Robert Arthur Williams (born January 20, 1933) is a consultant and political figure in
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. He represented
Vancouver East
Vancouver East (french: Vancouver-Est) is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1935. It is currently represented by New Democratic Party MP Jenny Kwan.
The ...
in the
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...
from 1966 to 1976 and from 1984 to 1991 as a
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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(NDP) member.
Life and career
He was born in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, and was educated at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
, graduating from the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP). Williams worked as a town planning consultant. He served as an alderman for Vancouver from 1964 to 1966. From 2004 to 2006, he was a member of the Vancouver City Planning Commission, serving as its chair in 2005. He served in the provincial cabinet as Minister of Lands, Forests and Water Resources from 1972 to 1975.
Political legacy
In that capacity, Williams was responsible, or co-responsible, for the Royal Commission on Forestry (the Pearce Report); the Columbia Basin Trust; the purchase and management of Ocean Falls pulp and paper mills and township; the acquisition and management of Columbia Cellulose, renamed Canadian Cellulose, a sulphite, sawmill, and bleached kraft mills operation in Prince Rupert, Terrace, and Castlegar; the BC Assessment Authority; the Agricultural Land Reserve and Commission; the first resort-municipality in Canada, created for the Whistler/Blackcomb complex; as Minister of Parks, a doubling of Provincial Park acreage in British Columbia, including creation of the
Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park
Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, protecting most of the Spatsizi Plateau, the southeasternmost subplateau of the Stikine Plateau, and the upper reaches of the basin of the Stikine River. ...
, protecting 1.6 million acres and the largest known herd of woodland caribou;
Robson Square
Robson Square is a landmark civic centre and public plaza, located in Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the site of the Provincial Law Courts, UBC Robson Square, government office buildings, and public space connecting the newer de ...
and its attendant Law Courts in downtown Vancouver; refurbishment and operation of the SS Princess Marguerite electric-diesel ferry service from Victoria to Seattle; and, expansion of the role and authority of the Environment and Land Use Secretariat. Later, as Deputy Minister for Crown Corporations, Williams helped lead creation of the
West Coast Express
The West Coast Express is a commuter railway serving the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, it provides a link between Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley Regional District and is the only commuter railway in ...
, a new commuter train system running from the SkyTrain / SeaBus / Canada Line Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver, in the former CPR Station, along CPR tracks to Mission, British Columbia, a distance of 69 km (43 miles). It began operation on 1 November 1995, and incorporates eight station stops altogether. In 2015, annual ridership was reported at just under 3 million passengers.
Williams resigned his seat in 1976 to allow
Dave Barrett
David Barrett (October 2, 1930 – February 2, 2018) was a politician and social worker in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 26th premier of British Columbia from 1972 to 1975.
Early life and career
Barrett was born in Vancouver, Britis ...
to be reelected to the assembly. The Forensic Audit of the Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding Society revealed that Williams received $80,000, 4 years pay for an MLA at the time, from the NCHS. NDP MP and MLA David Stupich was convicted for taking that money away from Nanaimo Charities, using a small part to pay Williams, and passing some of it along to the NDP and to Unions such as the IWA.
Whistler Village
Seeing the potential that the area had to become a world-class ski destination, Williams was instrumental in saving Blackcomb Mountain from logging and establishing Whistler Village and the governing jurisdiction of the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
In the early 1970s Al Raine, a former Canadian national ski team coach, and his Olympian wife Nancy Greene sent Williams a letter pleading government action to stop the imminent logging of Blackcomb. Raine would also later have an instrumental role in designing and structuring the emergence of Whistler Village.
Whistler as a ski resort municipal jurisdiction was to be an experiment for the provincial government, and if successful the model was intended to be replicated elsewhere in B.C. to create more tourism hubs.
Railway Club
In 1981, Williams purchased the Railway Club at 579 Dunsmuir in Vancouver. First opened as a working class bar in 1931, he opened it up to young musicians making careers in jazz, pop, country, rock, and fusions of same. Such artists as
k.d. lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances. Hits include the s ...
,
Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ma ...
, Herald Nix and the Blue Shadows pioneered the place, and were later joined by innumerable Metro Vancouver musicians, and by such international acts as
Cowboy Junkies
Cowboy Junkies are an alternative country and folk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1985 by Alan Anton (bassist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), Peter Timmins (drummer) and Margo Timmins (vocalist). The three Timminses ...
,
Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto, Ontario. They have released 16 full-length studio albums, four live recordings, one greatest hits album, and two video/DVDs, along with multiple solo albums, side projects, a ...
,
The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...
,
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...
,
Los Lobos
Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...
,
Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic a ...
,
Green on Red
Green on Red was an American rock band, formed in the Tucson, Arizona punk scene, but based for most of its career in Los Angeles, California, where it was loosely associated with the Paisley Underground. Earlier records have the wide-screen psy ...
and
T Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist and songwriter. He rose to fame as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. He has received multiple Grammy awards for his work in film ...
. He sold the club in 2008.
Surrey Central City
On 31 July 1998, Williams became the chair of
ICBC
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC; ) is a Chinese multinational bank.
Founded as a limited company on 1 January 1984, ICBC is a state-owned commercial bank. With capital provided by the Ministry of Finance of China, the b ...
. With the approval of Glen Clark's NDP government, he dedicated $250 million of the crown corporation's capital reserves to fund the construction of the
Central City
In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city ...
development – a 25-storey, 1.7-million-square-foot office tower and shopping mall expansion project. The award-winning development, designed by
Bing Thom
Bing Wing Thom, (Chinese: 譚秉榮; 8 December 1940 – 4 October 2016) was a Canadian architect and urban designer. Born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his family in 1950.Whalley into Surrey's downtown core.
Vancity Credit Union
Williams served on the board of directors for
Vancity Credit Union
Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, commonly referred to as Vancity, is a member-owned financial co-operative headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. By asset size, Vancity is the largest community credit union in Canada , with ...
, Canada's largest credit union, from 1983 to 1995 and from 2007 to 2016.
The Vancity Years: First Period.
In 1983, Vancity had nearly $1.5B CDN in assets. Loan delinquency, while below its 1982 peak, remained fairly constant. That year the Board approved a loan loss provision of $6.5M, about .66% of loans to credit union members. Williams’ initial role on the Board was to ensure management had conducted due diligence in assessing loan quality. By 1986, the balance of non-productive loans was $3.7M, reduced by 1989 to $1.8M.
During Williams’ first five years as Director, Vancity became the first financial institution in Canada to introduce ATMs. The credit union's community role had been limited to philanthropy (about $60K in grants), and social and co-op housing loans (about $42M). With Williams on the Board the credit union began lending to business. Vancity's book of business was previously confined to personal mortgages, personal financing and commercial mortgages. This shift to business lending with a focus on economic development was the precursor to Vancity's social business model which developed over the ensuing decade.
A seed capital program was launched in 1985, designed to support businesses that didn't qualify for conventional financing. By 1986 Vancity had financed nearly 600 business loans under this program.
Williams became the chair of the board in 1988. That year his Chair's message introduced the idea of Vancity setting community and social objectives, and becoming a more entrepreneurial institution: “As ancity’sbusiness performance improves eexpect to do more innovative work in the social sphere.” The assets were now $1.7 B, and advancing social innovation was now an overt part of the agenda.
Together with other Directors, Williams led creation of the Vancity Community Foundation. In 1989, the Foundation was endowed with $1.2M. Even after dividends, income taxes and this donation, net earnings were $5.3M, a significant improvement from the previous year, and up from $2M in 1984 five years earlier. The Foundation was to act as a catalyst for the growth and empowerment of disadvantaged groups and communities served by Vancity through providing loans, technical assistance or funds for community economic development and housing alternatives.
Williams also led the creation of Vancity Enterprises Ltd in 1989, which was established as a wholly owned real estate investment and development subsidiary of the credit union. Its mandate was to provide affordable housing through innovative development strategies involving community groups, churches and governments. In its first year, Vancity Enterprises (VCE) worked on several mixed-used commercial and social housing developments.
By the time of Williams’ third year as Chair (1990), Vancity's assets totaled $2.26B, with profits before taxes and dividends exceeding $9.3M. In his Chair's message, Williams introduced the idea of “social accounting”. He listed Vancity's social achievements, including lending programs for women working at home and peer lending under the auspices of the Vancity Community Foundation. Vancity Enterprise was building a new branch with 34 apartment units on the upper three floors for single parents. That year Vancity extended a loan to the Sher-A-Punjab, a community centre initiated by the Sikh community in North Surrey, and created the EnviroFund, which allocated a percentage of Vancity Visa card revenues to environmental initiatives.
As Vancity's rules limit director terms to 12 years, Williams retired from the Board in 1995. He continued his role as a volunteer advisor on a number of projects, including the creation of the Vancity Capital Corporation, founded in 1997, which Vancity capitalized with $25M. Its purpose was to provide subordinated debt financing to growing companies, especially those which had a social mandate. Williams was Founding Board Chairperson at Vancity Capital, and hired its first CEO, David Mowat, who remained as CEO until recruited to be the Vancity Credit Union CEO in 2000.
Williams also led efforts to establish the Bologna Summer Program. It was created in 2001, and jointly managed by Vancity, the University of Bologna and the BC Cooperative Association. Its purpose was and remains the training of Vancity staff and associates in the mechanics of cooperative enterprise, the idea of a social dividend, and the strengthening of the co-op credit model in every aspect. He particularly engaged the well-known scholar of co-operative economics, Pier Luigi Sacco, in this international model. It continues today.
The Vancity Years: Second Period, 2007 - 2016. Beginning in 2013, as a member of the Board of Vancity, and later as Chair of the Jim Green Foundation, Williams also helped lead the re-purposing, re-design, and re-construction of the former Vancouver Police Department Main Station. Closed by the City in 2011, the old 312 Main Street Station is now becoming a 100,000 sq ft Centre for Social and Economic Innovation. It has to some extent been modeled on the Toronto Centre for Social Innovation.
Centre for Social Innovation
The Centre for Social Innovation is a social enterprise based in Toronto, Canada. It specializes in the creation of shared workspaces for people or organizations with a social mission. It has two locations in Toronto that serve as shared workspace ...
Personal
He was the grandson of
Bill Pritchard
Bill Pritchard is a British singer-songwriter, instrumentalist (guitars, keyboards), musical arranger and producer. Despite being little known in his native country he has achieved considerable recognition in France and elsewhere.
Biography
Pri ...
and the great-grandson of James Pritchard, early socialist pioneers in British Columbia.
In 2012, Williams was made an Honorary Member of the
Architectural Institute of British Columbia The Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC) is the regulatory body responsible for registering and licensing all architects in the Province of British Columbia in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces ...
, in recognition of his contribution to urban design, planning, and building in that province. On 15 March 2017,
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...
announced the granting of a Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, to Williams: "His leadership, inspiration and action over the past 60 years have helped to improve and transform B.C.'s rural and urban communities, and the lives of its citizens."