THE ADVOCATE 425
VOL. 79 PART 3 MAY 2021
sunny day cruise to Friday Harbour. As captain, Paul graciously invited
us all aboard, and as we settled in, there was a lot of chatter about getting
to our destination fast. Paul calmly and expertly maneuvered out of his
slip and through the harbour unaffected by the chatter around him.
Although strongly urged to significantly increase our speed, Paul
demurred and told us we would enjoy a slow ride much more. We
relented and settled in for the ride. It wasn’t more than a half hour later
that Paul slowed even more and began turning in hard circles. None of us
had any idea what he was doing. However, within a few minutes, a small
school of black dolphins materialized and began following the boat, jumping
and cavorting in the waves. We were all transfixed and spent a good
20 minutes enjoying the spectacle. For most of us, these were amazing
new experiences. Paul took great pride in his perfectly maintained boat
and even more pride in the gorgeous scenic sights we passed en route to
our destination.
This is but one example of who Paul was to us all. He was patient, calm
and professional at all times, traits that served him well as a senior lawyer
dealing with the uniqueness of B.C. politics and an ever-changing client
group in the bureaucracy. Paul was always the calm at the centre of the
storm, with a broad smile and eternal wisdom borne of his many years of
keeping clients and governments on the straight and narrow. He ran his
boat as he did his professional career, unfazed by crisis and focused on
doing the right thing at all times. And he did it with charm, warmth and
empathy.
The Honourable Murray Rankin, Q.C., Minister of Indigenous Relations
and Reconciliation and the MLA for Oak Bay–Gordon Head, says:
I remember Paul having an encyclopedic knowledge of resource legislation
and its implications for environmental management. He combined
that knowledge with a unique combination of modesty and wry humour.
Paul told the story of having been dispatched by the provincial government
to Salt Spring Island in the 1980s to advise the then-chair of the
Environmental Appeal Board that his services were no longer required.
Apparently to confirm that a certain herbicide was environmentally
benign, the chair had famously drank the herbicide in a public setting
and proclaimed that it had no effect on his health. Paul explained to the
chair the conflict of interest issues as well as the optics concerns. For his
efforts, Paul was appointed interim chair of the Board. While he was
there, he wrote a very useful analysis of how the Board could improve its
processes. Paul generated a series of reform proposals that were subsequently
implemented.
Colleagues from the Ministry of Attorney General and from government
recall Paul’s dry wit; ever-present smile; calm demeanour during what he
called “the flap du jour”; deep knowledge and capacity to recall facts, details
and consequences of past cases and events; role as a mentor; and ability to
guide clients through legal pitfalls and find a way forward.
For me, I will always cherish the time with Paul, Ruth and my wife Claire
as we made our annual trips to Seattle and then to Phoenix, San Diego and