Wednesday November 12, 2025 | LANGFORD, BC [Posted at 8:13 am | Updated November 15, 2025]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
It was one year ago today that former BC Premier John Horgan passed away. He was 65.
That news on November 12, 2024 spread quickly. A poignant date and one hard to forget, coming one day after Remembrance Day.
A month later on December 15 a full-house attended his memorial service at the Q Centre arena in Colwood to honour the man who devoted the last 20 years of his life entirely to the BC NDP and the province of British Columbia.
He was first elected as a BC MLA in 2005 and nurtured the western communities area as his political base. He was a household word in Sooke, Langford, Metchosin and the Juan de Fuca areas until becoming BC NDP Party Leader when he also realized he needed to engage with communities on the mainland and BC interior.
Going on to become Premier in 2017 meant a full-time devotion to the job of redirecting the province in new progressive directions that sought to put people first and embed that in how government would function in the years ahead.
People first:
Horgan’s embracing of family well-being in society will be felt for generations to come.
Notably he introduced the concept of ‘affordability’ and there were some new social supports for low-income households. That ended up being particularly important during the province’s response to people’s needs during the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
But in particular he saw and took action upon the need to act upon social infrastructure like schools, health care facilities and child care. Significantly, it was under his watch that the Ministry of Education was renamed the Ministry of Education and Child Care.
Skillful politics:
And with adept political skill he built a significant revenue foundation for BC by green-lighting the first LNG project in northern BC, despite that his political base included a strong climate protection faction.
The LNG facility at Kitimat is now one of the first five major national projects given priority by Prime Minister Mark Carney this year. And now BC Premier David Eby can use that as a leg to stand on in calling BC the new economic engine of Canada.
Langford legacy:
Upon receiving a returning cancer diagnosis, Horgan spent the last few years of his life working to put a framework on his legacy.
After completing his service as the MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca in March 2023, John Horgan quickly shifted to promoting the mantra of his legacy as “John from Langford”.
Clearly that was strategic in terms of the eventual naming of the new Royal Roads University campus in Langford as the John Horgan Campus and probably also a last ‘kick at the can’ in his decades-long attempt to rebalance Langford as a caring forward-thinking community (instead of just business-first as Langford had robustly become).
Sooke foundation:
However, somehow the Langford mantra still smacks hard for many in the Sooke region where Horgan relied on an unshakable political base and where he often said he felt most at ease and at peace.
Horgan’s last official announcement as MLA (in March 2023) was about a new health facility development in Sooke.
He was also particularly proud of the opening of a community sport box in Sooke, in June 2022.
Education for all:
In 2025 a second Royal Roads University (RRU) campus was opened as the John Horgan campus in downtown Langford.
Two years prior in November 2023 Horgan had made a brief visit to the main RRU campus at Hatley Castle in Colwood with an announcement that he would be a RRU senior fellow (leadership) but likely also to formalize his name and perhaps an endowment to the campus that he notably once said should ‘get out from the castle and into the community’ — in other words serve the people not the elite.
Horgan always accredited the influence of teachers in his high school years as turning him in the right direction. He believed in the power of education to lift people up and move society forward.
In addition to Sooke as his political base, Horgan used the Sooke School District (SD62) Board as a political launch pad for the changes he would embed into education in this province.
Remembering John:
Everyone remembers something about meeting or working with or covering the news of John Horgan. His impact on the social and economic infrastructure of BC is significant and might be considered unparalleled for its foresight and ultimate endurance.
Tribute at the 2025 BC NDP Convention:
There will be a tribute to the late John Horgan during the 2025 BC NDP Convention in Victoria on November 15, 2025.
===== RELATED:
- BC NDP Convention Nov 14 to 16 in Victoria (November 14, 2025)
- Royal Roads University Langford campus named after the late John Horgan (May 24, 2025)
- Horgan state memorial: a complex celebration for a man with simple goals (December 15, 2024)
- Former BC Premier John Horgan has passed away (November 12, 2024)
- Horgan keeps one foot in the west shore (November 23, 2023)
- Horgan in Sooke for his last constituency speech, announces big health-care prize (March 18, 2023)
- Premier Horgan attends Sooke Community Sport Box grand opening (June 27, 2022)
- NEWS SECTIONS: PREMIER JOHN HORGAN | BC NDP | BC & NATIONAL | POST SECONDARY | ROYAL ROADS UNIVERSITY
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has covered John Horgan’s career at a community level from 2008 through to his passing in 2024, and his legacy since. Her first Vancouver Island publication MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010) was based in Sooke (followed by Sooke Voice News and West Shore Voice News), and later IslandSocialTrends.ca now maintains the west shore and Vancouver Island as one of its legacy news regions.