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Oct. 25, 2013
B.C. leader talks with the JI
Premier Clark praises the Jewish community and Israel.
PAT JOHNSON
Premier Christy Clark praised the B.C. Jewish community, expressed her admiration for Israel – and roundly condemned Quebec’s proposed Charter of Values – in an interview with the Jewish Independent.
Speaking in her Vancouver office, the Liberal premier spoke glowingly of Jewish contributions to the province.
“The Jewish community here is an incredibly culturally enriching community,” said Clark. “You think about all of the leaders in the Jewish community – in philanthropy, it’s obvious, you see their names on things – but when I give out the Orders of British Columbia, the number of members of the OBC of Jewish descent … the Jewish community here punches way above its weight.”
Clark spoke of visiting Israel when she was a radio talk show host, as a guest of the Canada-Israel Committee, calling it “one of the most exciting trips I’ve ever taken in my life.” She said visiting the place brings home reality in a way that cannot be understood otherwise.
“For example, people talk about the security perimeter in Israel and … treat it like a political football. When you stand there and you realize that someone’s bathroom window used to get shot out from the guy on the other side of the wall and it isn’t anymore, you realize it is a matter of life and death for people living there every day. You are confronted by the reality, by the thought of, ‘How would you raise your children in an environment like that?’ We all want our children to be safe. So some of those questions that we think of as theoretical … are a matter of life and death in Jerusalem. I don’t think you can understand unless you have been there.”
Clark said she hopes British Columbia and Israel can increase cooperation and trade in areas such as green technologies and clean power. “Israel is a great example for us to follow in how to develop as a technology hub,” she said. “Biotech, as well, is an area where we are incredibly rich. Many, many great Jewish thinkers in our medical community here [are] very deeply connected to Israel and the great health-care system that they have there.”
In light of Israel’s recently discovered cache of natural gas, Clark has advice as the leader of a resource-rich province.
“I would say go get it. For us, we’re going to pay off our provincial debt, we’re going to keep taxes low for a generation, we’re going to employ 100,000 people directly in the business here,” said Clark, noting that Israel’s gas resources may not be as substantial as British Columbia’s. “But as a country that desperately needs to be energy independent, they have a real national security reason to do it, as well as an economic reason.… We do it better than anyone else and I’d certainly welcome any visiting team from Israel to come and look at how we do it. I’d love to show them around a little bit.”
Clark lambasted the Quebec government’s proposed Charter of Values, which would ban overt displays of religious symbolism among public-sector employees, and she urged those who feel unwelcome in Quebec to migrate to the West Coast.
“Under the charter, you wouldn’t be able to wear a kippah,” she said. “I mean, what is Canadian about that?
“I do not believe that any society can be successful if we look inward, if we try to close our doors and our minds to people who are different,” the premier said. “We are enriched by [diversity] immeasurably and I think that what Quebec is doing is wrong and I think it’s going in absolutely the wrong direction. That is not Canada and will not be British Columbia as long as I’m premier. We are going to open our arms and our minds to people from all around the world and, if people want to express themselves through religious symbols, we should embrace that here.”
She joined Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and others in inviting Quebeckers to move.
“If people are uncomfortable with going to Quebec because they are apparently closing themselves to the world, they should come to British Columbia,” said Clark. “They will find no other place more welcoming, more open-minded than this place and that is something that I think is our greatest strength. In a small country, if we want to win the race for talent and we want to succeed, despite the fact that we have very few people and a lot of land, we are going to do it by looking outward, by welcoming people.”
The Quebec experience may have special, historical resonance for Jews, she suggested.
“Jews as a community, for thousands of years, have felt the heavy hand of oppression more than any other community in history,” the premier said. “So I would imagine that seeing what’s happening in Quebec and understanding how the Quebec Charter could play out must be very, very alarming to members of the community and I sympathize very deeply with that.”
Clark went on to praise faith-based and cultural groups that provide social services.
“There are those who argue that government, not faith communities, should be delivering all the services,” she said. “When we look out across the landscape of the Lower Mainland, and you see how much of that service is being delivered by various faith communities, whether it’s Jewish or Lutheran or Catholic, it’s irreplaceable. We cannot hope to fill that space, nor should we. Faith communities do it as a matter of calling. God requires us to do this, to help our fellow man. We should welcome that contribution and we should also welcome the contribution that they bring from volunteers. They leverage so many volunteer hours – all the blood, sweat and tears that people bring for free – government could never do that. All the philanthropy that they attract, government could never do that.”
Having taken over as Liberal leader and premier from Gordon Campbell in 2011, Clark is just months into her first full term, having been reelected May 14 in a stunning repudiation of every opinion poll and pundit. Clark says British Columbians can expect from the new government just what she promised in the election campaign.
“We are going to grow the economy,” she said. “We are going to build a brighter future by creating a liquefied natural gas industry. We are going to focus on our technology and innovation as a major industry, particularly around the Lower Mainland, and we are going to be outward looking. We are going to focus on trade and build our connections around the world.”
Pat Johnson is a Vancouver writer and principal in PRsuasiveMedia.com.
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