Corky Evans (born January 2, 1948) is a former Canadian provincial politician in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. He twice ran for the leadership of the

New Democratic Party of British Columbia The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in British Columbia, political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of ...

, placing second both times. In both cases, the party formed the government of British Columbia and its leader became

Premier of British Columbia The premier of British Columbia is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of British Columbia. Until the early 1970s, the title ''prime minister of British Columbia'' was often used. The word ''premier'' is derived ...

. He served in several cabinet ministries.

Early life and career

While his

birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the Childbirth, birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation ...

recorded his name as Conrad St. George Evans, he insists Corky Evans is his correct name. Born in California the son of a prominent defense attorney and a graduate of Palo Verde High School in

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, he moved to

in 1969 with his wife and two daughters. Evans describes himself as a

war resister A war resister is a person who resists war. The term can mean several things: resisting participation in all war, or a specific war, either before or after enlisting in, being inducted into, or being conscripted into a military force. History, ...

. Their son was born soon after. Before his election to the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

, Evans worked as a

stevedore A dockworker (also called a longshoreman, stevedore, docker, wharfman, lumper or wharfie) is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships. As a result of the intermodal shipping container revolution, the required number of dockwork ...

, logger, tree-planter, heavy-equipment operator, first-aid attendant, and highways surveyor. By the mid-1970s, Evans had settled in the Kootenay region of southern British Columbia, and became active in local

environmental Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

and

land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...

initiatives, particularly in developing the

Slocan Valley The Slocan Valley is a valley in the West Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. Geographical boundaries The Slocan Valley is about long, but its width is undefined. The Valhalla Range provides the steep western boundary and the Sloc ...

Forest Management Project, which aimed to control

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckswatershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

s. In 1975, he became a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

citizen and he joined the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

. He was elected to the Central Kootenay Regional District government, serving three consecutive terms as a director and hospital board member.

In provincial politics

After one unsuccessful run for the provincial legislature for the

BC NDP The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

in the 1986 provincial election, he was elected

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

for

Nelson-Creston Kootenay Central is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It made its first appearance under the name Nelson-Creston in the general election of 1933 following a redistribution of the earli ...

in the 1991 provincial election. He served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Forests and chair of the legislature's Select Standing Committee on Forests, Mines and

Petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

Resources. His first run in a BC NDP leadership convention came in 1996, when

Glen Clark Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957) is a Canadian retail executive and former politician who served as the 31st premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999. Early life and education Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, na ...

was very widely assumed to be a shoo-in for the leadership. Evans' folksy candidacy earned him a second-place finish, and he encouraged his supporters to rally around Clark. In Clark's cabinet, Evans became Minister of Transportation and Highways from February 1996 to June 1996. Evans and the Clark NDP government were re-elected in the 1996 general election on May 28. In June, Evans was named Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; fisheries was spun off into a separate portfolio in February. Evans retained his position as Minister of Agriculture and Food when Dan Miller served as premier on an interim basis in 1999–2000. In the leadership convention of February 20, 2000, Evans placed a strong second to

Ujjal Dosanjh Ujjal Dev Dosanjh (; born September 9, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the 33rd premier of British Columbia from 2000 to 2001 and as a Liberal Party of Canada member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011. He was minister of he ...

, who had been the frontrunner throughout the race. Dosanjh returned Fisheries, a high-profile responsibility at the time, to Evans' portfolio. Evans had campaigned for a Ministry of Rural Development, and Dosanjh additionally named him Minister Responsible for Rural Development and empowered him to organize such a ministry. In a

cabinet shuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

of November 1, 2000, Evans left his previous portfolios to become Minister of Health and Minister Responsible for Seniors.

Defeat and return

Evans was defeated in his riding in the 2001 provincial election when all but two NDP candidates were defeated. He was approached to run in the 2003 BC NDP

leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...

, but declined, citing his commitment to his new job with a local community service organization. He returned to politics as the MLA for Nelson-Creston on May 17, 2005, when he won his riding in the provincial election. On July 3, 2008, Evans announced that he would not stand for re-election in the 2009 provincial election.

References

External links

''Corky Evans Unplugged''
(Corky Evans interview with The Tyee.ca)

(Farewell speech to B.C. Legislature) {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Corky 1948 births Living people British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs American emigrants to Canada People from the Regional District of Central Kootenay Politicians from Berkeley, California Politicians from Tucson, Arizona Ministers of health of British Columbia 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Farmers from British Columbia Canadian loggers Canadian anti-war activists