First ‘of an occasional series of
profsles of North Shore people.
Today: North Vancouver City
; Mayor Barbara Shurp.

“y hate politics!” she
cries. And laughs.

Huh? Barbara Sharp is a

politician herself. Can a baker
nate flour? A banker hate
“toans? A poct hate words?

Ifa mayor can hate politics,
and that's Sharp's claim, any-
thing is possibie.

“Look, I'm only copying,
down this stuff, ensconced in
the mayor's oftice — and, nat-
urally, trying to winkle out her’
deepest secrets. Mayor Sharp
reveals none. Oh, maybe that
she’s put on some weight, as
has her husband, Brian Dollie,
a fire department captain, since

“they married — a late, and
first, marriage for her, in 1994
when she was 41. ;

She carries that weight.
well, dresses tastefully, and has

7 fine laughing eyes and a lovely

kin: Attractive woman. (Only

significant health problem:
Arthritis in her right wrist.)
But litics? Barbara |
sharp denies any interest ia ox’
ties with party politics, reject-_
Ing, the media’s portrayal of .
her as a rare species on the
North Shore: a strong socialist
and unionist. During her elec-’
tion campaign last fall “the
apers printed that I got-
money from the unions © *
CUPE, the Canadian Union
Public Employces) and the |
bs but I got more money
m my mether.chan I got
om ‘either of th

Se for more details.
00 Mackay Rd North Van *

Custois Rods; Upholtery

tion, she replies: *Local 178,
Plumbers and Pipetitters.”
Interesting, I say, that she
identifies his work by his union
tic. “Well, he was a union
man! she says heartily.

Not genetically carried over
to her, surely? “Well, actually I
was in the labour movement
for several years. I came up out
of the labour side.” A BCIT
graduate in husiness manage-
ment, she has had ties with the
Office and Technical
Employees Union and the
Compensation Employees
Union. She worked 15 years
for BC Hydro as a computer
technician, and also for BC
‘Transit and Pacific Stage Lines.

Her roots are strictly. East’
Vancouver. A proud third-gen-
eration Vancouverite, Barbara

an Sharp was born in 1952

_— possibly named after skater

Barbara Ann Scott, but
Barbara was also the name of

“an aunt, and Ann of her ..

maternal grandmother. :
Family: Sharp repeatedly.”

spoke of her family. Asked = -

about her disappointments,

« She cites the death of her

father 10'years ago (from
undiagnosed tuberculosis) and

“of that same grandmother.
Her active 78-year-old mother .

Trudi = - “You never find her =
_ moved to North ;

nT davsa week
i Trucks.Vans & Minivans

sithiy - Call for free pick-up

"dosed to announce
ve orenng of her new

y - Bedspreads

(Ask about our Seniors Discount)’

Vancouver City to be close to
Sharp — she and hubby live in
a 1920s-era house on Grand
Boulevard and have a condo in
Palm Springs — and other
family members.

And, queried about intlu-
ences on her —~ intellectual, or
a teacher, a thinker, a book? —
she cites her dad. “I could
never po wrong if emulated
one of them (her parents).”

Her public profile was
raised when she was appointed
a mediator for the B.C.
Labour Relations Board. Her
boss was Brian Foley, and “IF
you were looking at someone
you could call, like, a mentor,
Brian Foley would be one ...
and Jim Dorsey” — also a
colleague, later chairman of
the Workers Compensation
Board.

Sharp spent cight years at
the LRB. ‘To the remark that
its appointees are very political,
either pro-union or pro-busi-
ness, she quickly said: “Tney’re
all neutrals, actually. You bet.”
They don’t bring baggage
with then? “Oh, no. U didn’t
bring any baggage with me.
No way.”

Then, disarmingly: “You

" know what? There’s just as big,

jerks on the union side as on
the employers’ side. ... Often,
we used to joke that the side
you came from was the one

you used to get the most
annoyed with.” She found it

“a great job.”

It takes nwo or three court-
room-style questions to 2 Bet
her to say that she mas ~ a
member of the party” — but
she seemed unwilling to spit
aut “New Democratic Party.”

“You're not ashamed of it,
are you?” T needled.

“No, but I don't think it’s
significant cither. ... The facts
are I believed this at one time,
I've learned and grown, and
now sce things in a different
way.”

Not that she thinks those
values were bad; they were
good. But she resists stereo-
typing. She says it's important
to see all aspects of an argu-
ment and “the other side of
the equation ... and I believe I
do that very well.” “

That comes througa when
she speaks about election to
council, in 1987 at age 34: “1
had a lot of respect for Jack
(Loucks),” her revered long-
time predecessor as mayor,
“He was very fair. That's one
of the very strong values that
my perents taught all of us’.
kids. Fairness, honesty, integri-
nv."

” That's when the politics
thing came up: “I hate poli-
tics! ... I don’t like being type-
cast as a politician.”

Sharp was elected mavor of
the small (five and a half
square miles) but densely
packed city (45,000 people,
more crowded than any B.C.
community except Vancouver's |

est End) last fall. The job
rae $59,000 a year.

“You must have taken a bit
ofa salary cut?”

“A huge cut! I'm not
doing, this for the money. You
know, it isn’t all about money.
It’s about what you can do. ...
And so far I think P’'m quite
successful.”

What interests her?
“Kecping going. Thinking.
Challenges. Not j just always
doing one thing.” She abrupt-

fy turned to a nearby shelf and -
thrust ... a teddy bear into my

arms! All her own work.

Why is he so heavy? He’s
fall of beans. (Like her.) “I've
taken hundreds of zillions of
courses all over the place” —
currently a writing program at
Simon Fraser.

As the “iterview gently
wound down, I craftily asked
her where in the city I could
buy the best meat pies and
sausages.

“The, uh — I can’t say

that! Someone else is gonna be

mad! Oh, no!” Sharp laughs,

biting her tongue just in me.

Aha! 1A litician after all!

lautens@axionct.com .

= A Taste of —

1) British Chamba

eaeeer

Hosted by Deana Lancaster: "°°:
» Food and Wine Writer for the North Shore News

Please join us to experience _

an exclusive and informal tasting of.
” BC Estate’ ‘Wineries. mee

" Wednesday, October 4, ‘Spm 7pm

. Le Bistro Chez Michel:
224 West Esplanade | (entrance on Semisch)
$15 at the door...
Hors d’oeuvres will be ‘served.

Continuing
Education

Lectures in
Human Heaith ©

A lecture series for all ages
but guarantecd to be full of
usefui information for the
30 and over crowd.
Beginning October 16 the
first lecture is The Process of
Aging, followed by Eating for
Health and Energy, Heipfiil
Herbs, Supplements and Drugs,
and Cosmetics and Skin Care
Products that Work. The series
tuns Mondays, from 7 to 9
p.m. at a cost of $40.
Register at 984-4901, a

Personal...

& Careers.
Be a Hotel/Restaurant Critic
Oct 4- Nev 8, 7-9:30pin, $160.
Front Line Service Specialist
Oct 14 & 15, Sat all day &:
Sunt aft $160 :
Smail Business Development
Oct 29-Dec 3,10an-2pin, $29,
3D Studio Max: Lev Po 0.0:
Oct 14-Nov 4, 9am-dpm, $525
Advanced Web Publishing
Oct 11 & 18, 7-10pm, 5125
Debt Free by Design. .
Oct 14, 9:30an-12:30pm,
One-Hour-A-Day Novel
Oct 14, 9am-dpin, $145.

Oct 14-Nov 18, 9ain-noon, $ 178,
Acting for the Camera(12-16)°
Oct 14-Nov 18, 1-4pm, $175
Personal. Financial Planning
‘Oct 10-Dec 12; 7-10pin, $425"

You can still j join Eldecollege
this fall and register. f
great courses that wills

hear some ‘wonderful
speakers with