Beauty, Love... and Politics: Ian Reid, 1955-2014

When people think of politics, love and beauty usually aren't the words that jump to mind.

But for New Democrat strategist Ian Reid, they were inextricably bound together. The same heart that could soar at the sight of great architecture or a turn of phrase in a Patti Smith song was repelled by the ugliness of oppression, injustice and inequality. And he dedicated himself to fighting that ugliness, out of love for those close to him and for his community.

Ian's career began with the Canadian Mental Health Association, but his appetite for social change soon led him into activism (he was arrested at an anti-apartheid protest for destroying property -- to wit, bottles of South African wine) and politics. A candidate for Vancouver city council, he went on to work for Darlene Marzari, MLA. She would become both a cabinet minister and one of Ian's most important mentors.

For many on the B.C. political scene, Ian first came to prominence heading up the BC NDP government's public consultation and opinion research office. There he displayed an uncanny knack for understanding the mind of the B.C. public, seeing past sharp divisions over issues like environmental protection and resource jobs -- and finding common ground in the views British Columbians shared.

With the government's defeat in 2001, Ian worked for a while as a consultant. When Vancouver's left-wing civic party COPE split apart, he ran the first-ever campaign for the fledgling Vision Vancouver party -- and while mayoral candidate Jim Green was defeated in a tight and controversial vote, the campaign established Vision as the clear alternative to the NPA on council.

Partisan life still beckoned, and Ian took on his most prominent role yet: chief of staff to BC NDP leader Carole James, where he helped guide the caucus to the point where the party held a commanding lead in the polls.

Around the same time, a rare cancer known as chordoma -- diagnosed years previously, necessitating a few rounds of surgery -- began to reassert itself. Ian reluctantly stepped down, and some time later, James began to come under fire from within her caucus. Sidelined, he watched with mounting frustration and finally heartbreak as she resigned as leader.

Seizing opportunities

But Ian was in the thick of his own fight now, against the disease that was inexorably taking his life.

That fight looked strikingly like every other campaign he had waged. As in any election, Ian kept a clear-eyed perspective on the numbers and the reality on the ground. He repeatedly defied life expectancy projections, but he knew better than to engage in wishful thinking.

Instead, Ian and his husband, Paul Degenstein, recognized every opportunity that presented itself, and made the most of it. They travelled extensively while Ian was able to not just endure but enjoy the journey, gladly trading hardships for unforgettable experiences.

Ian lived the words attributed to Harry Truman, "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." He worked in elections across the country, and was an informal advisor to pivotal campaigns in Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan -- mainly through long, late-night conversations with Paul, who was working on those campaigns and trusted Ian's judgment as his own.

If there was any happy side to Ian's forced retirement, it was that it freed him to speak out publicly at last. His blog, The Real Story, became a must-read commentary on B.C. and Canadian politics. He shared his political insights with the same candour as his cancer symptoms and treatment, in posts that were often funny, sometimes raw and always honest.

Those posts finally began to taper off over the past year. Like any great strategist, he ceded ground only reluctantly, and took such calculated risks as a surgery that extended his life by many months, if not years.

Even as the disease progressed, Ian soaked up the company of those he loved. He would tire himself to the point of exhaustion just to eke out a few more minutes of conversation.

Those conversations drew to a close on a rainy Saturday afternoon, in a hospital room with a splendid view of his treasured Vancouver. Ian died on April 5 at the age of 58, with beloved family -- husband Paul among them -- at his side.

Memorial on Wednesday

Ian's friends and colleagues will gather to celebrate his life at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, 6393 N.W. Marine Drive in Vancouver, on Wednesday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. He and Paul chose the Stephen Lewis Foundation as Ian's beneficiary of choice for memorial donations.