Vancouver Province
for January 28, 2000

Why can’t British Columbia be more like New Zealand?

Tauranga Bay, New Zealand

As I contemplate life from this beautiful Northland Bay (not to be confused with the town of Tauranga in the Ba;y of Plenty, I find myself facing a question of pride that I can’t let go of.

Why has New Zealand, a land of four million, contributed to the world far in excess of what their numbers would warrant?

It’s no more populous than British Columbia and yet it’s world class in what it does and produces.

As I write, there is a "playoff" (may the yachtsmen forgive my expression) as to who will meet New Zealand for the America’s Cup.

When the perennial powerhouse, the All Blacks, lost the World Cup to France, it sent shock waves through the world of rugby.

New Zealand is a world class cricket country.

It produces first-rate golfers, including former British Open champion Bob Charles, and now has Phil Tatauranga and Michael Campbell playing on the world golf scene.

Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount Everest. Peter Snell was once the world’s greatest middle-distance runner.

New Zealand is also world class in softball.

Pound for pound, Kiwis have a remarkable record in the arts-very quickly one thinks of Kiri Te Kanawa, Katherine Mansfield, Allan Duff and Ngaio Marsh.

But it goes further. New Zealand entered an economic union with Australia some 15 years ago and the Aussies haven’t stopped bitching yet-tiny New Zealand has had by far the better of the deal.

Then, about a decade ago, the people got fed up with the way one party, thus one man or woman at the top, dominated politics absolutely and did something about it. After two referenda, they experimented with a mixed system of proportional representation and "first past the post" that has political scientists all over the world watching.

And for what it is worth-and I believe this a first-New Zealand has had two woman prime ministers in a row.

Canada doesn’t, even with eight times the population, come close to New Zealand in any field but hockey and since there’s no ice in New Zealand that’s not much to boast of.

Why? What is it about these Kiwis?

I believe it has to do with national pride and history.

New Zealand has always been isolated and therefore must try harder. When it thrusts its men and women on the world stage it’s from greater motivation and with greater pride.

Unlike Canada, it revels in its heroes. Kiwis expect a lot of themselves and when these expectations are met they rejoice from the tip of the North Island down to the bottom of the South Island.

Everyone in New Zealand is a Kiwi. Maoridom, for all its grievances, considers itself New Zealand through and through. Only a renegade, Ken Mair (yes, he’s a distant cousin) talks about a Maori nation and he’s more a figure of national amusement than a man of influence.

What should we be doing? Well-and I’ll get in to lots of trouble here-we should begin in British Columbia. I’ve started in my own small way by giving precedence on my show to B.C. writers.

Parochial? Perhaps. But why should a British Columbian have to break into the Canadian establishment in Ottawa and Toronto in order to prosper?

I believe the provincial government can and should do three things.

First, it should, as Gordon Campbell promised to do, take the lead in pushing for political reform. We’re a dictatorship in this province-and a badly run one at that.

Second, our schools must start teaching about B.C.’s history with the pride it deserves.

Third, we must offer tangible encouragement to B.C. talent in the widest sense-the arts, sports, science and so on Why not at least 20 annual government-sponsored prizes of $50,000 with the private sector encouraged by tax breaks doing the same. We’ve seen what such prizes as Nobel, Booker and Pulitzer have done-why not some of the same for British Columbians? The money, about $2 million annually, is peanuts. Reward effort and effort will be made and the investment will be more than recovered.

British Columbia is comparable to New Zealand in every way except the output of its people. We can and should change that.