Gordon Campbell

Categories: 1947 births | British Columbia premiers | Mayors of Vancouver | People convicted of drunk driving

For the recipient of the Victoria Cross, see Gordon Campbell, VC

For the Scottish Conservative politician, see Gordon Campbell, Baron Campbell of Croy

The Honourable Gordon Muir Campbell, BA, MBA, MLA, (born January 12, 1948) is the current Premier of British Columbia. He is the leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party, which holds a majority in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

Rise to power

Campbell attended public school (University Hill) in Vancouver, British Columbia. He then studied at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. He later earned a Master of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.

From 1986 to 1993, Campbell served as the Mayor of Vancouver for three terms. He was also a secondary school teacher, basketball and track coach in Yola, Nigeria, working under the auspices of CUSO.

Campbell and his wife Nancy, a school principal at Howe Sound Secondary School in Squamish, BC, have two sons Geoffery and Nicholas.

Campbell became leader of the BC Liberal Party in 1993. His party failed to be elected to power in the 1996 BC provincial election despite winning a plurality of the vote. He remained opposition leader under New Democratic Party Premiers Glen Clark, Dan Miller and Ujjal Dosanjh. Under Clark and his successors, the NDP's approval rating dropped into the low teens and in the BC election of 2001 Campbell's Liberals defeated the NDP, taking 77 of 79 seats in the legislature.

Although he is leader of a nominally liberal party, Campbell is identified more as a small-c conservative, The BC Liberal Party has no formal ties to the Liberal Party of Canada, and is essentially a centre-right coalition of federal Conservatives and right-leaning federal Liberals.

The Campbell government

As a first step in government, Campbell announced a twenty-five per cent reduction in personal income taxes, by reducing taxes on the first $60,000 of income. Campbell later reduced income taxes in the higher income brackets as well. As British Columbians pay taxes of the first part of their income at the initial rate, then move on to the next rate, those in higher tax brackets benifited proportionatly more than those in the bottom brackets. For example, a person earning $30,000 per year would have a saving of approximately $500, while a person at $150,000 per year got a tax cut of $5,800 (about twelve times greater). The top 0.03% of tax payers received 14.00% of the total tax cut.[1] To pay for the tax cuts, the government reduced the staff complement in its ministries, cut programs and services, closed hospitals and schools, and announced a plan to eliminate one-third of all regulations then in force. The popularity of his government declined through late 2003 and early 2004. In spring 2003, surveys showed that the Liberals trailing the NDP in public opinion for the first time since 1994. Supporters of Campbell claimed that the measures would soon pay for itself in economic returns. The critics of the government claim that these tax cuts do not help lower and middle income British Columbians, since they have to pay more for services. Government supporters state that the after greater economic returns, there will be money availiable for services.

In April/May 2004, Campbell narrowly avoided a General Strike after introducing Bill 37 in the provincial legislature. The Bill, was intended to force striking hospital workers back on the job, along with imposing a 15% retroactive wage rollback, layoffs, extension of the workweek, and outsourcing of union jobs. The passing of the bill led to immediate striking througout BC, in both the public and private sectors. The BC Federation of Labour had also announced plans for a general strike which would have included teachers, transit and ferry workers, mill, steel and forestry workers, garbage and city maintenance workers, as well as library, community and recreation centre employees. The general strike was set to begin on May 3. [2] On May 2, Justice Robert Bowman of the BC Supreme Court ruled that the healthcare unions were in contempt for continuing the withdrawal of services, and with the threat of large fines, the hospital workers union signed a compromise with the BC Government and the strike was called off.

Gordon Campbell is one of several BC politicians who has endorsed the idea of electoral reform. Cambell's Liberals received the Popular Vote in the 1996 provincial elction, yet lost in overall seat count to the BCNDP. Because of this, Campbell questioned the NDP mandate, and therefore the legitimacy of the first past the post system. Prior to the 2001 election, Gordon Campbell made political reform and electoral reform a campaign promise. The 2001 election further exposed the non-proportional nature of the electoral system, this time in favor of Campbell's Liberals who received fifty-seven percent of the popular vote, but won ninety-seven percent of the seats. Smaller parties, such as BC's Green Party, have long been proponents of electoral reform.

Following through with their promises of reform, the new Campbell administration introduced presidential style fixed-term elections for BC, departing from the standard British parliamentary procedure. Campbell also founded a Citizens' Assembly composed of randomly-selected British Columbians from around the province. The Assembly advised adopting the Single Transferable Vote system in future elections. Whether or not to adopt STV was put to a province-wide referendum.

The Liberals have been publically criticised by supporters of electoral reform for underfunding the Citizens Assembly efforts. A poll held by Ipsos-Reid one month before the election showed only 50% of British Columbians were "Aware Of either Citizens’ Assembly or upcoming referendum".[3] Supporters point out that at the same time, the government put millions into the controversial Achieve BC ads (the total cost remains hidden.) The Citizens Assembly's choice of BC-STV, led to criticism from across the political spectrum. BC-STV allows voters to rank preference over a list of candidates from each party, removing power from the traditional Party Nomination. By focusing attention on individual candidates, BC-STV would discourage parachute candidates and lessen the number of "safe seats." Corporations, Unions, and many of the political elite such as Bill Tieleman, Christy Clark, and Adriane Carr (who later changed her position) spoke out against BC-STV. Despite this, STV garnered 57.39% support, falling slightly short of the sixty percent required to pass.[4].

Campbell removed the six-year long tuition freeze that was placed on the BC universities and colleges by the NDP government. The tuition freeze had made BC tuition rates among the lowest in Canada. Since Gordon Cambell's election, tuition fees have risen by an average of 88.0%. [5]

Premier Campbell was a key figure in promoting Vancouver's successful bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. He led the "Yes Team" in celebration when the International Olympic Committee announced the selection of Vancouver/Whistler in July 2003.

Since taking office, the Liberal government has faced a number of issues including the imposition of tariffs by the U.S. government on the importation of BC softwood, forest fires, an on-going infestation in central BC forests of the Mountain Pine Beetle, and a momentary downturn in tourism following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the outbreak in Vancouver of SARS in the spring of 2003.

He also had to deal with a series of scandals, both personal and political. In the "Doug Walls affair", Doug Walls, a relation of Campbell by marriage, was awarded a government contract, which resulted in Gordon Hogg the MLA for Surrey-White Rock, and Minister of Children and Families, resigning from cabinet in 2003. Campbell was arrested for drunk driving in January 2003 in Hawai'i, although that did not seem to have any negative effects for his government. Supporters claim that his apology, and subsequent plea of no contest, showed a more human side, as opposed to the "cold and heartless" image that many British Columbians held of him. In December 2003, the Legislative buildings were raided, and two Liberal staffers were charged with drug-related crimes.

Campbell has occasionally scored lower in poll ratings than his opponent, the NDP and its leader Carole James. His party and his personal popularity has made a comeback to around 46%, the same level of support they reached in the 2005 general election. Campbell has consistently trailed his party in popularity, and many consider his leadership as a detriment to the Liberal party. A majority of British Columbians disapprove of his personal performance as Premier. [6] Many argue that during his first election as Liberal leader in 1996, British Columbians' un-ease with him helped the NDP hold onto enough of its seats from 1991 to win re-election, and keep Reform Party supporters from moving to the Liberals, which many claim helped the NDP to hold onto various seats in the Interior of the province.

In the May 17, 2005 election, Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals won a second majority government (albeit with fewer seats), making Campbell the first premier of BC to win a second term in 22 years.