Staffing up begins as NDP gets ready

L ast time Don Wright tried this move, it blew up in his face.

The veteran public- and private-sector executive was running BCIT in 2013 when then-opposition leader Adrian Dix asked him to join the NDP government as the top deputy minister. There was one small hitch — it was three months before the election, and there was the matter of having to win it before the offer could take effect.

Wright took the chance anyway. He resigned from the high-paying BCIT job and joined the transition team in short order. Then he watched with everyone else as the sure-thing NDP victory evaporated, leaving him high and dry.

“I don’t have a Plan B,” he told a reporter a week after the stunning 2013 results. (Ruefully.) Based on his top-notch reputation as a former deputy minister, forest company executive and education leader, an alternative plan developed in short order. He became CEO of Central One Credit Union, a wholesaler of services to other credit unions, with $17 billion in assets.

When the NDP came calling again, this time he waited until after the election. Central One went public with the news he’d given his notice 10 days after the election. Then he waited out the weeks with everyone else until the NDP-Green takeover of the B.C. Liberal government succeeded. His new job was announced Tuesday, deputy minister to the cabinet, cabinet secretary and head of the public service.

Two other men were named to positions slightly lower on the pecking order. Vancouver city Coun. Geoff Meggs, soon to resign, will become premier-designate John Horgan’s chief of staff. Bob Dewar, Horgan’s present chief of staff and manager of the NDP’s 2017 election campaign, will become his special adviser.

Meggs and Dewar share something in common that might come up again as the NDP starts the rush job of repopulating the upper echelons of political appointees — a lengthy track record with public-sector unions.

Dewar was executive director of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union for 14 years prior to moving to B.C. last year. Meggs was an official at various times with the Hospital Employees’ Union, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the B.C. Federation of Labour, along with a stint with the NDP government of the 1990s.

They also have experience as highlevel political aides. Dewar was chief of staff to former Manitoba NDP premier Gary Doer for the first four years of his tenure in that office. Meggs was communications director to former B.C. NDP premier Glen Clark and did a similar job for former Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell before entering civic politics there.

The added dimension to all three jobs is the confidence-and-supply agreement the NDP signed with the B.C. Green Party. It requires the government to maintain constant consultation and communication with the three-member Green caucus. But it’s not just a one-way flow. The deal also gives the Greens full access to any number of meetings and officials. They don’t have to wait to be copied on policies or correspondence. They can demand access to it, as well.

A significant part of the jobs that Wright, Meggs and Dewar (who sat in the NDP-Green negotiations that led to the agreement) will be doing is keeping the Greens onside, by following the cardinal rule: “Good faith and no surprises.” (The Greens were informed of the appointments last week.)

To recap that deal, the Greens had to bend on some policy initiatives, such as changing the voting system without a referendum.

But they bargained for considerable access to the workings of the NDP government.

Under the terms, Horgan has to huddle with Weaver on all legislation, policy and budget matters.

“To ensure that the Green caucus is informed about the policy agenda … the NDP government agrees to provide access to key documents and officials.”

An appendix to the deal stipulates that that includes deputy minister and staff briefings, executive summaries and full briefings as requested by the Greens.

That’s how it looks on paper. In real life, it means the trio of new hires will make an extra round of consultations on just about every move.