Socred leader mourned party’s end as ‘sad day’
Her candidacy folded when Brian Smith edged ahead of her on the third ballot. She was dropped from the race and refused to back Smith, giving Vander Zalm the eventual victory.
Vander Zalm appointed her economic development minister in his first cabinet after the 1986 election. She oversaw the sale of the valuable Expo lands to Hong Kong businessman Li Ka-shing for $150 million, a sum many critics said was far too low.
The sale of the Expo lands also put her into conflict with Vander Zalm, who allegedly submitted a bid by a friend, businessman Peter Toigo, after bidding was closed. McCarthy resigned from cabinet in 1988, citing repeated interference by Vander Zalm in her ministry and power held by the premier’s principal secretary, David Poole, whom McCarthy disliked intensely.
Poole was forced to resign several months later, and that seemed to dissipate McCarthy’s tension with the premier. However, she again lashed out at Vander Zalm, saying she had been told privately by some cabinet ministers that they thought Vander Zalm should quit. McCarthy urged those ministers to resign, but that attempt to stoke the growing revolt against Vander Zalm failed when no ministers took her advice.
The free-enterprise coalition that McCarthy and the Bennetts represented fell apart under Vander Zalm. Urban fiscal conservatives became disenchanted with his leadership style and his attempt to shift more control of the party to social conservatives.
McCarthy, reflecting this dissension, described Vander Zalm’s anti-abortion policies as “disastrous” for the party.
After Vander Zalm was forced to resign over conflict-of-interest allegations, McCarthy again sought the leadership. She lost by 60 votes to premier Rita Johnston in a rancorous convention in 1991.
Under Johnston, the Socreds lost badly in the 1991 election, which was won by the NDP. Social Credit became the third party in the legislature, with only six MLAs.
After sitting out the 1991 election in an apparent retirement from politics, McCarthy jumped back into the ring in 1993 to fight again for the party leadership. Her third attempt prompted Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer to call her the “eternal candidate.”
McCarthy won the leadership, but Social Credit had only six seats in the legislature and had been replaced by the B.C. Liberals as the main centre-right alternative to the NDP. Her last-ditch attempt to resurrect the Socreds was terminated by a byelection loss in Matsqui.
She resigned as party leader a few months later and bid farewell to politics. She said her Matsqui byelection loss combined with internal feuding made her job impossible.
“There’s been a lot of internal strife, as you know, and although I think most of it is behind us now, it has really worn me down,” McCarthy said. “I feel I’d really like to be free of it.”
She admitted she was frustrated by her party’s rough shape.
“Politics is always fun in some ways if you’re bitten by the political bug. But you have to feel that you’re getting somewhere with something. You have to feel a sense of accomplishment,” she said.
She told reporters at the time that she shouldn’t have allowed herself to be pressured into seeking the leadership a third time.
While famous for being upbeat, McCarthy’s tone was sad when she was asked about the collapse of Social Credit. “It broke up from within. When it did, it was a sad day for free enterprise in the province, because people always needed a made-in-B. C. party to put their vote,” she said.
In the 1996 election, the Socreds lost all their remaining seats and received only 0.4 per cent of the vote.
After her exit from politics, McCarthy found other outlets for her fabled energy.
After her granddaughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, McCarthy helped establish the CHILD Foundation, raising funds for research to help children with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
McCarthy’s other highlights include being made an officer of the Order of Canada, an honorary doctor of laws from UBC and Simon Fraser University, honorary fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, honorary doctor of technology from BCIT, order of distinguished service worldwide from the Salvation Army, Lions International’s highest award, marketer of the year, the Brotherhood Interfaith Award, Variety Golden Heart Award and being named one of B.C.’s top 10 citizens of the century. There is even a Grace McCarthy Highway in Israel.
Hers was a very public life of achievement and controversy. She once said of her approach to life: “People who don’t take risks or who don’t take any steps forward — you don’t hear much about them.”