If one were to choose any particular moment in the years after World War II in which the hopes, self-doubts, and politics of power were on display in full dress, none could serve as well as the inauguration ceremony for the BC Electric's Bridge River project in 1948. Taking place just months after a major flood displaced tens of thousands of British Columbians, the event was a cathartic experience of self-affirmation in which the virtues of electrical technology were praised and the divisions it created in society downplayed. The ceremony mixed tradition and modernity, private enterprise and public sanction; it acknowledged past shortcomings and pointed to their present rectification.

The symbolism paraded at the Bridge River powerhouse on October 24, 1948, bespoke a new, electrified BC. In front of 200 Vancouver business people and municipal and provincial politicians, Dean Cecil Swanson of Vancouver's Christ Church Cathedral dedicated the project to “the Glory of God and the service of man.” Shuffling to the podium, an aged Geoffrey Downton, the first surveyor to identify the Bridge River site in 1912, sounded the official siren to open the penstocks and let the waterpower flow. He envisioned that the project would “brighten the lives and lighten the toil of countless thousands in the years to come.” Acting Premier Herbert Anscomb told members of the press that the Bridge River project was a marvellous addition to the BC Electric's “great free system.”