Former PM Kim Campbell's B.C. hideaway is 'quintessentially Vancouver'

Former prime minister Kim Campbell has a lot of places she loves in B.C., but her favourite is the spot she says is "quintessentially Vancouver": Spanish Banks. 

"When you grow up in a city on the ocean, there's something about water that is very calming and very beautiful," Campbell said.

"And that has always been very restorative to me."

Campbell served as Canada's first and only woman prime minister for a brief stint in 1993.

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Right now, she's coming off a flurry of media attention leading up to the U.S. election that could have seen Hillary Clinton break that country's gender barrier.

"I'm disappointed in the results, not just because it would have been wonderful to have that glass ceiling broken," said Campbell, who has criticized U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.  

"The only way to change things is for women to take on the challenges and be there and gradually change people's perceptions of who gets to do the job."

'It's home to me'

Now that the dust has settled, Campbell is settling back into her role as principal at the Peter Lougheed Leadership College at the University of Alberta.

Her work at the college keeps her in Alberta for two weeks of the month, but Campbell says she frequently returns to Vancouver. 

"I'm not there as often as I would like to be, but it's home to me. It's where I grew up, it's where my political base was, I have a lot of friends there. So it's important to me to keep that link," she said. 

Campbell was born in Port Alberni and grew up in Vancouver. She held political office representing the area both provincially and federally. 

She and her husband — composer, pianist, and actor Hershey Felder — now live near English Bay. But she says the beach at Spanish Banks holds sentimental value for her.

'Sleepy little provincial town'

As a girl, Campbell and her mother often went to Spanish Banks in the evenings, where she would cycle around on her bike and eat fish and chips. 

"There's nothing like fish and chips, with salt and vinegar, eaten next to a salt water beach," she said.

"There's just something about the combination of all of your senses. It really is great."

On the topic of food, Campbell said Vancouver has changed a lot since her days growing up in the West Coast city. 

"When I was growing up it was a lovely, sleepy little provincial town. Going out for dinner with your family meant going to the White Spot dining room on 67th and Granville," she said. 

"Vancouver is just such a food city now.... Not so great for the waist line, but great for gathering with friends and enjoying the ambience."