Former B.C. premier and man with autism form enduring friendship
Former B.C. premier and man with autism form enduring friendship
When Kody Bell went to get a Boston cream donut and a large milk at Tim Hortons all those years ago, he never expected to meet his newly elected MLA.
“I walked up to him and I said, ‘You’re John Horgan,’” Kody says.
“He said, ‘You got 12,642 votes. You beat the other candidate by x-number of votes,’” John recalls meeting Kody.
“And he was impressed about that,” says Kody, who has a developmental disability and is on the autism spectrum.
“I hadn’t committed that [exact number] to memory,” John says. “But Kody had.”
When Kody wondered about visiting the B.C. legislature buildings, John offered a personal tour.
“He was absolutely unvarnished,” John says of Kody. “And I liked that.”
“I got to sit in the speaker’s chair,” Kody says of the first of many visits to the legislature. “It was pretty neat.”
It led Kody to start volunteering at John’s constituency office, where he did everything from helping pick Christmas card art to being the voice on the answering machine.
“He’s not a partisan,” John says. “But he knows who he likes and who he doesn’t like.”
And Kody likes John.
“He’s a down-to-earth person,” Kody says.
John couldn’t help but like Kody.
“I chose to be friends with Kody early on,” John says. “Because of his genuineness.”
Beyond politics, they’re pals who regularly hang out together.
“[It’s] John and Kody’s excellent adventure,” John smiles from behind the wheel after picking Kody up for a drive and a visit.
“We have fun together,” Kody adds.
John will tell jokes and enquire about Kody’s family. Kody will express his infectious curiosity and genuine caring.
“Kody’s taken me to places that have made me cry, have made me laugh,” John says. “And made me reflect on what we can all do as a society, as a community, to lift each other up.”
They make a stop at the drive-through of the Tim Hortons where they first met. John orders a coffee. Kody requests a chocolate chunk cookie and two small milks.
They reflect on the day Kody was invited to attend the ceremony at Government House when John was sworn in as premier.
Following the ceremony, Kody was wandering around and happened to find the room where the cabinet was posing for the official photograph with the lieutenant governor.
“I went around and I didn’t think anyone would see me,” Kody recalls with a smile.
“You were at the side of the door,” John beams, imitating how Kody’s head peered into the room. “I’ll never forget that.”
John says he waved Kody into the room and invited him to sit where the lieutenant governor had just left.
Kody shows me the photo of him in the centre of the front row, surrounded by politicians.
“The unofficial photograph is Kody Bell right in the heart of it,” John smiles. “And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
And now that John has stepped down as premier and is preparing to leave the sometimes cynical and divisive world of politics, this optimistic friendship remains.
“His dearly departed mom used to always thank me and I would say thank you for letting Kody into my heart and letting me experience the wonder that he experiences the world with,” John smiles. “Everybody should see the world that way.”
It's a reminder of the unexpected gifts that come when we allow our differences to unite us.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Residents digging through a collapsed building in a northwest Syrian town discovered a crying infant whose mother appears to have given birth to her while buried underneath the rubble from this week's devastating earthquake, relatives and a doctor said Tuesday.
The British Columbia government has introduced legislation to make Sept. 30 a paid statutory holiday marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Canadians now believe they need $1.7 million in savings in order to retire, a 20 per cent increase from 2020, according to a new BMO survey. The eye-watering figure is the largest sum since BMO first started surveying Canadians about their retirement expectations 13 years ago.
Three men who disappeared after planning to rap at a Detroit party were killed by multiple gunshots, police said Tuesday, five days after their bodies were found in a vacant, rat-infested building.
Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands announced Tuesday that they plan to provide Ukraine with at least 100 refurbished Leopard 1 battle tanks, a pledge that comes as Kyiv anticipates a new Russian offensive around the anniversary of its invasion.
Zoom is cutting about 1,300 jobs, or approximately 15% of its workforce. CEO Eric Yuan said in a blog post Tuesday that the company ramped up staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when businesses became increasingly reliant on its service as people worked from home. Yuan said Zoom grew three times in size within 24 months to manage demand.
A passenger plane packed with donations and emergency supplies is set to travel from Vancouver, B.C., to Istanbul on Tuesday, as the death toll from Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkiye and Syria surpasses 6,200.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Rainfall warnings have been lifted in the Lower Mainland, but the storm that brought them has now prompted Environment and Climate Change Canada to advise against non-essential travel on two highways in B.C.'s Interior.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars, a CTV News Toronto investigation has found.
Nearly five years after Matthew Staikos was gunned down in Toronto, the family of the tech CEO has renewed a $250,000 reward in the unsolved murder case.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
The Tsuut'ina Police Service, which serves a community west of Calgary, is expected to share more details about the case against former Dances With Wolves actor Nathan Chasing Horse, CTV News has learned.
The Laurier Macdonald High School in Montreal's Saint-Leonard borough was placed into lockdown Tuesday afternoon due to a threat, but Montreal police say they believe it appears to be unfounded.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
A former medical student who claims he fatally shot a fellow student in self-defence during a drug deal in Halifax denied Tuesday he planned to kill the man and steal the marijuana he was carrying.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
A forensic pathologist offered her expert opinion on how Catlin Goodwill’s three-month-old son died suddenly in October 2017, during testimony on the second day of trial.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
A 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his first-grade teacher constantly cursed at staff and teachers, chased students around and tried to whip them with his belt and once choked another teacher 'until she couldn't breathe,' according to a legal notice filed by an attorney for the wounded teacher.
