Corky Moves On
Corky Evans, Yank-turned-Canadian, then logger-turned-politician, and always one of ours:
"I was raised in a country, the United States, where to say you are a socialist is to so limit your career options that nobody would vote for anybody stupid enough to make such a statement. Imagine my surprise and wonder when I found myself living in a country where socialists not only say what they believe but sometimes win and, once and a while, in the odd Province, even govern."
Evans, author of The Return of The Ruling Class, could have been (should have been) elected leader of the New Democratic Party. But rather than imagine what it would be like to have him as premier, we are now left to imagine the British Columbia legislature without him.
Corky may be leaving the big house, but don't for a moment think that's the last we'll hear from him.
Here's Vaughan Palmer's tribute to Corky.
Corky in Question Period: "I quit reading newspapers when I realized the press gallery wouldn't walk 100 metres to listen to farmers unless they were bribed with free liquor, and wouldn't print a story anyway unless the farmers would agree to attack the government."
And this: "The market goes up and the market goes down. It always has. In 1982 the market was in the basement. We had to hide our Cat in the bush to keep the repo man from taking it away. But we came back. The job of the minister is to see to it that the people are there when the market comes back. My question to the minister is: Were you instructed to kill this industry, or are you doing it on your own?"
Always the liberal democrat, too:
"I believe in it. I am like the Jew who has lived among the refugees in Palestine and still believes in Israel. I am like the Catholic investigator of abuses by the clergy and still believes in the church. I believe in the idea of citizens choosing their leadership. I really, really like to live in a country where you can make a credible run to be Premier on money raised at bake sales. I tell kids all the time that societies choose governments with votes or with guns and votes are better."
"I was raised in a country, the United States, where to say you are a socialist is to so limit your career options that nobody would vote for anybody stupid enough to make such a statement. Imagine my surprise and wonder when I found myself living in a country where socialists not only say what they believe but sometimes win and, once and a while, in the odd Province, even govern."
Evans, author of The Return of The Ruling Class, could have been (should have been) elected leader of the New Democratic Party. But rather than imagine what it would be like to have him as premier, we are now left to imagine the British Columbia legislature without him.
Corky may be leaving the big house, but don't for a moment think that's the last we'll hear from him.
Here's Vaughan Palmer's tribute to Corky.
Corky in Question Period: "I quit reading newspapers when I realized the press gallery wouldn't walk 100 metres to listen to farmers unless they were bribed with free liquor, and wouldn't print a story anyway unless the farmers would agree to attack the government."
And this: "The market goes up and the market goes down. It always has. In 1982 the market was in the basement. We had to hide our Cat in the bush to keep the repo man from taking it away. But we came back. The job of the minister is to see to it that the people are there when the market comes back. My question to the minister is: Were you instructed to kill this industry, or are you doing it on your own?"
Always the liberal democrat, too:
"I believe in it. I am like the Jew who has lived among the refugees in Palestine and still believes in Israel. I am like the Catholic investigator of abuses by the clergy and still believes in the church. I believe in the idea of citizens choosing their leadership. I really, really like to live in a country where you can make a credible run to be Premier on money raised at bake sales. I tell kids all the time that societies choose governments with votes or with guns and votes are better."
posted by Terry Glavin at 8:26 AM
1 Comments:
Helluva guy, Corky. I'll miss him - though I imagine he'll be around on occasion. I hope so, anyway.
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