Sometimes You Have to Hit Bottom
Sometimes You Have to Hit Bottom A year with the most ‘highs and lows’ for me was 1996 – being declared elected MLA by TV and radio only to lose 45 minutes later certainly seems about as ‘high and low’ as you can get, at least in political terms. Yet the year had more to come and I learned quite a bit about myself and my approach to challenges. I had been Chair of the Capital Regional District for five years when I stepped down as Chair and as a Director for the provincial election campaign. I had been on Saanich Council for ten years and here I simply took an unpaid leave of absence for the election period. Thus when I returned to Council after my provincial defeat there was an election for regional director – yet since two of my colleagues had been elected MLA’s, my voting bloc of a 5-4 majority was now in a 4-3 minority. As the Clerk asked for candidates my seatmate whispered ‘don’t run Frank, you’re just going to lose.’ I said ‘sometimes you’ve got to hit bottom