Campbell Looks Ahead Post Leadership Vote

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C.- This morning, the Meisner program conducted one last interview with Gordon Campbell as Premier. 

With just two days left in the post, Campbell says he has a wish list of project he would like to see come to completion, including the pipeline projects. “There’s a huge energy corridor that could go across the north, I really would like to get those happening, I think it will work not just for the North but for all of the province.”

Campbell has long been an advocate for a streamlined environmental assessment process and says he would still like to see a “ one project one process” system. “It will make a huge difference in mining.”

Campbell was quick to offer praise for the work of Minister of Forests Pat Bell to establish forestry trade with China “It is just beginning to be noticed by British Columbians, I was talking to the CEO of Canfor the other day and he said, you know, he remembered the first time he went to China with us and we talked about how big the market could be there, and he was saying to us, today, there’s 650 people working for Canfor, who wouldn’t be working if the China market wasn’t open. Again, Pat Bell has done a superb job there.”

He says this is now the time to really drive forward with the Cariboo Connector. “That will be helpful not just to the north, but to the entire central part of the Province. Shirley Bond has done a great job with that and is going to continue. I think, frankly, when I think of the North, and I think of what has happened in the last ten years, I think the whole North has a sense of itself now that is quite a bit different than it used to be, I think there’s real confidence in Prince George. Prince George used to say it was the capital of the North, and I think Northerners now say Prince George is the capital of the North. It is very important the shift that has taken place there, and it is vitally important to our future.”

Campbell says Northerners should continue to press for three things, “I do think the Cariboo Connector is really important because it is a connector, it continues to push Prince George as an intermodal facility and continues to push Prince George as the Northern Capital. You’ve got to keep pushing the educational infrastructure, UNBC and the design centre, these are going to be critically important to Prince George as they go forward.”

Campbell says he believes that when people have done a good job, they should be told so, and he was not short of praise for  Prince George MLA’s Shirley Bond and Pat Bell “Shirley Bond and Pat Bell are exceptional British Columbians, They never forget from where they’ve come, they never forget they are MLA’s first, but they also understand that when we work together as British Columbians we can accomplish so much more for every part of the province. I think Prince George should have a real sense of pride in the MLA’s you’ve sent to Victoria certainly the ones you have sent to Victoria with me have been great spokespeople, great executives in terms of the Cabinet.”

The Premier says despite what may have been said during his tenure, he did not make all the decisions in isolation “ In terms of one man making all the decisions, that’s just nonsense. Guess who decided there was going to be a northern medical school? It wasn’t Gordon Campbell, it was northerners, it was Prince George. Guess who decided there was going to be a Northern Cancer Clinic? It was northerners.   If I did something to allow that to take place, to encourage that to take place you know what? I’m glad I did. And if I kept people on track so we could accomplish it, that’s my job. Why do we have a container facility in Prince Rupert? Prince Rupert Council really wanted it, they drove for it, they asked for it, we helped in lots of ways that we could and now they’ve got one. One of the great benefits   I had, is that I was elected in 2001 with a huge caucus that all knew what they wanted to do. We had to balance the budget, we had to get the economy on track, we have to drive forward and we had to start recognizing the whole province benefits when you think about what you can do for each part of the province. And the north is a very, very important part of British Columbia, it always has been for me.”

He says the next leader may have their own vision, but they will still have caucus members from all over the province who will be pressing on issues such as resource expansion and improving the economy and sustaining health care, “They are going to have some big tough issues to deal with but you know what? I think they are up to the task ,and I’m sure the new leader is going to be very excited about taking it on.”

Premier Campbell realizes that come Sunday morning, his life will change. Accustomed to working 18 to 20 hours a day, as of Sunday, he will be unemployed “I think there is a real period of decompression that comes on.  The advice I’ve heard from a lot of people is ‘take your time, don’t rush it.’ Yes you’re going to change, I don’t know if you remember, but I worked in Nigeria for two years. When I moved to Nigeria, you could actually feel yourself changing, you could feel your body changing, everything changes so I think it’s going to be the same thing here. So guess what Ben, after Saturday, no one’s calling me to be a guest on an open line show, no one’s going to ask me about what I think about x, y and z. The world will change for me, the phone is not going to ring as much, I’m not going to have a schedule that starts at 7 in the morning and ends at 10 at night, there are adjustments that will have to be made. I can tell you, I feel lighter, and better, and I’m actually pretty excited about what can happen, I don’t  know what it will be, but I’m excited about what can happen in the new few years for me.”

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