Politics are a passion for Bob Brooks
Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Dec 11/00) - He's a self-proclaimed army brat, he's lived or worked in every province and territory in Canada and held a job in every professional field you can think of.
If you think you have a busy life, ask Bob Brooks to switch places with you for a day.
 Bob Brooks |
Perhaps its because of the way he grew up, moving every couple of years.
"It was kind of upsetting at first ... but after about the third move I started running into people I knew everywhere."
Through it all, he learned to adapt quickly.
"I was constantly meeting new people, having to adapt to new surroundings, new school systems -- and they're all different."
It was Bob's early years that moulded and prepared him for the politician and businessman he was destined to be.
He continued the itinerant lifestyle even after leaving home as he sought new challenges and experiences to quench his thirst for knowledge.
A man on the move
Sitting behind his desk at the NWT Chamber of Commerce, Bob shared a story of a childhood conversation he once had ... 'what do you want to be when you grow up?'
"One friend said he wanted to be a fireman and the other friend said he wanted to be a welder, because his father was a welder. Then I said 'I just want to know a little bit of everything.'"
And that's what he did. He kept moving every two years, working in a variety of different fields. Always learning.
"I think I was about 34 or 35 when I finally figured out what it was that I wanted to do."
Bob finally made it to Yellowknife in 1980 and stopped moving for a while, but still found that he needed to learn and he needed change.
To fill that void, he would change jobs every two years so that he wouldn't get bored.
At the Yellowknife Inn, he worked a variety of jobs.
He was night auditor for one month, front desk manager for six months, and assistant accountant for a few months until he picked up and moved once again.
"I got down to Vancouver and I said to myself 'why the hell did I do that? It's my plan, I can change it.'"
So he came back and began to build his resume once again.
He opened a video store called Video Shack, located inside the local Radio Shack franchise, worked as general manager of the Petro-Canada bulk plant operation, then marketing manager for MacKenzie Media.
After two years as marketing manager they asked him to design and publish a TV Guide. Five years later, in 1990, he got bored once again and left the company.
He became the general manager of Wesclean Northern Sales, then worked in real estate as the sales manager for Global Real Estate.
Firing his interest
He ran for council in 1991 after winning a lengthy battle with the city, GNWT and school districts to obtain more gym time for local sport and recreational groups.
"I was intrigued with the whole process and I remember thinking at that time that I was a salesperson and politics is all about selling your ideas."
Bob never became bored of council work and in 1994 he decided to run for mayor.
He lost to Dave Lovell and found himself out of a full-time job, as he had made arrangements to replace himself at Global Real Estate.
That's when he found work as executive director of the NWT Chamber of Commerce where he put his experience as a lobbyist, businessperson, salesperson, politician and manager to work.
Then one day, the reality of politics kicked in, something that Bob said happens to every politician.
"You get into politics, they start to give you information that you never had before, and the more information you get, the more information you want.
"The more I learned the more I wanted to learn because I was obsessed with learning. I was getting more and more excited."
Because Bob was so focused on his council work, he began to run out of time. Each week he worked 50 hours for the Chamber and 30 hours for council.
He was neglecting his family, and had no time for exercise or relaxation. His thirst for knowledge was beginning to affect his health and well-being.
He was doing too much.
It took him some time to make up his mind, but he ultimately decided that politics offered him more to learn.
A second try
He decided to run for mayor once again in the 2000 municipal election. If he won, he would be doing exactly what he wanted to do. If he lost, he would still have his job at the NWT Chamber of Commerce, which he really enjoys.
Whether he was mayor or not, he knew that for the first time in 23 years he would only have one job.
His mayoral aspirations weren't to be. He came in a distant second to Gord Van Tighem, who had no experience in municipal politics.
"I was discouraged ... of course I was disappointed, but I was happy with the campaign and I was very impressed with the volunteer power.
"As the mayor, you have to be as knowledgable about city politics, as knowledgeable about the will of the people as possible so that when you get in as mayor then you can do as good a job as possible.
"I wouldn't have been as disappointed if one of the people that had some council experience had won, but because it was somebody who had no council experience whatsoever, then I was a little more disappointed," he said.
Bob was especially disappointed with the behaviour of former mayor Dave Lovell, who told News/North that he was glad Bob hadn't won because he wanted to be mayor for the wrong reasons.
"Originaly I thought that he felt that there was enough people running that it would split the vote and he would get back in because he really liked what he was doing.
"I guess I was naive, because he came out in the paper (News/North) basically gloating about the fact that he caused me not to get it. I lost a lot of respect for him at that time," he said.
Now, Bob is getting used to working only one job. He is still learning how to relax and is devoting more time to his wife Lynn, whom he married in 1985, his step-daughters Maggie and Shannon and keeping in touch with his 18 foster children.
He admits there is a possibility that he will run for mayor in 2003.
"I think that I have gained a huge love of politics ... but in three years any number of things can happen that will change the direction of my life, it does that all the time for me.
"Somebody asked me if I was going to run again and I said 'who knows, I'll have a lot of extra time to play golf now, so maybe I'll be a golf pro in three years.'"
