Corky Evans (born January 2, 1948) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

former provincial

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. He twice ran for the leadership of the

New Democratic Party of British Columbia New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

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

Premier of British Columbia Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. He served in several

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

ministries.

Early life and career

While his

birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the 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 of the ensuin ...

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 Palo Verde High School is a high school in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The school was built in 1996 with an adjacent 10 portable classrooms located in Summerlin, a rapidly growing suburban community in the western portion of the City of Las ...

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, 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, e ...

. 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 Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

, Evans worked as a

stevedore A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

, logger, tree-planter, heavy-equipment operator, first-aid attendant, and highways surveyor. By the mid-1970s, Evans had settled in the

Kootenay Kootenay, Kootenai, and Kutenai may refer to: Ethnic groups *The Kutenai, also known as the Ktunaxa, Kootenai, or Kootenay, an indigenous people of the United States and Canada **Kutenai language, the traditional language of the Kutenai **Ktunaxa ...

region of southern British Columbia, and became active in local

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

and

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long h ...

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 Sloca ...

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 skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

and protect watersheds. In 1975, he became a

citizen and he joined the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

. He was elected to the Central Kootenay Regional District government, serving three consecutive terms as 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 democracy, social-democratic provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. As of 2017, it governs the province. It is the British Columbia provincial arm of the feder ...

, he was elected

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

for

Nelson-Creston Nelson-Creston is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It made its first appearance on the hustings in the general election of 1933 following a redistribution of the earlier Nelson riding. ...

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,

Mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

s and

Petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

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 business 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, n ...

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 ( pa, ਉੱਜਲ ਦੇਵ ਦੁਸਾਂਝ) (), (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 ...

, who had been 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 parlia ...

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

, 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 Health ministers of British Columbia 21st-century Canadian politicians 20th-century Canadian politicians Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Farmers from British Columbia Canadian loggers Canadian anti-war activists