[3] In the last capacity, Williams was responsible, or co-responsible, for the Royal Commission on Forestry (the Pearce Report); the Columbia Basin Trust; the purchase and management of Ocean Falls pulp and paper mills and township; the acquisition and management of Columbia Cellulose, renamed Canadian Cellulose, a sulphite, sawmill, and bleached kraft mills operation in Prince Rupert, Terrace, and Castlegar; the BC Assessment Authority; the Agricultural Land Reserve and Commission;[1] the first resort-municipality in Canada, created for the Whistler/Blackcomb complex; as Minister of Parks, a doubling of Provincial Park acreage in British Columbia, including creation of the Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park, protecting 1.6 million acres (6,475 km2) and the largest known herd of woodland caribou; Robson Square and its attendant Law Courts in downtown Vancouver; refurbishment and operation of the SS Princess Marguerite electric-diesel ferry service from Victoria to Seattle; and, expansion of the role and authority of the Environment and Land Use Secretariat.
Later, as Deputy Minister for Crown Corporations, Williams helped lead creation of the West Coast Express, a new commuter train system running from the SkyTrain / SeaBus / Canada Line Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver, in the former CPR Station, along CPR tracks to Mission, British Columbia, a distance of 69 km (43 miles).
[4] The Forensic Audit of the Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding Society revealed that Williams received $80,000, 4 years' pay for an MLA at the time, from the NCHS.
In the early 1970s, Al Raine, a former Canadian national ski team coach, and his Olympian wife Nancy Greene sent Williams a letter pleading for government action to stop the imminent logging of Blackcomb.
lang, Spirit of the West, Herald Nix and the Blue Shadows pioneered the place, and were later joined by innumerable Metro Vancouver musicians, and by such international acts as Cowboy Junkies, Blue Rodeo, The Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies, Los Lobos, Jonathan Richman, Green on Red and T Bone Burnett.
With the approval of Glen Clark's NDP government, he dedicated $250 million of the crown corporation's capital reserves to fund the construction of the Central City development – a 25-storey, 1.7-million-square-foot (15,790 m2) office tower and shopping mall expansion project.
The award-winning development, designed by Bing Thom, was driven forward as a catalyst for the revitalization and redevelopment of Whalley into Surrey's downtown core.
Williams' initial role on the Board was to ensure management had conducted due diligence in assessing loan quality.
Williams also led the creation of Vancity Enterprises Ltd in 1989, which was established as a wholly owned real estate investment and development subsidiary of the credit union.
By the time of Williams' third year as chair (1990), Vancity's assets totalled $2.26 billion, with profits before taxes and dividends exceeding $9.3 million.
Its purpose was and remains the training of Vancity staff and associates in the mechanics of cooperative enterprise, the idea of a social dividend, and the strengthening of the co-op credit model in every aspect.
[citation needed] Beginning in 2013, as a member of the board of Vancity, and later as chair of the Jim Green Foundation, Williams also helped lead the re-purposing, re-design, and re-construction of the former Vancouver Police Department Main Station.
[2] In 2012, Williams was made an Honorary Member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia, in recognition of his contribution to urban design, planning, and building in that province.
On 15 March 2017, Simon Fraser University announced the granting of a Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, to Williams: "His leadership, inspiration and action over the past 60 years have helped to improve and transform B.C.