‘Flying Phil’ was province’s most prolific public works builder

To mark our country’s 150th birthday, we are counting down to Canada Day with profiles of 150 noteworthy British Columbians

He was “Flying Phil” to enthusiasts, “Sorry Phil” to detractors.

B.C.’s minister of highways and public works left his mark on everyone, even the amused men he caught slacking on road work. Phil Gaglardi swooped down to fire them. But he couldn’t. They were farmers fixing a fence.

The “Flying” nickname came from speeding tickets acquired on highways he was building at a feverish pace — he lost his driver’s licence several times. “Sorry,” though, came from the signs apologizing for traffic delays caused by road-paving projects.

Gaglardi was a fountain of colourful sayings. “The only time I tell a lie is when I think I am telling the truth,” he assured the Legislature.

He left no doubt where he stood on issues from abortion (vehemently opposed) to development (vehemently in favour).

“Those trees weren’t put on that mountain by God to be praised,” he said. “They were put there to be chopped down.”

Born at Silverdale on Jan. 13, 1913, he was one of the 11 children of John and Dominica Gaglardi, immigrants from Italy homesteading near Mission. He left school at 14 and became a bulldozer operator.

Jennie Sundin, whom he later married, influenced his conversion to Pentecostalism. He studied at Northwest Bible College, and in 1938 became a pastor for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. He first settled in Langley and then, in 1944, became pastor at Calvary Temple in Kamloops.

Gaglardi ran successfully for Social Credit in 1952 and W.A.C. Bennett appointed him minister of public works and later highways. He launched a furious program of paving roads and building modern highways across a mountainous province equal in area to France and Spain combined.

But “Flying Phil” crashed in 1968. He had been flying family relatives around on a government jet. Bennett fired him.

He returned in 1969 as minister of rehabilitation and social improvement, but never recovered the magic touch he’d enjoyed as highways minister. He served as mayor of Kamloops from 1988 to 1990, and died Sept. 23, 1995.

Gaglardi Square in his hometown, a restful shade garden with an Italianate fountain and a statue, commemorates his boisterous place in B.C.’s history.