‘ALL OF US TOUCHED’
Premier John Horgan, speaking at a Vancouver memorial on Sunday for former B.C. premier Dave Barrett, said He was compelled to join the NDP after Hearing Barrett speaking to a crowd of 30,000 at a 1983 rally protesting government restraint.
VICTORIA Dave Barrett, B.C.’s first New Democrat premier, was remembered on the weekend for stepping in and stepping up with policies protecting everything from farmland to seniors and even children’s behinds threatened by the strap.
About 800 people gathered at the University of Victoria’s Farquhar Auditorium on Saturday for a state memorial service for Barrett, who died last month in Victoria after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 87.
Hundreds more attended a memorial service Sunday at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver.
Premier John Horgan spoke at both events, describing Barrett as the most captivating political orator he has ever seen and will likely ever see.
“Dave had an ability to capture your heart, mind and soul,” Horgan said Saturday. “Dave had a knack.”
Horgan said he will always remember Barrett’s speeches.
They started slowly, but within minutes his shirt sleeves were rolled up and his foot was on a chair and he was loudly proclaiming the best way to help people, especially those considered underdogs.
Horgan said he joined the NDP after hearing Barrett speak to a crowd of 30,000 in 1983 at a rally protesting government restraint.
“The meaning of social justice, of compassion, of caring for all British Columbians, not just a select few but everybody, that’s what Dave Barrett was about,” Horgan said. “It was in the morning, in the afternoon and before he went to bed.”
In the three years that he was premier, a record 357 bills were passed. His still-enduring political accomplishments include the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Insurance Corp. of B.C., the B.C. Ambulance Service, Pharmacare for seniors, the B.C. Day holiday and the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools.
“All of us were touched by Dave Barrett,” Horgan said. “It’s a legacy that will never be seen again.”
Barrett studied social work, but later turned to politics and was elected as MLA in 1960.
In 1972 he became leader of the NDP, and the party made history by defeating the five-term Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett.
The New Democrats were voted out in 1975, but Barrett remained leader of the party until 1984.
He then moved onto federal politics and was a member of Parliament from 1988 to 1993.
Barrett is survived by his wife, Shirley, children Dan, Joe and Jane, and four grandchildren.