Dave Barrett

David Barrett was a passionate Jewish-Canadian social worker from East Vancouver who worked in correctional institutions before entering politics. Leading the British Columbia New Democratic Party, Barrett ended twenty years of W.A.C. Bennett's rule in a stunning 1972 election victory.

In just thirty-nine months, Barrett's government passed an astonishing 367 pieces of legislation, establishing the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) to protect farmland from suburban sprawl, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), the BC Ambulance Service, the Labour Relations Board, and the province's first televised legislative Hansard. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.