My somewhat tenuous connection to eastern Canada is that I was born in Perth, Ontario (where my parents were for the summer), and lived the first two years of my life in Sherbrooke, Quebec, while my father attended McGill University.
My formative years and most of my adult life were spent in Alberta (1948 – 2011), where I received a public school education and an undergraduate degree (from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton), in Political Science and History.
I grew up in urban neighbourhoods that I remember as being homogeneous, inter-generational, egalitarian, self-actualizing, and very stable/’safe’. Edmonton, within the limits of the day, was ethnically diverse. First languages, last names and favourite food dishes originated in many parts of Europe, or in China, but not (that I remember) in Africa, South America, Oceania or most parts of Asis.
The family of my childhood was a single income family. My father was a minister of a mainline Christian denomination. I grew up under the influence of the ‘social gospel’ at a time when the mainline Christian church was a political force to be reckoned with. My mother would have been identified as a ‘homemaker’, and she was very involved in the life of the church. Both of my parents spoke out about the condition of the community, and contributed to justice-seeking.
I was politically aware by the time I was 10. As a teen-ager, I was involved with the debate club, the U.N. club, and student government. I told my high school friends that I would one day be Prime Minister of Canada.
I was born at the front end of the ‘baby boom’, into a privileged family, in a privileged neighbourhood, in a privileged (albeit ‘frontier’) city, province, and country. I came of age when triumph, opportunity, and (the search for) justice seemed to be the operative words. Word War II had been won, and the economic/industrial transformation of N. America was remarkable. Systems had solved great problems and, it was said, would solve any problem (as the U.S. Secretary of Defense believed about the end of the war in Viet Nam). The U.S. government had declared a War on Poverty. Young adults were riding buses into the southern States to register black voters. They were demanding free speech. They were protesting the war in Viet Nam. The Company of Young Canadians and the U.S. Peace Corps were sending young people around the world to do good work.
In 1967, with a couple of years of university and a couple of years of political work behind me, (and a lifetime of privilege) I was sure (as were many of my peers), that I knew how the ‘older generation’ had messed things up, and what needed to be done to fix the remaining problems. I was sure we had the energy, education, and imagination to create eternal well-being, for all.
From the age of 19 I was immersed in partisan politics for 29 years, as a ‘progressive conservative’ (Red Tory), including 15 years as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and 7 years as a Cabinet Minister. For another 20 years I was a committed advocate of public school education.
In the past 30 years I have abandoned partisanship, and I have variously supported N.D.P., Liberal, and Green candidates and platforms.
In various roles and places I absorbed the spirit of community, democracy, and public school education, with a preference for the local.
Since 2011 I have lived in Oak Bay, a small part of greater Victoria, B.C. Like Alberta, greater Victoria and even B.C., is on the outer edge.
I am still committed to changing that part of the world that is close at hand to me. I still wrestle with the missed opportunities of the late 20th century. I continue to be optimistic about the future and I would like to work with the people who are 50 years younger than I am – the people who may change the world.