I want to say a few words about an old friend, John Horgan. As readers will know, John has been diagnosed with cancer of the larynx.
A lump in his throat has proved malignant, and he is to undergo radiation therapy.
This is his second time around. He successfully fought off bladder cancer some years ago. He’s been told to expect a full recovery, and with good reason. This is a readily treatable form of cancer.
On a personal basis, our friendship was purely happenstance. During the late 1990s, we shared adjacent offices in the provincial Crown Corporations Secretariat.
John has an ear for accents. He picked up immediately on my fading Scottish brogue and serenaded me with tapes of Billy Connolly. Admittedly, that may also have been a jab at my tendency, like Connolly’s, toward words beginning with the earlier letters of the alphabet.
He was, in short, a good companion. But who can tell the ways of fortune?
For all his gaiety and humbleness, I would never have guessed that Horgan would be premier one day.
And not just premier, but according to Angus Reid, the most popular premier in Canada.
Some of that is down to his government’s capable handling of the COVID crisis.
But most of it is a reflection of Horgan’s upbeat personality, along with a willingness, rare in politicians, to admit his mistakes. He’s also made some tough decisions, among them forging ahead with B.C. Hydro’s Site C dam, a move far from popular in his caucus.
Yet that leads to a broader question. What is it, exactly, that determines the popularity of politicians?
I mentioned that Horgan’s popularity rating, at 56 per cent approval, is highest in Canada. Yet it’s also down seven points from June. Is it something he did?
In fact, with one exception (Ontario’s Doug Ford), every premier in the country has seen his popularity slide these last five months.
Quebec’s François Legault has dropped 10 points, Blaine Higgs from New Brunswick is off 17 points, and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe is down 18 points. Jason Kenney from Alberta has seen his popularity plunge to a country-wide low of just 22 per cent.
Did all these leaders mess up?
Kenney, widely seen as having mishandled the COVID crisis, certainly did. After unwisely declaring the pandemic “over” in July, he stood by helplessly as the new Delta strain of the virus clobbered the province’s hospitals.
Though even then, how much room did he have? Alberta is home to some of the most adamant anti-vaxxers on the face of the planet. You could sell a good chunk of his caucus on the notion that Pfizer and Moderna are communist spy agencies.
The point being that even competent leaders such as Horgan and Legault can bleed support when matters beyond their control grab public attention.
At times like these, you wonder why anyone would get into politics when doing a first-rate job might not be good enough.
Though against a diagnosis of cancer, such matters hardly count.
I’m sure John will beat this affliction. He is, like Alan Breck in Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Kidnapped, a “bonnie fechter.”
I wish him all the best.
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