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British Columbia Premier John Horgan following a swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Victoria on Feb. 25.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press

There was a moment when John Horgan let his mind go there. Or rather, when his mind dragged him to that dark place.

British Columbia’s NDP Premier had been diagnosed with cancer before in his life, and survived it. Now, he was confronted with the same news again – a new form of the disease, which, in 2021, was estimated to have been the cause of 84,600 deaths in Canada.

Having survived bladder cancer earlier in his life, Mr. Horgan was now confronting throat cancer, which has a high cure rate when caught early, but still it was cancer, with all the variables and unknowns and personal emotional trauma that is attached to the word.

“Sure, you can’t help not think that,” Mr. Horgan told The Globe and Mail in an interview this week in his office. “Is this going to be it? Am I going to be the outlier, the one who doesn’t survive? But honestly, I put that out of my mind pretty quickly and focused on the fact that the health professionals taking care of me were extremely optimistic about the outcome, so I decided to be as well.”

Mr. Horgan was putting on his tie one day last July when, while cinching it tight, he felt a lump in his throat. When he pressed on it, it was painful. He later decided to see his physician, who ordered an MRI that confirmed the worst. Things moved swiftly after that. Later in the fall, he had much of the cancer removed surgically and then faced a gruelling protocol of radiation treatments – 35 sessions in all.

He was not spared side effects. He lost his sense of taste, something he still doesn’t have back fully. He lost his appetite – consequently, he shed 30 pounds – weight he concedes he could afford to lose. Worst of all, he lost his voice for a few days – a horror for an Irish politician.

It was not easy on his wife, Ellie, who could only stand by and offer moral and emotional support. That was severely tested in the last round of radiation when Mr. Horgan got violently ill.

“It was a reaction to the morphine I was given,” he recalled. “But I just got so sick, projectile vomiting for 24 straight hours. At the time, it was hard to even sip water, so you can imagine how painful this was. I had nothing in my body practically, so I was throwing up bile. It was not fun.”

Today, a few weeks removed from that low point, John Horgan looks healthier than ever. He doesn’t look as beaten down as he did in photos that were taken of him shortly after he returned to work. Colour has returned to his face; so has his trademark smile and laugh.

One of the things that kept him going throughout the ordeal was the response from the public. Mr. Horgan is the most popular premier that B.C. has seen in decades; maybe since W.A.C. Bennett in the 1960s. His blue-collar roots have shaped his “everyman” appeal.

Since news of his diagnosis went public last fall, he’s received thousands of letters, including from people who never voted NDP in their lives. In their cards, people told him they were rooting for him or praying for him or sharing their own cancer journeys with him. Some church groups knitted “wellness shawls” for him.

“I get choked up every time I think of the support I received from people,” said Mr. Horgan, indeed overcome and unable to speak for several seconds.

In recent days and weeks, Mr. Horgan has had plenty of time for contemplation that has extended beyond his personal health crisis. Those reflections have included concerns about the state of the country and the state of the world. He’s watched occupiers shut down the centre of Ottawa and blockade some of our borders including, temporarily, one in his province. He’s watched people yell at public-health professionals and kids wearing masks on school playgrounds. He’s watched protesters opposed to pandemic restrictions appropriate the Canadian flag. “It’s truly tragic.”

Mr. Horgan said it’s been frustrating to watch, but he’s been equally frustrated by those on the left who “believe the solution to everything is just to stop capitalism. I didn’t get elected to do that.”

In his office, there is an old poster promoting the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the democratic-socialist party that was the precursor to the New Democratic Party. It was discovered in a barn in Saskatchewan, where Tommy Douglas hailed from. He co-founded the CCF in Calgary in 1932 along with J.S. Woodsworth. Many of the protesters that went to Ottawa earlier this month came from Saskatchewan and Alberta, were anti-federal government sentiment runs highest.

“Look,” Mr. Horgan said. “My party was born from dissent on the Prairies, so I understand protest. But the protests I went to, and there have literally been hundreds if not thousands, people never screamed in another’s face or spat on people or tried to viciously denigrate their point of view. Civil disagreement, civil discourse seems to have gone out the window.

“I weep for our future.”

Like most other provinces in Canada, B.C. has commenced the winding down of pandemic restrictions. He agrees that most Canadians believe the worst of the crisis is over and are moving on with their lives. Another lockdown as a result of another deadly wave of the virus would almost be too much for a lot of people, he acknowledged.

“It would all depend on the evidence,” he said. “But a lot of what happens comes down to personal responsibility. People have all the tools to avoid getting really sick, including vaccines, and masks and other things we’ve learned over the last two-plus years.”

Yes, those two-plus years. There has been the pandemic, but also the effects of climate change that last year resulted in unprecedented floods and wild fires in B.C., Donald Trump, the rise of nationalism in the U.S., war in Ukraine. It’s all very depressing, he said, and made worse by the fact that he’s consumed by world events as a result of his job. “There’s too much shit going on and none of it is good.”

Consequently, he employs strategies to blunt the impact of that reality. “I try and find people who don’t give a shit and hang out with them. It’s liberating. But there is no good news at the moment. Even Betty two [Queen Elizabeth II] had COVID and her old man [Prince Philip] kicked off and Charles is still hanging around. These are real problems, says the Irish republican,” Mr. Horgan said, joking about himself.

The Premier’s cancer diagnosis naturally incited speculation about his future. Would it alter his career timeline, make him retire from politics earlier than he might have otherwise? He told me that if anything, the diagnosis, and the fact that he’s expected to fully recover from it, has given him a new surge of energy.

“I feel more invigorated than ever before,” he said. “It’s like I have a second chance. But it’s also a reminder of the fragility of life. We only have so many days. What do you want to do with those days? This has given me the sense that there is still lots more to be done and I intend to do it.”

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