To Thine Own Self Be True


To Thine Own Self Be True


I returned to UVic while I was Mayor and completed my Master’s Degree in 2002.  As I defended my thesis I knew I had passed when the conversation turned with this question: ‘so why didn’t you run with Gordon Campbell last year?’  I frequently encountered this question and still do but it did make me chuckle to hear it in this serious academic setting.  My reply?  “Well, I bought this tee shirt that said ‘to thine own self be true.’”

I was a Saanich Councillor and Capital Regional District Chair in the early 1990’s and was often working with Campbell while he was Vancouver Mayor and Greater Vancouver Regional District Chair.  I recall telling him that when he made the move to provincial politics that I’d go with him – even though I didn’t know which right of centre party he’d choose.  So I was there as we built up BC Liberal constituencies and recruited candidates – and celebrated victory in May 1996, albeit for less than an hour.

Early results on election night in 1996 had us ahead in seats and I was ahead in my own race.  This did not surprise me as there was quite a difference ‘east vs. west’ in the riding and I assumed the results were uneven.  However within an hour both TV and radio were declaring me elected.  I was not accepting this as it was contrary to our polling but once my campaign manager called and said to hurry to the celebration I accepted victory and my family rejoiced.  However I was drove to the campaign office, CFAX radio’s Alan Perry interrupted their program and said ‘Joe, there’s been a change in Saanich South.’  I pulled the car over to the curb and we listened as the results did indeed change.  I drove my family back home and went to a very solemn campaign office on my own.

That night I knew I would be pivoting and running for the vacant Mayor’s seat in Saanich that fall and was fortunate to win.  I was re-elected in 1999 despite so many assuming I’d step aside months later for a repeat run at provincial politics.  Many assumed the elections would be four years apart so the pressure was on for me to seek the nomination in 2000 but I really did need to have some distance from my November victory and to be honest with myself, I was not so sure I wanted to make the move.

I really liked being Mayor.  Sure the opportunity for ‘power’ was an attraction – and let’s admit it, MLA’s get a pension whereas Mayors don’t.  Yet I really liked being able to vote my conscience.  When I ran provincially, I had to support the party platform.  Deep down I’m a ‘blue liberal, red tory’ kind of guy and in order to capture the Reform Party vote, the BC Liberals were further to the right than I was comfortable with.  Obviously I accepted the platform knowing we needed to re-establish the right of centre coalition so I take responsibility for our choices and positions.  However, while Mayor, I was able to ‘call my own shots’ – I was able to vote my conscience on every vote and I was also beginning to see I could get results with my goals for ‘community building.’

I was pulling all these thoughts together when some of us were bored at a municipal convention in London Ontario and went for a drive that included a stop in Stratford.  It was there in the gift shop I saw my solution….literally on the tee shirt I bought.  I’ve never worn the shirt; I keep it as a souvenir of such a big decision in my life; and I keep it to remind me of a guiding principle for my life in politics.

Even when my colleagues told me that their door knocking in my final campaign signaled that I needed to change two key positions in order to get re-elected – my support for the sewage treatment project and my resistance to amalgamation – I chose to stay true to myself.  After that provincial campaign of 1996, I’d told myself I’d never take a position I didn’t believe in; that I would never try to win at all cost.  I believe that is one of the reasons I can look back with no regrets – and I recommend to the current crop of elected officials to keep that in mind.  Compromising yourself may give you a short term benefit but in the long term you really want to be able to say that ‘to thine own self ‘you were true.
Check out my website at http://frankleonard.ca/ for information on Local Government and Consulting


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