A bad back and the potential to spend more time with her family has prompted MLA Kathy Corrigan to retire from politics.
In an exclusive interview with the NOW, the New Democrat says she’s looking forward to retirement and spending time with loved ones. Corrigan has also been having “significant back problems” over the years and the trips back and forth from Victoria every week have been “a bit of a grind.”
“I don’t think it helps my back at all,” she says of the plane rides and the 12-hour days in the legislature. “My back is as such that I couldn’t see (myself) physically going through it another four years and being away from my family for another four years.”
The mother-of-four adds she’s also hopeful for some grandchildren in the not-too-distant future.
“They’re starting to take the hint. I do remind all of them that it is their obligation as my children to have children,” she jokingly says.
Corrigan, 62, is the first NDP MLA in B.C. to announce she won’t be running in 2017. Her reason for sharing the news now was to give her party plenty of time to find a replacement, a process she says could start immediately. Asked if she knew any potential candidates wanting to throw their hat in the ring, Corrigan couldn’t say.
“There are people who are interested, but that’s up to them.”
Corrigan – a lawyer and policy researcher by trade – was first elected to the legislature in 2009 after winning Liberal MLA John Nuraney’s seat. Prior to entering provincial politics, she served three terms on the Burnaby Board of Education from 1999 to 2008, with two of those years as board chair. She was also active on many district committees and was a member of the B.C. School Trustees Association provincial council.
Corrigan still remembers the day former NDP leader Carole James asked her to put her name forward.
“I was really interested and really honoured that she would ask me. I thought about it and thought about how much of a commitment it was,” she tells the NOW.
During her tenure – among her many assignments – Corrigan has been the opposition critic for the 2010 Winter Games, justice, women’s issues, public safety and solicitor general, and is currently serving as the party’s advanced education critic.
Some of her career highlights as an MLA include helping the town of Sicamous get a new bridge after a 2012 flash flood forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents and affected 600 homes. (Corrigan was public safety critic at the time.)
“I went up there, saw where the damage had been. That’s a little thing in some ways, but it mattered a lot to that community,” she says.
Standing up in the legislature and raising issues about access to post-secondary education have been other career highs.
“I’m not sure if you could say there’s any signature moments of triumphs, but I think when you’re in opposition, you have to pick your places,” she says, adding a major project she failed to see happen during her time in office was a new hospital for Burnaby.
As for her toughest time on the job, it’s been sitting on the other side of the floor, in opposition. The results of the 2013 election came as a shock to Corrigan. Early on, it was widely predicted the NDP would form the new government.
“It is hard when you have a certain value set and you don’t see it reflected in the policies, the legislation and the budgets of the government. It is difficult to continue to fight that fight, but I always try to remember that we’re acting on the best interest of the people of British Columbia, and we owe it to the people of British Columbia to keep on (going).”
Despite the loss, Corrigan says she’s been really impressed with how unified the NDP caucus has been over the last few years.
“Even in tough times, I think we’ve done really, really well, and we’re feeling great right now.”
Meanwhile, working alongside husband and Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan has been “really great,” she says, noting even if they don’t always agree on things, there’s always an interesting discussion that emerges.
“My disappointment has been that we didn’t win the last time around. We just had so many ideas about how, if you had a provincial government and a local government working together, the great things that you could do, like cooperate and build a hospital,” Corrigan explains, adding the pair consider “date night” an evening when both of them attend a community event.
Asked whether Derek intends to retire before the next municipal election, slated for 2018, Corrigan says she doesn’t see it happening.
“He’s loving his job. He’s certainly not thinking about that at all. … Unless something happens to his health or something like that.”
When her term as MLA ends next year, Corrigan plans to do a lot more cooking and travelling (Italy’s first on the list). She’s also hoping to work on her golf swing, a sport she and Derek took up 15 years ago.
Corrigan says she would like her legislative legacy to be one of integrity, decorum and gravitas.
“I hope that people will know that everything I’ve done over the last 30 years – volunteering in my community, as a school trustee for nine years and as an MLA – is that I have wanted to do the best thing for my community. I don’t think there’s a job in the world where you get to walk through so many doors in so many interesting ways.”
