A changed man, focused on the future

He's lost more than 25 pounds with relative ease, but Premier Gordon Campbell is aware that tackling certain political challenges will be more difficult than sticking to any kind of reduced-carb diet

Craig McInnes Vancouver Sun Tuesday, May 20, 2003

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Bruce Stotesbury, Victoria Times Colonist / Premier Gordon Campbell in conversation: 'I feel good.... I figure I've saved $1,000 on shirts alone by being able to fit into old shirts.'

VICTORIA -- The weekend marked the mid-point of the term of the Liberal provincial government. In the second part of a wide-ranging interview with The Vancouver Sun's legislature bureau chief, Craig McInnes, Premier Gordon Campbell talks about his personal challenges and what lies ahead.

Sun: Tell me about the changes you've gone through since coming back from Hawaii.

Premier Gordon Campbell: The changes I've gone through. Well, first, obviously the first week back from Hawaii is not a week I want to repeat. Having said that, though, I think the generosity of spirit that people showed throughout that -- you know, it's a personal ordeal you go through, obviously, when that happens -- was phenomenal.

People I've never met and never heard from and may never hear from again writing incredibly generous and kind letters. People telling me, you know, to get on with my job. And put it behind me, those sorts of things, it really was, that part of that experience, was exceptional for me....

But something has clearly changed here. You've talked about being overweight for two years now, at least, and now you've lost, well, how much weight have you lost?

Over 25 pounds, anyways. But what changed there, to be honest about it, wasn't what happened at the end of my trip to Maui. I decided before I went to Maui that when I came back -- in Maui I started to work out again, in Maui I started to do some other stuff to try and get healthier and I decided I was going to go on this thing when I got off vacation....

Is this the first time in your life you've lost that much weight?

Oh yeah, it's the first time in my life I've had to. There's an awful lot of people who don't like the Atkins diet. I happen to like it, it works for me, and I don't do it necessarily the way they want but I've just cut way back in carbohydrates.

One of things I'm trying to do now is find time when I can actually exercise. The problem with me and the way I live my life is I work late. This week, I was effectively 1:30 one night and 1:30 or 2 the next....

But you know, I feel good. It's great to have some clothes on that used to be too tight, all that sort of stuff. I figure I've saved $1,000 on shirts alone by being able to fit into the old shirts that I couldn't use any more, so that's what I did.

I understand you went to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.

First-time offenders are required in Maui to do that, so I did that here.

What was that like?

It was really exceptional. I'm really glad I did it, because of the people that were there and how they responded to me, right, how open they were with me and in fact they were very caring and kind and supportive.

Do you feel like you are an alcoholic?

No, I'm not. I said in January that I stopped drinking. I'm frankly not having a great deal of trouble not drinking and I know that, I'm aware enough about what happens with alcoholics that they do have a lot of trouble not drinking and the great thing about Alcoholics Anonymous is it's very supportive of people who don't want to drink and it offers help and support to those people so they can get over that.

I don't, candidly, need that support so I'm fortunate that way, but I can tell you that it really, I got that sort of emotional support from strangers, from complete strangers. I went to meetings here in Victoria and different places....

People were incredibly generous, they were open in spirit, they were kind, they were supportive, they were understanding, they were all those things.

Is there anything about the experience you've gone through that has caused you to rethink any public policies that you are implementing?

Well I think the obvious ones, from a personal perspective, I should be clear about that, not a government perspective, clearly how we deal with impaired driving -- I had the meeting with the Mothers Against Drunk Driving, I know the solicitor-general, the attorney-general had been working on that for probably nine or 10 months when that took place with me so obviously I'm more personally interested in that now and I can see those things, but generally the public policy that we're following is public policy that I believe in because I think it's best for people.

The word from food banks and shelters for homeless people is that there is a lot more poverty out there. What do you say to those people?

I agree that there is a significant amount of poverty out there and I think that the question is, how do we deal with it, how do you deal with it in a way that actually provides for a long-term reduction in those needs?

We still have the third-highest level of support for people on income assistance. I think if you ask the literally thousands and thousands of people who are off income assistance who are now working, who are now making more money, they'll tell you that what we've done has been helpful for them.

Boy, it would be nice to find one answer that would solve everybody's problems. You can't. So you have to try and make sure what you are doing, you're doing stuff that's working the best it possibly can for the vast majority of people and then the people that it's not working for, you try and respond to in a way that focuses on their particular needs.

I'm trying to actually look forward now in a way that says how can we improve things in the future but the fact is that we're dealing with lots of problems from the past.

I just think that at two years I should tell people, you know, we actually asked to be elected for four years and it takes time to really consolidate those improvements and move them through the system and it's going to take longer than four years.

I'm trying to get people to think in a 10-year time horizon because the challenges we face are not just about tomorrow or next week, they are what happens next year and how do we get beyond that.

Are you going to run again?

I will right now. I certainly am planning to.

What's your biggest challenge for the next two years?

To get people focused on what the province can be, on reinforcing the strengths of the different regions of the province and I think it's to stay on track with where we are going because I think we are going in the right the direction.

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