ASK Salt Spring: Answered - Ep. 40 Adam Olsen

Episode Date: July 5, 2024

Ask Salt Spring Answered talks to Adam Olsen, MLA for North Saanich and the Islands about his decision not to seek re-election and his plans for the future.

You're listening to episode 40 of Ask Salt Spring Answered in which we talk to MLA Adam Olson about his recent decision not to seek re-election and his plans for the future. Okay, so I'm here with Adam Olson, the Green Party MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, and we've just been at Ask Salt Spring, and I'm not sure if it's his last visit to Ask Salt Spring, but as some of you may know that last week Adam announced that he was going to step down as MLA and not run in the next election. And tell me a little bit about your feelings, why you decided to do this. Well, I would say I'm not stepping down because I'm still the MLA till the election is called. I'm going to finish this term. The announcement that I made last week was that I'm not going to be seeking re-election. I had started a campaign and over this last spring session, it's been challenging and I faced some personal challenges.

And I also confronted the reality that it's been 16 years of elected public office. My son was born and was one when I first got elected, was one, and he's graduating next year. My daughter is now heading into high school, and I've spent all but two years of married life with Emily as an elected official. And, you know, these are a unique situation, I guess. I started as a public, elected public official at quite a young age. And so I arrived here only 48, but I arrive at this point in time where I look at the four-year term. And four years, for the first time in my political career, four years has felt like a really long time. And, uh, and I,

and I had to pay attention to that. And I had to honor that feeling that I had in my heart and in my, and it was, you know, the questions in my mind. And, um, you know, it, it has actually has a lot to do with the constituents that I have. The people in Saanich North and the islands have put their confidence in me and it's been a tremendous experience. And I couldn't, frankly, I couldn't imagine standing on your doorstep, standing on the doorstep of Saanich North and the islands citizens, knowing how I felt and saying, vote for me for the next four years. So, um, this is the time to make those announcements. It doesn't make it easy, So this is the time to make those announcements. It doesn't make it easy,

but this is the time that that announcement should be made, not partway through a parliament. Now you said that the weight of being in public life had taken a toll on all four of your family, yourself and your wife and your two kids. Talk a little bit about that because lots of people don't really realize, I think, what sort of strain that kind of thing does put on them. Well, I mean, I think that it's important to acknowledge

that oftentimes the conversation that we're having isn't necessarily the conversation that needs to be had. You know? And so I came to realize through this spring, just how much of a toll being in public life does put on the family members. And it sounds like, well, he hasn't been paying attention to his family at all, but the reality is, is that they're not oblivious to the expectations and to seeing the work that I'm doing, seeing the issues that I'm passionate about and involved in. They see that those issues are also meaningful to them. So it, so they're

invested as well, but that investment doesn't create the landscape or the, the, the environment to have a converse conversation to have these conversations very easily and you know being one of two members in the legislature has some impact on that as well right there's there's lots of expectations that come with the political party a ton of expectations that come with being the MLA of Saanich North and the islands a lot of expectations in the legislative assembly to be doing good legislative work, good public policy work. So while that is something that is on my mind, it turns out it's also something that's on,

to whatever level they're engaging with it, your family's mind. So for Emily, my partner, it's about how much she has carried the role, all of the roles as parent in the family. I'm uniquely blessed in that I can commute every day to the legislature. I'm one of, I think, nine MLAs that is within commute distance on a daily basis. So I have nothing to complain about in this context. All of my colleagues are in a much worse situation than I am. They have to travel in, stay the night. They lose a lot of time with their family.

However, that still doesn't diminish the incredible effort that it puts on, on Emily to, to do those things. Uh, soccer, music, dinner, lunch, lunch you know the whole thing right yeah um and then and then on kids you know um it's it's something to be born into public life uh however and and i would say that it hasn't negatively impacted my children to any great extent.

I did notice about three years ago that they told me that they were done going in parades with me, and it was at that point that I realized, oh, we've moved into a different era. We've moved in from the era of kids are going with daddy to the parade because kids are doing what daddy has asked them to do. There's some self-determination there now. My kids are getting older, right? So Silas is going to graduate next year. And I get to spend the last year of his school life with him outside of politics.

He's outside of politics. Won't have a huge difference on him. But I remember just a few weeks ago when I was reflecting on the decision to step away before I made the announcement, he walked into the living room. He just got home from school. He walked into the living room. He's like,

Oh, you're here. And I'm like, yeah, you better get used to it. And he's like, aren't you going to go out? Like, aren't you going to go out somewhere? And I'm like, no, I'm just going to sit right. And he's like, aren't you going to go out? Like, aren't you going to go out somewhere?

And I'm like, no, I'm just going to sit right here. He's like, is this the way it's going to be? I said, more so. He's like, oh. He's like, come over here. And he gives me a big hug. But, you know, I could see the weight lift on my whole family. Yeah.

Now, Pierre Trudeau had his famous walk in the snow, and you described how you were lying in bed with your wife one night, and you told her that you'd made your decision, and things changed, and she said, I think she said, are you sure?

Oh, my God, or something like that. Well, what I said to her was, I don't know that I can run because I don't know that I have another four years. And the response was, I didn't think that we were going to have this conversation. It was out of the blue. It ended up being a much longer conversation

because, as I said earlier, oftentimes we're not having the conversation that we think we're having whether you're a politician or just anybody you're having one conversation but there's stuff there that that may be left unsaid or or stuff that isn't being um you know elevated into the into the conversation so once i said that, it invited a new reality to the way that, because I then got to hear all of the ways that it was impacting her. In a way that was all of the expectations of continuing on this issue or that or continuing on to carry on that issue or not, right? Kind of melted away. And it was just a conversation about really where we were at and what we were doing and what we were going to be doing for the next four years. And so it came, you know, it happened when it happened. And we're now in the middle of

having a nomination race that people didn't expect to have. And, you know, there's candidates who didn't expect to be a candidate that are putting their name forward. And there are candidates for other political parties that were expecting to run in an election campaign against me. And now they're going to be running against somebody else. Right. So lots has changed. But I think the key the key thing is is for me it was it just once i said that and you know i think there was this also this recognition that i decided i i had that conversation at home before maybe having the political conversation right because there's all sorts of reasons why you continue. Continue for this reason or that reason or that reason.

But once I had that conversation with Emily, it went from being this feeling that I had in my heart and mind about what I was doing to this is what's happening. I can't, there's no way that I can rationalize moving forward with where we're at right now. It only, it,

the only good decision was to say, I've done well. I'm pleased with the, I felt no regret that there's, there's always issues on the table that I left anything there. There's, I hope, a long road ahead. I'm still a young guy. And there's a community that I'm still

very, very passionate about. And so it'll just be a different, I'll just be in a different role. But you will be the campaign manager for this election, right? I am the BC Greens campaign chair. Okay. So it's a role that basically is there.

It's a facilitary role, and it's also a role in which I can take. I'm one of the more experienced campaigners in the BC Green ecosystem. So there is a role that I can play in helping candidates be candidates and helping campaign managers be campaign managers and helping in a mentor kind of role. And that's where I think the campaign chair strength is. It's not like I'm focused entirely on budgets like a campaign manager is. I'm more focused on how people are feeling, the emotional piece of it, the actual piece of getting out and campaigning. Should I do this or should I do that? Well, here's some advice on how to address it. So

that role I think is very well suited for me. And I think it's really important from a partisan perspective to just acknowledge the BC Greens are an incredibly important voice in the BC legislature. And for me, that's not changed. What has changed is whether or not I can be part of that voice in, and I've made the decision that I can't at this time. But this is not to diminish that the BC Greens have been the only party to raise some very important issues to British Columbians that would not have been raised if we weren't there. I think of old growth, for example. I think of salmon, for example. I think of the most vulnerable people in our society, people who are addicted to drugs, as an example. These questions, in a compassionate way about how we're treating people and how we're

engaging with people aren't being raised. The questions that are being raised are about the public security that folks are causing, what we see on the streets, right? Like really stigmatizing, really, really awful characterizations of our friends and neighbors. Whereas the BC greens have brought a compassionate, um, approach to this to say, look, these are, these are our family, everybody that we see on the street, everybody that we, that is struggling with housing right now, everybody that is struggling with their disability payments, that's somebody's family and they are somebody's family. And so I think, you know, going forward, it will do British Columbia well to ensure that there is a cohort of Greens standing up in the legislature asking the questions that all the other political parties would prefer left off the table. Do you have any one thing that you're most proud of,

would you say, in your time as an MLA? I am most proud of the response that my announcement has brought me. That to me gives me the greatest sense of satisfaction that I've done the best job that I could do. So there's, I've done, there's been lots of moving parts. There's been lots of moving pieces. Like I said, we, we brought the, the old growth issue onto the agenda when we were in partnership with the government. I figured out how to be a part of the confidence and supply agreement, the first minority government in BC in what, 60 years. I was a part of that. That's pretty cool. I'm proud of that. The declaration act, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, being a part of moving British Columbia from a jurisdiction that denies Aboriginal rights and title to a jurisdiction that recognizes Aboriginal rights and title in a way that allows us to negotiate rather than to litigate. Litigation is so expensive. Anybody

who thinks that it's better to just let the courts deal with this, that is a reckless position. John Rustad's position on Indigenous rights and reconciliation is reckless. And he is leading us, if he gets any chance to do what he has vocalized out loud that he wants to do with Aboriginal rights and title, he is leading us into a bankrupting kind of a scenario because the courts, the courts don't agree with him that just economic reconciliation is good enough.

And so what's going to happen is economic reconciliation will happen. And then indigenous nations and people will be taking the province to court. And it's a longer process. It'll take a while, but it's going to be the most expensive, most toxic approach that you can think of. And that's John Rustad's reckless aboriginal. Now, what it does on the electoral landscape is it makes every, it makes certain part of the population feel good and and it it gets his party some support that may not uh that that may not have been there before by some who have not really thought through what the implications of his policy are but i'll tell you it's reckless and costly if if we think that the the process of reconciliation is costly now,

think of what happens when you go to court and you have no idea what the outcome is until the judge makes a decision. And at that point, then you've got to start to go from, man, that government was just saying some really ugly things about us to now we've got to negotiate the implementation of this it it just sets us up for such a uh a nightmarish situation that that you know um that he's basically bragging about you know so so that i'm i'm proud of the sorry that was a bit of a sidebar uh apparently i had something i need to get off my chest but i'm very proud of the sorry that was a bit of a sidebar uh apparently i had something i need to get off my chest but i'm very proud of the declaration act but mostly i'm proud of the fact that when

uh the the generosity and the love that people have shown me it gives me a sense of satisfaction that i've i've i've the people have seen the decision that i've made for what it is. It's not more than what I've said. I have devoted an awful lot of time in the public light. And in doing so, I've also devoted a lot of my family's time. And people have seen that. And the love that I've received today from the folks at Ask Salt Spring is replicated in places that I go around the riding. And I just feel so grateful to be able to represent this beautiful place and for people

to see me for who I am, you know, and to see the work for what it was. I'm very proud of that. That makes me feel really good. Now, you said you're not going anywhere. You're a Saanich kid and you'll be sticking around. In the immediate future, I think you said you were going to be taking a master's degree at Royal Roads. Finishing. Finishing. I'm midstream, yeah.

In colonial and First Nations governance? No. So it's the Master of Arts in Leadership. Okay. But the area that I'm looking at is, you know, in an area that, you know, having said just what I said, you know, about where I think indigenous policy or aboriginal policy is going in the province of British Columbia, this, the thesis that I'm going to write and the work that I'm going to do,

you know, someone asked me, so it sounds like you're going to be an academic. Well, academics get the opportunity to be able to focus on single issues. This next period of time will give me an opportunity to focus on these areas that I think I can contribute to and that I've got some experience in. And so I'll be doing a research project and some work around Indigenous governance, co-governance, how language impacts outcomes in governance. And so I'm excited to explore that in a little bit more detail in the immediate future. And next year I'll start, you know, the turn of the calendar year

once the election's over and we see what's, you know, there's a transition. My goal is to really help with the transition of the new MLA for as much as they want to see me or as little as they want to see me. That's up to them. But I intend on making sure that I honor the relationship that I've had with the constituents, that they're very clear what files are being worked on and who wants to be called and that kind of stuff right so what where do you see this leading you in in years to come then as far as uh you know a profession or a direction that you would like to go in i don't know a morning show host on cheer.fm or you know working at radio sydney or i don't i I mean, I have a wide variety of interests. I am not going to be working too far outside of Sanich or Husejnic.

I feel very much called to be working very close to home. I don't like traveling out of Husejnic. There was a rumor earlier this year that, you know, he's going to run federally. And I was like, if only you knew how uncomfortable I feel when I leave this territory. I just, you know, I'm just a bit of a homebody that way. So for me, I think, you know, I've been given the advice to not rush into anything, to be very thoughtful about where I'm going to go. I've been very thoughtful about the decision. I made the decision in the last week of the session

and then sat on it for three weeks and really thought about it. And I think that part of the benefit that I have in front of me right now is that as an MLA, life moves very fast and very slow. Government is slow. It's this plodding pace. Politics is very fast. Years melt away. The hair on my chin is so much whiter than it was today than it was when I first got elected. And it moves quickly. And so I'm now in this unique situation where I can be a little bit more thoughtful about what the next steps are going to be. I'm grateful that I've had this experience, you know, in the last 16 years of

my life, because I feel like I've got fingers crossed and knock on wood and all those things many good years ahead of me. So the goal will be to find a place that I can be effective and that I can bring whatever skills and expertise that I've been able to accumulate over the years of elected office. I think, you know, one of the, one of the benefits of, of this job is that it's really given me the opportunity to connect with so many people across the riding and across the region. And, um, there's so many cool things that are going on and I, I, I want to make sure that I'm very thoughtful about what the next things are. Now, if you were to host an open line show for Cheer FM, you could drop a bombshell like you did at the meeting

where you talked about a red light. Oh, I knew this. At the intersection of Rainbow Road and Lower Ganges Road. So let's put some context around this, Damien, because the question that I was asked was, is there anything now that you're retiring that you would tell us that you wouldn't tell us while you were still the sitting MLA?

That was the context of the question. And I was sitting at Rainbow Road and Laura Ganji's waiting for the traffic to clear. And I said to my constituent advocate, Laura, who was in the car with me, I said, maybe I'm going to open this morning with saying, I think there needs to be a traffic light. Which, you know, only an MLA that's been around here for,

so I did open with it because, you know, but only an MLA that's been around for a while understands the kind of ripples that that might cause. So, you know, certainly allow me to segue, you know, that so much of the policy areas around Saanich, North New Orleans has to do with transportation. There's a lot of focus on housing. I've always seen the very deep connection between housing and transportation in terms of a complete healthy community. And Rob Fleming is stepping down. Yeah.

So I said to him, I said one of the, I sent him a text and said, you know, like I was, one of the challenges was going to be dealing with Gulf Islands roads over the next four years. And I guess you felt the same. Congratulations, Rob. But, you know, I think the transportation on all the southern Gulf Islands, there are way more roads than there is budget for it. You know, the BC Ferries, of course, is an issue that will remain an issue every day that people live on these islands. And the need for transporting from one place to another is there. So transportation, whoever becomes the MLA in the next session and in the future will be confronting transportation related issues. And so I, you know, I, of course, with love,

joke about putting a traffic light on Salt Spring, which would change the community in so many ways. But I do it in jest, noting that transportation on Salt Spring and on the other Gulf Islands has been a major focus of the last seven years of my life here as the MLA of Percentage North. Well, we've enjoyed having you coming,

talking to us roughly once a month and wish you all the best in the future. And hopefully we'll see you on the other side of the mic soon. Well, hey, I've got a, what is it, maybe hundreds of hours under my belt at Village 900 there at Camosun Radio.

I love the opportunity to come and hang out and let's talk. Yeah. Okay, thanks, Adam, and we'll see you again soon. You've been listening to Ask Salt Spring Answered

on Cheer FM, the voice of the Gulf Islands.