Take the Torch

Take the Torch is a compelling memoir from one of BC’s most widely accomplished and animated politicians, Ian Waddell, QC. Waddell takes us on a journey through his life and career as a storefront lawyer, an NDP Member of Parliament, a Minister of Culture, a writer, a teacher, a film producer and more-delivering a smart, humorous, endearing and impossible-to-forget exploration of public life.

Waddell endeavours to pass on some of the lessons I learned about setting goals for social change and the methods to use to get there … debating, protesting, and marching to ‘biting dogs’ at press conferences (following the old adage ‘dog bites man is not a story; man bites dog is a headline’), writing op-ed pieces for newspapers, getting elected, taking on prime ministers, dictators and kings, grabbing maces, lobbying diplomats in the lobby of the United Nations, and bucking your own party. Waddell got his start through his involvement as a young lawyer, from an immigrant family, in both the first consumer class-action lawsuit in Canada and the Berger Inquiry into the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.