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Careful what you wish for

His life changed forever in June of 1961. "That was my first visit to Whistler," says Garry Watson. Invited to spend the weekend at a client’s logging camp near Alta Lake, the Vancouver-based outdoorsman was keen to scale the local heights.

His life changed forever in June of 1961. "That was my first visit to Whistler," says Garry Watson. Invited to spend the weekend at a client’s logging camp near Alta Lake, the Vancouver-based outdoorsman was keen to scale the local heights. "We climbed up the backside of what was then called London Mountain," he explains. "Looking down from the peak to the valley was one of the most startling experiences I’ve ever had. What a beautiful place…"

Land could be had for $200 an acre in those days. So Garry decided to invest for the future. He joined the Garibaldi Olympic Development Association (GODA), bought some land from a trapper he’d befriended in Alta Lake and built himself a modest mountain cabin. With the prospect of a ski lift – and maybe even a regional ski area – coming to the valley, and the road pushing through eventually, Watson figured his new cabin would be a great refuge from the rigours of his urban law practice. Little did he know how much his life would become entwined with the story of this place.

One of the community’s most enduring (and effective) social activists – a member of the original Whistler Council whose four decades of public service include setting up Whistler’s groundbreaking resident housing policy back in 1990 – Watson still professes a great deal of affection for his mountain home. "You know, some years ago Franz Wilhelmsen gave me a lifetime pass to Whistler-Blackcomb," he says with a barely suppressed grin. "And every time I go up the mountain, I remind myself how lucky I am. In fact, I’m still amazed that this place ever happened. It’s kind of like my own little dream-come-true."

There are few people on this planet who are as intimate with Whistler’s transformation from isolated mountain valley to world-class resort community as Garry Watson is. And there are even fewer who have given so much of their time and energy to making that dream come true.

"The 1968 Olympic bid was in full swing when I joined GODA," he says. "And one of the first priorities was figuring out where to put the Games village. Because I’d done a graduate course in planning law, I volunteered to work on GODA’s community planning committee." And so the die was cast. That committee work was the first step in a marathon of community involvement that saw Watson become Chairman of GODA, then serve as a member of the Alta Lake Ratepayers’ Association and the Advisory Planning Commission for the regional district, before finally being elected to Whistler Council for three terms (from 1975 to 1980). "I took a sabbatical from my firm when I was first elected to council," he explains. "I figured I’d do it for one year, there’d be a new election and I could move on." He laughs. "But I got so caught up in it that I never went back to the firm…"

And it was an adventure all the way. "Those first years were pretty turbulent," he says. With the resort municipality finally incorporated in September of 1975, and a fierce battle looming in Victoria over proposed village designs for the fledgling resort, Watson and his fellow councillors became gravely concerned that the government of the day was listening to the wrong voices. "That’s when mayor Pat Carlton, Al Raine and I travelled to Victoria with the entire council’s resignation papers in our pockets. We called the government’s bluff. And we won!" He pauses. Searches for the right words. "That was the Whistler style back then. Be strong. Be clear. And don’t back down."

Al Raine, B.C.’s first coordinator of ski development and the government’s appointed man on council in the 1970s, believes Watson played a vital role in those years. "Garry was the guy who came up with very practical solutions to many of the ‘big-picture’ ideas we’d hammered out. His expertise as a lawyer was really valuable. Without him, a lot of things would have never happened."

Today Garry is less directly involved in local issues than he once was. But he is still passionate when it comes to such hot-button topics as affordable housing for residents and Whistler’s limits to growth.

"Why the heck was this place built in the first place?" he asks. And then he answers his own question. "It was built for the recreational pleasure of Vancourites and other B.C. residents. It’s great that we’ve become world class and all. But how the heck did commercial rents get so high? How did we let real estate prices rise so quickly? Ironic, isn’t it, that Whistler is no longer accessible to most B.C. families…"

But it goes even further than that. "I tell people now that Sun Peaks is far better than Whistler for families," Watson admits. "It’s less crowded, friendlier, there’s more sunshine and drier snow, and the slopes are way more accessible from the village. It’s clearly not as big. But for most families, that’s exactly what they’re looking for."

Did Whistler get too big for its own good? Maybe. "The original bed-unit limit for the municipality was set at 40,000 (instead of today’s 55,000+). Perhaps we should have been more disciplined in our adherence to that threshold. Obviously, we underestimated just how quickly and aggressively demand would develop."

Watson is the first to recognize that being in the mountain tourism business means understanding the special nature of this very quirky business. "We have to make sure we celebrate the magic of the mountains," he says. "Otherwise we’re done for. The busier this place gets – the more crowded and industrial it becomes – the less we have something distinct and unique to offer our guests." Another pause. "As a community we need to think again about what ‘tourism’ really means."

A vocal supporter of Whistler’s original village layout, Watson points to Village North as a sign of changing priorities. "I was reflecting again recently on that very thing – comparing the original village to Village North and thinking it’s just too big now. The old village had the right scale. It was intimate but still had enough critical mass to make it work. Village North to me is like a big urban shopping mall. Way too big and way too impersonal."

Like so many old-time Whistlerites, Watson’s comments about his hometown are coming from a place of deep love and respect. "What a precious place we’ve got here," he says. "That’s why we have a duty to preserve and protect it." And when he talks about "protecting the place", he’s referring to more than just the trees and rocks and earth of Whistler.

"Contrary to popular trends, I’m more concerned with the fate of the people of this valley that with the ‘environment’," he says, only half-teasing. "Governments these days seem entirely focused on saving the environment – to the detriment of strong social programs. So where’s the sustainability in that? Whistler, for example, needs to be able to provide reasonably-priced homes for the people who make this resort work."

He pauses again. And then he delivers the coup de grace. "It’s simple really – the ‘community’ part of Whistler has to be strong and healthy if the ‘resort’ part of Whistler is to succeed. And vice versa too. One simply can’t survive without the other…"