Barrie Clark really said that

The wit and wisdom of Barrie Clark, from his nine years on Kelowna city council:

Clark hosted a popular talk radio show in Vancouver in the 1970s, when the standards of the day precluded discussing religion, sex and politics. “Given that,” he said in 2008, “I can’t remember what we actually did talk about.”

In 2003, he said Kelowna city council should do something to make proceedings less dull, in hopes of drawing wider civic interest to civic affairs: “It will be a challenge to make our deliberations appear sexy, but it would have its rewards in a more receptive audience.”

Also in 2003, he resisted the name Cultural District being applied for a section of downtown with the library, museums and arts centres. “To me, Cultural District says nothing. There are loads of pioneer names or something that says industry, packing house, cannery.”

In 2003, he hoped the then-new Walmart would open a gas station: “Unless we get a competitive gas station, we will never see gas prices in Kelowna come down.”

Asked in 2004 how he voted federally, Clark said: “I did some strange things in university, but since then I’ve always voted Liberal.”

Clark, a former provincial rentalsman, long favoured a guaranteed annual income for people rather than subsidized housing, which he said was a form of stigmatization. “If people had an adequate income, the housing would appear almost overnight.”

In 2005, he mocked a city proposal to allow only unamplified stringed music to be played on restaurant patios: “I don’t know what’s wrong with the flute and harmonica. And the trumpet is the most common instrument in New Orleans.”

Also at a meeting in 2006, Coun. Andre Blanleil wore a pair of sunglasses to conceal a big black eye he’d suffered playing softball. Blanleil occasionally took off the glasses during the proceedings, prompting Clark to wince and say: “Please, Andre, put them back on.”

In 2007, Clark was the only councillor who didn’t want the Westside to join Kelowna: “I do not believe bigger is better. If I was a voter on the Westside, I would vote in favour of incorporation.”