Adrian Dix

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Adrian Dix
Adrian Dix Kamloops 2013.jpg
Adrian Dix in 2013
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Kingsway
Assumed office
2005
Preceded by Rob Nijjar
Constituency Vancouver-Kingsway
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
In office
2011 – May 4, 2014
Preceded by Dawn Black
Succeeded by John Horgan
Leader of the British Columbia NDP
In office
2011 – May 4, 2014
Preceded by Dawn Black
Succeeded by John Horgan
Personal details
Born (1964-04-20) April 20, 1964 (age 61)
Vancouver, British Columbia
Political party New Democrat
Spouse(s) Renée Saklikar
Occupation Politician
Religion Anglican

Adrian Dix (born April 20, 1964)[1] is a Canadian politician, serving as the MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway in British Columbia and as the former leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party.[2] He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2005 provincial election. Dix's decision in 2013 to be replaced as leader came following the party's disappointing result in the May 2013 provincial election which the NDP lost despite a 20-point lead in the polls prior to the election campaign.[3]

Personal life

Adrian Dix was born in Vancouver, to parents Ken and Hilda, immigrants from Ireland and Britain, respectively. His parents ran the Dix Insurance Agency Ltd. on West 41st Avenue in Vancouver until 2011 when his father retired and sold the business.[4] Growing up in Vancouver, Dix was raised as an Anglican and attended both St. George's School and Point Grey Secondary. He then went on to study history and political science at the University of British Columbia. Dix has two siblings and currently lives in Vancouver with his wife Renée Saklikar, a poet and writer.[5] Dix was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes in his 20s.[4]

Career

Fluently bilingual, Dix lived in France as a young man and then worked in Ottawa for NDP MP Ian Waddell.

Chief of Staff

He served as Chief of Staff to BC Premier Glen Clark from 1996 to 1999, a position from which he was dismissed for back-dating a memo to protect Clark from conflict-of-interest charges.[6] Dix has said of this incident, "It was wrong, it was wrong. I’m out there and I’ve admitted it and people will judge. But I’m not trying to hide my mistake."[7] This memo would later become a focus of a number of opposition BC Liberal Party ads in the 2013 provincial election.[8]

Subsequently, he went on to work as the executive director of Canadian Parents for French in their B.C./Yukon branch. The Vancouver Sun summarized his work in this position as "successfully encouraging more school boards to offer French immersion programs."[4]

Political commentator

From 2001 to 2005 Dix was a political commentator in various media, writing a column for the Victoria Times-Colonist and The Source, a prominent intercultural newspaper in Vancouver. He was also a contributor to The Tyee[9] and the CBC.[10]

Member of the Legislative Assembly

Since 2005, Dix has served as the MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway. He first served as the opposition critic for Children and Families and then served as the Health critic.[11] As MLA, he cites among his achievements "bringing insulin pumps to children with Type 1 diabetes and his work on a successful campaign to stop three schools from being closed in Vancouver-Kingsway."[12]

Election results (partial)

British Columbia general election, 2005: Vancouver-Kingsway
Party Candidate Votes % Expenditures
New Democratic Adrian Dix 10,038 51.44% $84,411
Liberal Rob Nijjar 7,894 40.46% $115,864
Green Stuart Mackinnon 1,212 6.21% $4,556
Marijuana Steven Mackenzie Lay 219 1.12% $100
People's Front Donna Petersen 77 0.39% $103
Sex Yvonne Maylynne Tink 73 0.37% $100
Total Valid Votes 19,513 100%
Total Rejected Ballots 239 1.22%
Turnout 19,752 54.19%

2011 NDP leadership race

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Main article: British Columbia New Democratic Party leadership election, 2011

The last candidate to publicly launch his leadership bid, Dix campaigned on a platform of eliminating the HST, rolling back reductions in the corporate tax rate, supporting the redirection of carbon tax revenue to pay for public transit and infrastructure that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supporting an increase in the minimum wage rate to $10 per hour, creating a provincial child care system, restoring grants to the post-secondary students, reducing interest on student loans, and restoring the corporation capital tax on financial institutions.[13][14][15]

His candidacy was endorsed by former interim BC NDP leader Joy MacPhail, amongst others.[16]

Dix led throughout the voting, narrowly defeating rival Mike Farnworth on the third and final ballot with 51.8% of the vote.[17]

Results

Candidate First ballot Second ballot Third ballot
Votes Percent Votes Percent Votes Percent
Adrian Dix 7,638 38.2% 7,748 39.3% 9,772 51.8%
Mike Farnworth 6,979 34.9% 6,951 35.2% 9,095 48.2%
John Horgan 4,844 24.2% 5,034 25.5%
Dana Larsen 531 2.7%

2013 British Columbia provincial election

Nearly all polls showed the NDP well ahead of the BC Liberals going into the 2013 election, with at least one showing the NDP ahead by as much as 20 points. Two months prior to the election, The Province newspaper's front page featured a column by pundit Michael Smyth with the banner headline: "If This Man Kicked A Dog He Would Still Win The Election."[18] However, in a result that shocked the party and political pundits, the BC Liberals won a fourth majority government.[19][20][21] The BC NDP won 34 seats, one fewer than in 2009.

Dix announced on September 18, 2013 that he would resign as party leader once a new leader (John Horgan) would be chosen in 2014. He also announced his intention to run for re-election as an MLA in the next provincial election.[3]

References

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External links

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ "Dix clinches leadership of BC NDP". The Globe and Mail, April 17, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Knight, Leo. "Spin doctoring can't save Clark and the NDP", North Shore News, August 25, 1999.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Bio at The Tyee
  10. ↑ Bio, Adrian Dix, NDP website
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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