1980s-era Social Credit cabinet minister Pat McGeer, who died at 95 this week, was known for speaking his mind regardless of the consequences
Pat McGeer’s defence of his decision in the late 1970s to double ICBC rates was a masterpiece of legislature oratory.
Thousands of people jammed the PNE Agrodome in Vancouver and the legislature lawn to protest. He got death threats decades before that became part of the political norm.In response, the nonchalant cabinet minister read a letter from the Canadian Hearing Society into the legislature record. “We wish to inform you that sticking anything in your ear can be very dangerous …”
He continued his research, particularly into Alzheimer’s, through a rock ’em sock ’em political career that spanned the 1960s to the 1980s. He was an ardent critic of W.A.C. Bennett’s Social Credit government when he was Liberal leader. “Two Citations, Mr. Speaker!” thundered McGeer. “Those are the only two citations they’re ever going to get.”
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