically direct” in words of Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer – that he was going under the knife to have a growth in his throat removed.
A day later, a second direct message: “The pathology confirmed that the growth in my throat was cancerous,” said Horgan.
“My prognosis is good and I expect to make a full recovery. In the next couple of weeks, I will need to start radiation treatment, which will conclude toward the end of December. I will continue to participate virtually in briefings, cabinet and other important meetings. If in-person events, minister Mike Farnworth and other cabinet ministers may attend in my place.”
Insults fly across the floor of the B.C. Legislature during debate.
Horgan is known for pounding the Liberals on their (many) misdeeds while running the province for sixteen years. Yet, across the spectrum, Hogan’s illness has produced warm wishes for recovery.
“We will be thinking of him in the weeks and months ahead, and I certainly look forward to a time when he will return, in good health, to the Legislature so we can return to the vigorous debate that he and I usually engage in,” interim Liberal Party leader Shirley Bond told a scrum of reporters in Victoria.
A prominent conservative in Canadian politics, Ontario Premier John Ford, intoned: “John, you are a fighter. We’re cheering you on here in Ontario.”
Horgan survived bladder cancer more than a decade ago, describing the initial diagnosis to the Globe and Mail as lie “getting hit by a big, huge baseball bat.”
The New Democrats embrace conflicting constituencies, e.g. environmentalists and timber unions. Unlike America’s divided Democrats, they have demonstrated remarkable discipline while governing. The party has fielded able Cabinet ministers, such as Dix, who are responsible for presenting their own budgets and defending their departments on the floor of the Legislature.
Even controversial decisions, such as COVID-19 caused travel restrictions within the province (now ended) have generated little protest.
The Legislative Assembly is currently meeting in Victoria.
With resumption of service on the M.V. Coho, you can sail over from Port Angeles and watch a disciplined government moving ahead with its agenda.
As Horgan prepared for surgery, the B.C. government announced major deferrals of logging old-growth forests across the province. The reform of forest policy will involve extensive consultations with Aboriginal First Nations.
The government is tabling consumer protection legislation aimed at creating safeguards for those purchasing new and resold housing in B.C.’s ever-hot real estate market. Before “the Leg” goes home in December, it is expected to create buffer zones around schools and health care facilities to prevent harassment by anti-vaccine protests.
“I look forward to being back in the Legislature and traveling in the new year,” Horgan said in his announcement.
The travel will likely take Horgan south to “the States” where Horgan and Washington State Jay Inslee are promoting improved Amtrak service and possibly even ultra high-speed rail between B.C.‘s Vancouver and Eugene, Oregon.
Wrote Palmer:
“He’s beaten the odds before and has every reason to think he can do so again.”
Saturday, November 6th, 2021
British Columbia Premier John Horgan: Comfortable in power, but embarking on his second fight with cancer
The word on John Horgan used to be that he was too impatient and blustery to lead the left-leaning New Democratic Party in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, and Horgan became leader as the party was sixteen years in opposition and despairing of its come-from-ahead defeat in the 2013 provincial election.
The pundits underestimated the onetime lacrosse player, who represents a riding (district) along the Strait of Juan de Fuca west of Victoria.
Horgan, sixty-two, brought the NDP back to forty-one (of eighty-seven) seats in the 2017 election and forged a barebones governing alliance with three legislators from the Green Party. The alliance made him premier.
Horgan effectively governed for three years before jettisoning power sharing with the Greens and calling a snap election in the fall of 2020.
The election gave New Democrats a majority in the Legislature and breakthroughs in areas, e.g. Fraser Valley/Langley and Richmond, long dominated by the (not-very-liberal) Liberal Party.
The NDP’s record handling the coronavirus, with daily lay-it-out briefings by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix, helped it to victory. The Liberals have lost ground in urban and suburban regions of the province, and are now largely a party of rural and interior British Columbia.
The past week saw Horgan mark four years and 109 days in the premier’s office, a record for NDP premiers.
He is the lone party leader who’s been able to twice take the New Democrats to power, with the party capturing a record 47.7% of the vote in 2020.
But the best of times can be painful times.
As the anniversary arrived, Horgan informed the province – in a manner “characteristically direct” in words of Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer – that he was going under the knife to have a growth in his throat removed.
A day later, a second direct message: “The pathology confirmed that the growth in my throat was cancerous,” said Horgan.
“My prognosis is good and I expect to make a full recovery. In the next couple of weeks, I will need to start radiation treatment, which will conclude toward the end of December. I will continue to participate virtually in briefings, cabinet and other important meetings. If in-person events, minister Mike Farnworth and other cabinet ministers may attend in my place.”
Insults fly across the floor of the B.C. Legislature during debate.
Horgan is known for pounding the Liberals on their (many) misdeeds while running the province for sixteen years. Yet, across the spectrum, Hogan’s illness has produced warm wishes for recovery.
“We will be thinking of him in the weeks and months ahead, and I certainly look forward to a time when he will return, in good health, to the Legislature so we can return to the vigorous debate that he and I usually engage in,” interim Liberal Party leader Shirley Bond told a scrum of reporters in Victoria.
A prominent conservative in Canadian politics, Ontario Premier John Ford, intoned: “John, you are a fighter. We’re cheering you on here in Ontario.”
Horgan survived bladder cancer more than a decade ago, describing the initial diagnosis to the Globe and Mail as lie “getting hit by a big, huge baseball bat.”
The New Democrats embrace conflicting constituencies, e.g. environmentalists and timber unions. Unlike America’s divided Democrats, they have demonstrated remarkable discipline while governing. The party has fielded able Cabinet ministers, such as Dix, who are responsible for presenting their own budgets and defending their departments on the floor of the Legislature.
Even controversial decisions, such as COVID-19 caused travel restrictions within the province (now ended) have generated little protest.
The Legislative Assembly is currently meeting in Victoria.
With resumption of service on the M.V. Coho, you can sail over from Port Angeles and watch a disciplined government moving ahead with its agenda.
As Horgan prepared for surgery, the B.C. government announced major deferrals of logging old-growth forests across the province. The reform of forest policy will involve extensive consultations with Aboriginal First Nations.
The government is tabling consumer protection legislation aimed at creating safeguards for those purchasing new and resold housing in B.C.’s ever-hot real estate market. Before “the Leg” goes home in December, it is expected to create buffer zones around schools and health care facilities to prevent harassment by anti-vaccine protests.
“I look forward to being back in the Legislature and traveling in the new year,” Horgan said in his announcement.
The travel will likely take Horgan south to “the States” where Horgan and Washington State Jay Inslee are promoting improved Amtrak service and possibly even ultra high-speed rail between B.C.‘s Vancouver and Eugene, Oregon.
Wrote Palmer:
“He’s beaten the odds before and has every reason to think he can do so again.”
# Written by Joel Connelly :: 6:47 PM
Categories: Public Service
Tags: COVID-19 Pandemic
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