A policy wonk ahead of the times
Pat McGeer’s defence of his decision in the late 1970s to double ICBC rates was a masterpiece of legislature oratory.
He painted the corporation as being technically in receivership, unable to meet that month’s payroll, hours away from bankruptcy. Into that nightmare strode a lone hero, determined to do the right thing, who happened to be McGeer himself, the chairman of ICBC’s board.
His rescue mission prompted a revolt. It heightened when he told broadcaster Jack Webster that if people couldn’t afford it, they should sell their cars.
Thousands of people jammed the PNE Agrodome in Vancouver and the legislature lawn to protest. He got death threats decades before that became part of the political norm.
“Stick it in your ear, McGeer” was the rallying cry.
In response, the nonchalant cabinet minister read a letter from the Canadian Hearing Society into the legislature record. “We wish to inform you that sticking anything in your ear can be very dangerous…”
McGeer died at 95, hyper-fit to the end and only recently going grey. He leaves behind a mountain of political memories. Research scientists don’t turn up in politics very often. Polymath geniuses with a knack for being ahead of the curve and speaking their mind regardless of consequences are even rarer.
He entered politics as the product of an established Vancouver family and a scientific wizard who was deep into brain research. He was high scorer for the UBC basketball team that beat the Harlem Globetrotters, and a member of Canada’s team for the 1948 Olympics.
He continued his research, particularly into Alzheimer’s, through a rock ‘em sock ‘em political career that spanned the 1960s to the 1980s. He was an ardent critic of
W.A.C. Bennett’s Social Credit government when he was Liberal leader. (They retaliated once by having an operative phone in to an open-line show McGeer was on and inquire: “Hey doc, are you still sticking needles into monkey’s brains?”)
He was an even more enthusiastic critic of Dave Barrett’s NDP government. Then he converted to the Socreds and served three terms as a cabinet minister in Bill Bennett’s government, generating headlines every other day.
He was a wonk of the first order. His friend and colleague Alan Williams once said: “To Pat, Lawrence Welk is a psychedelic experience.”
McGeer was also wickedly funny at times in the legislature.
The NDP used to go crazy over Socred Phil Gaglardi’s penchant for private jets. Once in power, they bought two Citation jets themselves.
“Two Citations, Mr. Speaker!” thundered McGeer. “Those are the only two citations they’re ever going to get.” (Sidenote: He is one of the most often-cited researchers in Canada.)
His decision to abandon the Liberals bulked up the Socred vote enough to win several elections. The extra boost he gave Bennett entitled him to run wild and free on whatever topic captured his fancy.
Once in cabinet, he devoted time to thinking of B.C.’s future in high-tech and scientific research and development at a time when resource extraction was still the main game. He was perpetually spinning ideas for B.C.’s future and many of them did take hold. Someone once called him the “Minister of Science Fiction.”
McGeer’s name comes up in the origin stories of many B.C. intellectual endeavours.
Former aide Jane Burnes told the Vancouver Sun that when McGeer hired her away from the premier’s office, Bennett said her new boss would have 10 new ideas a week, and her job was to make sure he didn’t hear about the five bad ones.
The old card index at the Legislature Library lists hundreds of newspaper stories about him.
He once ridiculed the B.C. wine industry, saying it all tasted like jet fuel. That led to a blind taste testing at the Empress, where he identified eight different wines correctly, including Calona, Andres and Uncle Ben’s.
(He picked the entries himself, which may have been a cheat. But he made Time magazine nonetheless. And B.C. vintners did raise their game.)
It’s a tribute to his personality that he’s best known for an idea that never went anywhere — the bridge to Vancouver Island.
Seven years ago, I wrote a column about how the idea is physically impossible and will never happen.
McGeer called from his lab at UBC and barked: “Complete nonsense. Narrowminded, unimaginative thinking. You can quote me.”
Who knows? Maybe he was just further ahead of the curve than usual.