Fourth in a series of profiles of Surrey's first-time MLAs, the following is a Q&A with Linda Hepner, MLA in the new riding of Surrey-Serpentine River. A former Surrey mayor and three-term city councillor, Hepner earned 9,782 votes, 435 more than NDP challenger Baltej Singh Dhillon and 9,228 more than independent candidate Jim McMurtry.
The world of politics is certainly not to new to you, but provincial politics are. What made you want to dive in again at age 75?
"That's a very good question. I've actually answered that several times throughout the election campaign, that I came back to politics because I was concerned about the fact that many young people were looking at leaving the province. I have my grandchildren here and I don't want any of them thinking that there is no future for them in this province."
Exactly how and when did you decide to run for MLA in the Serpentine River riding, and were you pursued hard by the B.C. Conservatives?
"I was pursued, there was a definitely a call out for me to think about it, and I thought long and hard before I decided. It was actually, interestingly, a lunch meeting that I had with (BC Conservative party leader) John Rustad that ultimately convinced me, because the more I talked to him, the more I could relate to his approach to governing and to the way he embraced collaboration, put it that way. He was very open to what I thought, how I'd approach things and what he thought was wrong with the way we were going in provincial politics. Pretty much all of that aligned with what I was thinking."
That said, are there aspects of the Conservative platform that you don't fully endorse. If so, what?
"Every single policy that came out during that election period as Conservative policy, I fully endorsed, every single one."
How will your work as a single-term mayor of Surrey impact and shape what you can and will do in Victoria?
"I think it's more than a single-term mayor, I think it goes back to 34 years in government, either as a bureaucrat who delivered policy or as a three-term counsellor, my 13 years of governing. I think it's the whole basket of experience that is what will bring value in Victoria. I was there (at Surrey City Hall) since 1985 when Surrey was 140,000 people. I think it's that depth that has value because I know a lot about why Surrey developed certain policies that they did, historically, and I know a lot about what the province does based on my years of being the person who had to respond to the provincial ombudsman on any complaints that came against the city."
You decided not to run for mayor in 2018, when Doug McCallum succeeded you at city hall. Do you now regret not running again that year and continuing your work as mayor, or were you just done at that point?
"Well, I will always regret not having more time as mayor, but I will measure it against what was important for me in the day, and that, for me, was that I had very young grandchildren. This comes from maybe being as mature as I am, because I know that those years go by way too fast. And if I did not take advantage of making sure that they knew who grandma was and what grandma could make for them and having a history of time with them when they were little, I could never get that back. That was the reason I needed to take a break and spend time with them before they're too old to care. Now they're teenagers and they don't want to spend that much time with grandma anymore, but they will never forget that I was always there for all the occasions, after school and pickup and sports. I needed to be there at that time."
Your only son, Gordon Hepner, is now a Surrey city councillor. What advice have you given him, also perhaps vice versa, and did he encourage you to run for MLA?
"He actually did encourage me. He said, 'Sure, go for it.' And if you know my son, he's very strong and he's very opinionated and he doesn't listen to me all the time, but he has heard political conversations around the breakfast and dinner table since he was two years old, and he's an only child. So he grew up with a sense of always hearing about what was going on in the world. So I don't have to give him advice, he oftentimes now gives me advice."
What's your first order of business as MLA of Surrey-Serpentine River, and do you hope to be a critic of any particular B.C. ministry?
"I hope that John (Rustad) sees value in what I can bring to the table in whatever form that is, and I haven't had that conversation with him, so I don't know where that may lead us. I think, given that there are so many new faces, I look forward to knowing more about my colleagues and learning how the Victoria model works, compared to the municipal model. My first inkling is that there is a lot to learn about processes because I have been, not overwhelmed, that's not the word, but I have been I have been surprised by all of the information that is coming at us like a fire hose."
You mentioned MLA school happening this week. What does that involve?
"Who would have known that I'd be going back to school at my age, but it is called that, I'm not using that as colloquialism, it is MLA School. It's three days, starting Tuesday (Nov. 12). It's about protocol and all those things. The interesting thing is your constituency office is your own. So I need to find an office, manage the office, staff the office, buy the furniture for the office and set that whole thing up, which is going to be really exciting for me over the next, I don't know, several months, because I have to do all the tenancy improvements as well. We'll see now how quick the city can give us tenant improvement permits. So I've got all that to look forward to as well, and I'm kind of finding it exciting, to be honest."
This might be too early to ask, but at this point would you consider running again in the next B.C. election?
"I will see how the next four years go. Given how tight the ship is, it may not be a full four (years), and if that's the case then, yes, I would consider it. We'll have to see how long it lasts right now, it's pretty tight. If anybody falls sick, they better not stay home."
Something non-political here, or perhaps political, I suppose. What is something that people might now know about Linda Hepner?
"I used to be a figure skater, used to be, and it screwed up my hip. I cannot skate anymore. What else? People might be surprised to know that I love to bake and I love to preserve. I make jams, I make jellies, I make pickles, I like to do all that. That's a creative bone in my body. I say this with as much humility as I can, but I make the best pastries and pies."
