The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical (2018)

A profile of lawyer and politician Harry Rankin is presented, he, as a fixture on Vancouver City Council from 1966 to his retirement in 1993, changing the face of Vancouver civic politics. After several failed bids for a council seat, he, outspoken in everything in his life, was the lone left leaning voice on what had for decades been the right wing dominated council, he eventually founding the left leaning Committee of Progressive Electors (COPE) civic party to oppose the right wing Non-Partisan Association (NPA). His break from civic politics during that time was the two years after his one, only and failed mayoral bid in 1986, after unofficially leading COPE to majority power over that twenty years and topping the polls for council in most of those later elections. While this documentary touches upon his personal life and how his politics were shaped, it focuses on that 1986 civic election, where it was highly expected that his opponent would be his equally vocal and divisive longtime NPA counterpart, George Puil, rather than who was then the young upstart, one term alderman Gordon Campbell. Beyond the toll on both sides of the right/left divide pervading the election and campaigns, Rankin himself was facing personal turmoil at the time in the break-up with his longtime wife, Jonnie Rankin, who is largely credited for shaping his politics, in having recently met who would eventually become his second wife, Connie Fogal. This project is seen as over thirty years in the making as much of the 1986 footage is from an uncompleted documentary by Peter Smilsky, who comments not only on Rankin the man in all aspects, but the reasons for not completing that project following the 1986 election and his thoughts on this project. A literal and figurative post-mortem on that election and Rankin himself are provided by those surviving that arguably knew Rankin best, including family, friends and political colleagues on both sides of the spectrum.