The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power, 1972-1975

At his first cabinet meeting Premier Dave Barrett takes off his shoes, leaps onto the leather-inlaid cabinet table and skids the length of the room. Are we here for a good time or a long time? he roars. His answer: a good time, a time of change, action, doing what was needed and right, not what was easy and conventional. He set the tone for a government that changed the face of the province. During the next three years, he and his team passed more legislation in a shorter time than any government before or since. A university or college student graduating today in BC may have been born years after Barretts defeat, but could attend a Barrett daycare, live on a farm in Barretts Agricultural Land Reserve, be rushed to hospital in a provincial ambulance created by Barretts government and attend college in a community institution founded by his government. The continuing polarization of BC politics also dates back to Barrettthe Fraser Institute and the right-wing economic policies it preaches are as much a legacy of the Barrett years as the ALR is. Dave Barrett remains a unique and important figure in BCs history, a symbol of how much can be achieved in government and a reminder of how quickly those achievements can be forgotten. This lively and well-researched book is the first in-depth study of this most memorable of BC premiers.