Introduction
Adrian Dix (born April 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician serving as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vancouver-Kingsway in British Columbia and the current Minister of Health. He has also served as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party from 2011 to 2014. 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.
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. 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. Dix was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes in his 20s.
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. 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." This memo would later become a focus of a number of opposition BC Liberal Party ads in the 2013 provincial election.
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."
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 and the CBC.
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.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."
Election results (partial)
| 2017 British Columbia general election: Vancouver-Kingsway | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| New Democratic | Adrian Dix | 10,620 | 60.07 | |||||
| Liberal | Trang Nguyen | 4,891 | 27.67 | |||||
| Green | Ellisa Calder | 1,645 | 9.31 | |||||
| Conservative | Charles Bae | 446 | 2.52 | |||||
| Your Political Party | Brette Mullins | 76 | 0.43 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 17,678 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Source: Elections BC | ||||||||
| 2013 British Columbia general election: Vancouver-Kingsway | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| New Democratic | Adrian Dix | 10,409 | 56.77 | |||||
| Liberal | Gurjit Dhillon | 6,600 | 35.99 | |||||
| Green | Gregory Dale Esau | 1,327 | 7.24 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 18,336 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 244 | 1.31 | ||||||
| Turnout | 18,580 | 48.96 | ||||||
| Source: Elections BC | ||||||||
| 2005 British Columbia general election: 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
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.
His candidacy was endorsed by former interim BC NDP leader Joy MacPhail, amongst others.
Dix led throughout the voting, narrowly defeating rival Mike Farnworth on the third and final ballot with 51.8% of the vote.
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." However, in a result that shocked the party and political pundits, the BC Liberals won a fourth majority government. 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.