The day after he was tapped to be the next premier of 乌鸦传媒, John Horgan stood on the front lawn of the legislature, doing television interviews, as crews readied the grounds for 乌鸦传媒 Day celebrations.
His newfound celebrity meant that he no sooner finished one TV shoot than well-wishers and holiday revellers stepped forward with their own cameras, asking him to pose for photographs with their children.
It was a role that Horgan clearly relished, though he was still getting used to the new title.
鈥淚 might be the premier,鈥� he said to one little girl, before catching himself: 鈥淚 am the premier.鈥�
The 57-year-old NDP leader can be forgiven for feeling a bit disoriented given the tumultuous events of the previous day.
In the span of a few hours, he defeated Premier Christy Clark and the Liberals in a confidence vote in the legislature, met with Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon at Government House, agreed to form the next minority government with the backing of the 乌鸦传媒 Green Party, and emerged as the premier-designate to high-five cheering supporters outside the Rockland mansion.
It would have been a dramatic day for anyone, but it was particularly poignant for a hometown boy like Horgan, who grew up in Saanich, attended Lake Hill Elementary and graduated from Reynolds Secondary.
A big part of who he is and how he plans to lead the province can be traced back to his humble beginnings, he said.
鈥淚鈥檝e had support and help throughout my life, and that鈥檚 what motivates me to support other people,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you open doors and give people opportunities, extraordinary things can happen.
鈥淪o from a personal place, I am the result of all those who have helped me along the way, and I want to pay that forward.鈥�
The youngest of four, Horgan was just 18 months old when his father died from a brain aneurysm, leaving his mother to support the family.
鈥淪he didn鈥檛 have a driver鈥檚 licence,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he was a stay-at-home mom and she had to become a working mom and learn how to drive and do all of the things that people have to do to participate in the economy.鈥�
It was a rough road at times, and although he has no memories of that time himself, Horgan knows from family members that they received hampers at Christmas and had to rely on the benevolence of friends, neighbours and the church. Despite the challenges, his mom was determined to make sure Horgan had the same opportunities as other boys, he said .
鈥淢y mom wanted to get me in whatever she could that was cost-effective,鈥� he said. 鈥淪occer was a good thing because you just had to have the boots, and basketball was a good thing because you just had to have running shoes 鈥� and you had to have them, anyway.
鈥淏ut when I expressed an interest in lacrosse, all of a sudden it got expensive, because you had to buy all this stuff. You had to have pads and a helmet and all these others. That was a big burden for her, but she sacrificed to get me involved in things so my life would be what she characterized as normal.鈥�
Horgan recalls that other people鈥檚 dads pitched in by taking him fishing and camping.
鈥淧eople would step up to help me and that was a great help for my mom,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he was always grateful and again she instilled in me 鈥楶eople have helped us, you should help them.鈥� That鈥檚 just how I鈥檝e rolled ever since I remember.鈥�
He came by his love of sports naturally. His father, Pat, was prominent in the local sports scene before his death.
Horgan still has a cherished sketch of his Dad from the Daily Colonist newspaper in the late 1950s. The tattered clipping, which hangs in his office at the legislature, depicts 鈥渁n Irishman from County Cork, Pat Horgan,鈥� manager of the Senior A basketball team and 鈥渏ailer鈥� of the penalty box at lacrosse games.
One of the players in the box sports a Shamrocks sweater and the drawing notes Horgan is well-suited to his job in the sin bin. 鈥淗e鈥檚 an ex-boxer,鈥� it says.
It鈥檚 appropriate, then, that sports helped turn a young John Horgan around when it looked like he might go sideways. He credits Jack Lusk, a basketball coach at Reynolds, for seeing something in him that Horgan was unable to recognize at the time.
鈥淗e kind of said, 鈥榊ou can do way better than you鈥檙e doing here, Horgan.鈥� I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and going down the wrong road, and he brought me back into the mainstream.鈥�
Lusk, 78, and long retired from teaching, said in an interview that it was never a conscious effort on his part to steer Horgan out of trouble. He was unaware, he said, of Horgan鈥檚 personal circumstances.
鈥淚 was just coaching basketball and if you鈥檙e going to play basketball for me, you had to be a solid citizen and he grew into that.鈥�
Horgan ended up playing for Lusk for a number of years.
鈥淗e was always an extremely hard-working, nice person,鈥� said Lusk, who is still coaching basketball.
鈥淭ypical of John, he鈥檚 been very expressive of the thanks he has for whatever I did for him. Obviously, he could have forgotten about me and moved on, but he never has.鈥�
Back on the right path, Horgan attended Trent University for his bachelor of arts degree and Sydney University in Australia for his master鈥檚.
It was at Trent that he met Ellie, on his second day of classes. They鈥檝e been married 33 years and have two grown sons, Evan and Nate.
Horgan told reporters on Thursday night that Ellie was one of the first people he phoned from Government House. She was out, so he left a voicemail, telling her it was the premier calling.
鈥淗e鈥檚 got a very good home life,鈥� said former NDP MP Lynn Hunter, for whom Horgan worked as a legislative assistant in Ottawa in the late 1980s. 鈥淪he鈥檚 very supportive of him, as are his two boys, and that makes a huge difference if you鈥檙e in public life.鈥�
Hunter describes Horgan as her 鈥渕ain go-to guy鈥� in Ottawa.
鈥淗e was a saviour, and I remember saying to him at one point: 鈥楯ohn, you鈥檝e got to run. You鈥檙e the full package. You鈥檙e good looking, you care about what happens to people and you鈥檙e really smart.鈥� He said: 鈥業 could never do that. I don鈥檛 have a thick enough skin.鈥� I said: 鈥楢nd I do?鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a matter of having a thick skin; if you鈥檝e got a thick skin you鈥檙e in the wrong business. You should care. So I鈥檓 really glad that he took my advice eventually.鈥�
That came later, though. Horgan spent four years in Ottawa before returning to Victoria to work as a civil servant for the NDP governments of the 1990s.
Former premier Mike Harcourt said he gave Horgan a number of critical tasks, including helping to establish the Columbia Basin Trust.
鈥淗e understands government, he understands public policy, he understands people and does it naturally,鈥� Harcourt said.
Ex-premier Dan Miller, who made Horgan his chief of staff, describes him as a 鈥渞egular guy.鈥�
鈥淚 think he understands the situation that working people and families are in, and he鈥檚 got a lot of experience. He was generally in the group that we used to throw the tough problems at, so he鈥檚 very good in terms of finding creative solutions to the problems that beset any government.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 until 2005, however, that Horgan decided to enter the fray himself. He was at home, he said, ranting about 乌鸦传媒 Ferries鈥� decision to build ships in Germany instead of creating jobs here.
One of his son鈥檚 bandmates asked him what he was going to do about it, and, put on the spot, Horgan informed the teenager that he was going to run for office.
He won the riding of Malahat-Juan de Fuca (now Langford-Juan de Fuca) and got re-elected in 2009 and 2013, but took it hard when the party failed to form government under leader Adrian Dix.
Horgan, who finished third in the 2011 leadership race, initially planned to stay out of the 2014 contest to make way for new faces. He changed his mind after younger members of the party encouraged him to run.
He was acclaimed leader in 2014, a fact the Liberals mocked at the time.
鈥淩eally? By default?鈥� said then-energy minister Bill Bennett. 鈥淚t suggests to me that they are completely lost as a political party.鈥�
But Dix pointed out that both Dave Barrett and Harcourt won the party鈥檚 leadership by acclamation. 鈥淥n both those occasions, the acclamation preceded a winning 鈥� even a transformative 鈥� election for the province and for the NDP,鈥� Dix said at the time. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing, of course, guaranteed about history repeating itself, but those are good precedents.鈥�
Three years later, Horgan has managed to end 16 years of Liberal rule and upset a government flush with cash and boasting the strongest economy in 乌鸦传媒.
He did it, despite efforts by the Liberals to portray him as having an anger-management problem and their supporters referring to him during the campaign as 鈥淗ulk Horgan.鈥�
There鈥檚 no question he can be defensive when sparring with opposing politicians or the press, but he argues that he鈥檚 simply passionate about the issues rather than hot-headed.
Asked about it during the campaign, Ellie told reporters that she鈥檚 seen no evidence of it. 鈥淣ever, ever at home,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat I will say is he doesn鈥檛 suffer fools gladly.鈥�
Hunter said she has never seen Horgan鈥檚 temper. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure he has it, because he does really care,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think that makes for a good politician, if you get mad about the right things.鈥�
The problem in Opposition is that the leader can often seem angry about everything, since it鈥檚 their duty to oppose the government. It often takes a campaign to show a different side, and former NDP leader Carole James believes Horgan finally got an opportunity to do that in May.
鈥淲hat I really saw was that the public got a chance to see the John that all of us know,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hich was a people guy, a person who will be the last one at an event.鈥�
Horgan acknowledges feeling invigorated by the election campaign and the strong response from the public to the NDP platform. But it was the individual stories that stuck with him, meeting a mother and father who lost a daughter to a drug overdose or a woman working three jobs to make ends meet.
鈥淭hat motivates me and it reminds me of how I was raised,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat is, if you鈥檝e got an ability to help someone, you should do that.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I got involved in government, that鈥檚 why I got involved afterward in politics and that鈥檚 why I want to lead a government that鈥檚 compassionate and focused on making sure people are at the beginning, middle and end of everything that we do.鈥�
