Linda Reid, newly elected to the provincial legislature in 1991 and chair of the BC Liberal caucus, called to make lunch reservations for caucus at the Union Club in Victoria.
“You sound a lot like a woman,” was the response on the phone.
That is because I am a woman, Reid replied.
“Come in the side door,” she was told.
Even in 1991, the Union Club, while frequented by MLAs from both sides of the legislature, was off-limits to women.
That might be because women were few and far between in the provincial legislature in the early 1990s.
And it would be five years before women were allowed into the revered halls of the Union Club.
When asked whether women in politics need to get tougher or the system needs to get better, Reid’s response was “a bit of both.”
Reid was one of only three female MLAs in the BC Liberal caucus in 1991.
When she was first elected, she had male colleagues pat her on the head and say “oh my god, my daughter’s older than you.” Her response: “And your point is?”
“We are often blindsided,” she said about sexism in politics.
Pointed comments were directed at her when she was in the legislature “very pregnant” like “it was lovely working with you.”
While the legislature is “much healthier now,” Reid said, that her experience as a pregnant MLA was a mere 16 years ago.
There was no maternity leave and MLAs were fined $300 per day for being absent.
“The standing rules were written a long time ago by exclusively men – they didn’t contemplate any women having a child (while) in legislature,” she said.
Reid was back working five days after her daughter was born. She pushed then-Premier Gordon Campbell to get maternity provisions for women.
"It was archaic that we were still having that debate in 2004,” Reid said.
Reid calls on party to rebuild
When Reid decided to step down after almost three decades in the provincial legislature, Richmond City Coun. Alexa Loo ran as the BC Liberal candidate in her riding, and lost by just 179 votes to the NDP’s Henry Yao.
Her loss reflected a drop in support in the Oct. 24 election for the BC Liberals, largely in urban areas, and the party will remain in opposition - their seat count has been reduced to 28 from 44 in 2017.
Reid said she wishes her successor the best.
“I’ve had lots of conversations with Henry Yao, I think he’ll do an excellent job,” she said.
But the BC Liberal Party needs to build itself up again after their defeat in the polls, she added, something she calls “extraordinarily tough-going, tough heavy slogging.”
“The party has some rebuilding to do, there’s no question,” she said. “For probably a myriad of reasons they lost touch and they need to re-establish that.”
It’s something all parties goes through at some point, Reid added, riding the peaks and valleys and evolving to stay current.
“Sometimes you’re in the front seat, sometimes you’re in the back seat, you have to take stock, get your batteries recharged and start all over again,” she said.
Serving under different leadership styles
Over her 29 years in office, she served under four leaders – Gordon Wilson, Gordon Campbell, Christy Clark and Andrew Wilkinson.
Each had a different style – Wilson was “a joy to listen to,” Campbell was a “clinician,” Clark a “people person” and Wilkinson “more process oriented,” Reid said.
Reid got her start in politics in the BC Liberal party under Wilson, building the BC Liberals up from fringe party status.
When the BC Liberals started draining the rank and file of the Social Credit party, which had taken a more socially conservative bent, Reid stood for election in Bill Vander Zalm’s former riding of Richmond East.
Reid was able to capture the seat and held it – and when it was renamed and reconfigured into the riding of Richmond South Centre – until she stepped down this year.
Reid’s first decade was spent in opposition, from 1991 to 2001, at which time she served as critic for several ministries, including children and families, attorney general, municipal affairs and health.
Reid toured hospitals as part of her work as health critic, and she was joined on the road with a young staffer she’d hired, namely Christy Clark.
They drove thousands of kilometres together touring hospitals across the province, Reid explained.
‘Spontaneous brainstorm’ in caucus meetings
When Reid was first elected in 1991 to then-riding Richmond East, she was appointed caucus chair of the 17 BC Liberal MLAs.
Caucus spawns really good discussions on policy and that’s where members of the same party can hash out their differences.
“There’s nothing more invigorating than a gorgeous, wonderful caucus debate,” Reid said.
“It’s like a very spontaneous brainstorm, and often you get a better debate as a result and oftentimes you get better policy.”
It’s when a roomful of “very articulate” people work through what will become their party’s policy and finally arrive at common ground.
The best line in caucus, Reid said, is “just because I’m alone doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”
Reid took some of her background as a school teacher and administrator to the legislature as both caucus chair and deputy speaker.
She is “soft spoken” and when acting as a referee in the legislature, it sometimes just pays to wait patiently for the decibel level to come down and for the members to realize they are wasting their own time, especially during question period.
“It made it much more dignified, much more responsive – the constant shrieking serves no one because, frankly, the other side can’t even hear the question,” she said.
When the BC Liberals formed government in 2001, reducing the NDP to two seats in the legislature, Reid was appointed Minister of State for Early Childhood Development and then Minister of Advanced Education. She was deputy speaker from 2009 to 2013.
Reid was appointed speaker of the house in 2013, and when the BC Liberals moved to the opposition benches in 2017, she continued as deputy speaker.
This was a time when scrutiny into the speaker’s office was zeroing in, eventually resulting in the termination of two top-level bureaucrats, Sergeant at Arms Gary Lenz and Craig James, Clerk of the House after the speaker, Daryl Plecas, published a report showing extensive questionable expenses.
Reid was replaced as deputy speaker shortly thereafter.
Reid wouldn’t comment further on the investigation, currently in the hands of the RCMP, but what she would say is there is a huge difference between the front end of the house and the back end of the house.
Reid said when she started working in the speaker’s office, she implemented minute-taking at Legislative Assembly Management Committee meetings, something that had not been done before.
Reid watched as the legislature grew over the years, going from 75 members in 1991 when she was first elected to 87 when she stepped aside.
While the legislature has grown in number, the size of the room hasn’t changed. So, whenever more members were added, a few inches had to shaved off everyone’s desks.
