The News caught up with Bob Wanner, who's been keeping a low profile since announcing in December 2018 that he won't seek re-election.--NEWS PHOTO JEREMY APPEL
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Bob Wanner has been keeping a relatively low profile since announcing in late 2018 he wouldn’t seek re-election to the provincial legislature.
Wanner was elected with the NDP in the 2015 election as the MLA for Medicine Hat, after which his peers elected him speaker of the legislature.
The News caught up with Wanner, 70, to discuss his life after politics, as well as various challenges and accomplishments from his party’s four years in government.
“I’ve sort of been in hibernation,” he said of the past six months of his life. “I’ve got a garage that needs to be cleaned out and I’m still working on it, and catching up on sleep from the last four-and-a-half years.”
Wanner says he’s proud of the NDP’s single term in government for implementing “policies that treated all of our citizens more fairly, particularly the vulnerable of our society who saw a more fair opportunity for access to services.”
He cited enhanced recognition of the struggles of LGBTQ and Indigenous communities – through legislation mandating gay-straight alliances in schools and an official apology for the Sixties Scoop – as well as a more labour and climate-friendly legislative agenda.
“They were long, long overdue and they were at least creating the opportunity for the transformation of our society,” said Wanner.
Concerning climate, Wanner insists his government took the most prudent approach by supporting the traditional oil and gas sector and pushing for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, while simultaneously implementing a carbon tax and encouraging renewable energy.
“We are not going to achieve a clean economy overnight and we need to have a transitional plan to go there,” he said.
Wanner said renewable energy is both vital for the planet’s future and a sound business choice, considering the region’s abundance of wind and sunlight.
Although the UCP – which was elected in a landslide with about 55 per cent of the popular vote – are in the process of rolling back many New Democrat policies, Wanner says the NDP left a long-term mark on the province that will be difficult to erase from the public consciousness.
“While (our policies) may be delayed, deferred or amended, they remain a real presence in people’s minds, and something to aim for at another time,” he said.
Wanner didn’t expect to be a candidate, let alone win, in 2015, but NDP leader Rachel Notley called him to ask if he would enter the race after Jason Soklofske – the party’s initial candidate – was charged with assault while campaigning just over a week into the campaign.
He was leaning toward declining the offer until his then-15-year-old granddaughter gave him a call, telling him, “Papa you must run. Alberta has to change.”
“Most people when they run for political office have sort of a drive to win. I certainly had a drive to represent and speak, and at that particular juncture people voted and I found myself about 20, 25 days later in a completely new stage of my life that we just never expected,” Wanner recalls. “It was surreal.”
Although he and Cypress-Medicine Hat UCP MLA Drew Barnes have “vastly different” political views, they maintained a cordial relationship, sometimes carpooling to the legislature in Edmonton.
“I would say, in my biased perspective, he thinks solutions are a little more simplified than I do, but there was a relationship there that I think was rooted in mutual respect,” Wanner said.
The same can’t be said of his relationship with Mayor Ted Clugston, who repeatedly blasted Wanner in the media towards the end of the MLA’s tenure, particularly with regards to the NDP’s support for supervised consumption sites, of which one was supposed to open in Medicine Hat.
Wanner says he was “profoundly disappointed” with the mayor’s disposition toward him.
“I found the comments to be both personal and partisan,” he said. “I felt it my duty and responsibility to be respectful of his role as mayor. Many times, I would have liked to have said something in response to him, but I chose not to, because that wasn’t the way in which you build good relationships.”
He claims he repeatedly attempted to arrange meetings with Clugston to discuss the supervised consumption site – particularly the “major public sentiment of divisiveness that developed in the community” as a result of the debate surrounding it – but the mayor wasn’t interested, contrary to his public remarks.
“I don’t ever remember a mayor being so partisan,” said Wanner, who was a city administrator for 35 years, including 12 years as public services commissioner. “He needs to remember he represents all of the people, not just some of the people.”
As speaker of the legislature, he says he sought to cultivate a more co-operative approach to politics, even if it appears that political discourse is generally moving in the opposite direction.
Despite being the first government in Alberta’s history to not be re-elected after a single term, Wanner said there’s much to be proud of in the NDP’s record, which he suspects will be more appreciated in the future.
“Leadership is about making choices with a long-term vision in mind,” reflected Wanner. “It’s not the plan, it’s the planning that’s important. You find a way to move forward together.”
