George Heyman is a Canadian politician and former social, environmental and labour activist. He represented the district of

Vancouver-Fairview Vancouver-Fairview is a former provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada in use from 2001 to 2024. Fairview is made up of two rectangles: one bounded by Granville Street to the east, 16th Avenue ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

from 2013 until 2024 as a member of the

British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

(BC NDP). He served as Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Background

He was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

to Stefan and Marta Heyman, a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

couple who escaped

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by way of Japan with the help of

Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who served as vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania. During the Second World War, Sugihara helped thousands of Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japan ...

, the

Japanese Empire The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From 1910 to ...

vice-consul at

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, Lithuania. The Heymans were sponsored by relatives in Canada, settling in Vancouver where Stefan worked as a machinist while getting his engineering credentials recognized. Heyman briefly worked as a logger before becoming a

log scaler The log scaler is an occupation in the timber industry. The Log Scaler measures the cut trees to determine the scale (volume) and quality (grade) of the wood to be used for manufacturing. When logs are sold, in order to determine the basis for a ...

with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests in 1978. He became involved in the labour movement, eventually serving as president of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) from 1999 to 2008. As a representative of BCGEU, he was a federal government appointee as a governor of the

Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS, , CCHST) is an independent departmental corporation under Schedule II of the Financial Administration Act and is accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Labour. CCOHS is t ...

from 1998 to 2000. He also served on the governing panel of administrators of the B.C. Workers’ Compensation Board (now

WorkSafeBC The Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia, operating as WorkSafeBC, is a statutory agency that was made in 1917, after the provincial legislature put into force legislation passed in 1902. This legislation is known as the ''Workers Comp ...

) from 1997 to 2001, and chaired the WCB’s audit committee. From April 2009 to December 2012 Heyman served as executive director of the Sierra Club BC. He oversaw the financial and administrative health of the organization as well as being Sierra Club’s primary public spokesperson on issues regarding energy, mining, conservation of species and habitat, climate change, environmental assessment, forest management and sustainable economic alternatives. Effective January 1, 2013, he took a leave of absence to run in the provincial election.

Politics

Heyman faced high-profile Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs in the nomination contest to become the BC NDP candidate for

in the 2013 provincial election. The contest was described by Norman Ruff, professor emeritus at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, as a "clash of titans." While both candidates were considered potential cabinet material, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' reported that Heyman had "the right stuff to be a power player" in an NDP government."George Heyman has right stuff to be power player for NDP if elected".
''

'', October 23, 2012. On October 21, 2012, Heyman defeated Meggs by winning 58% of the votes, becoming the party's candidate Vancouver-Fairview. Heyman won the seat on election day, defeating incumbent

BC Liberal BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

cabinet minister

Margaret MacDiarmid Margaret MacDiarmid is a Canadian politician and physician. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia for the riding of Vancouver-Fairview from 2009 to 2013. A caucus member of the British Columbia Liberal Party, s ...

. With the NDP once again forming the official opposition, Heyman at one point considered running in the 2014 leadership election to replace Adrian Dix before deciding against it. In the

40th Parliament of British Columbia The 40th Parliament of British Columbia was in session from June 26, 2013, to April 11, 2017. It consisted of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, as elected by the general election of May 14, 2013, and the Queen represented by Lieuten ...

he served as critic for the environment,

green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without environmental degradation, degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological econ ...

and technology. Until February 2016 he also held responsibility for film, television and TransLink. After winning re-election in the 2017 provincial election, Heyman was appointed the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy in the newly formed NDP minority government on July 18, 2017. Heyman defeated Liberal candidate and former Vancouver city councillor George Affleck at the 2020 provincial election, as the NDP achieved a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...

. Following the election, on November 24, 2020 he was given the additional role of Minister responsible for TransLink in the second cabinet of Premier

John Horgan John Joseph Horgan (August 7, 1959 – November 12, 2024) was a Canadian politician and diplomat who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022 and the ambassador of Canada to Germany from 2023 to 2024. He led the Briti ...

. In the new cabinet announced by Premier

David Eby David Robert Patrick Eby (; born July 21, 1976) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as the 37th and current premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022. Eby is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) a ...

on December 7, 2022, he retained the post of Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, while the separate TransLink portfolio was abolished. On March 4, 2024, Heyman announced he would not be seeking re-election in that year's general election.

Electoral record

References

External links

George Heyman

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyman, George Living people Academic staff of Simon Fraser University British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs Canadian environmentalists Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Ministers of the environment of Canadian provinces Jewish Canadian politicians Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Politicians from Vancouver Sierra Club people Trade unionists from British Columbia Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia