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Cummins shrugs off Martin defection Robert Freeman The Progress
The BC Conservative Party is alive and well in Chilliwack, despite the defection of its only MLA and its star candidate in the recent byelection here, says party leader John Cummins. Cummins also sur vived an attack on his leadership Saturday that had its roots here in Chilliwack as party vicepresident Ben Besler had urged members to vote for a review in the weeks leading up to the party’s annual general meeting in Langley. Besler was seeking the presidency of the party, while other dissidents were eyeing executive positions on a new board of directors. Besler was also a former election candidate for the BC Conservatives and an organizer of the anti-HST vote in Chilliwack. But Cummins told The Progress on Monday that “the people who were pushing for the review didn’t fare well” and neither Besler nor the other members of the dissident faction were elected to board positions. Over 70 per cent of the membership voted against holding a leadership review, indicating a solid base of support for Cummins’ leadership. Besler did not return a call from The Progress for comment. Before the Saturday vote, John Martin, the Conservative candidate in the April byelection in Chilliwack announced he was leaving the party to join the BC Liberals. Continued: CONFIDENT/ p7
John Martin, flanked by former BC Liberal Candidate Laurie Throness, left, and Chilliwack MLA John Les. JENNIFER FEINBERG/ PROGRESS
Martin joins B.C. Liberals in Chilliwack Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
UFV criminologist John Martin is “ecstatic” to be welcomed into the B.C. Liberal party and hopes to be given the nod in Chilliwack during the next provincial election. He resigned from the B.C. Conservatives at a press conference at the Coast Chilliwack Hotel Friday, flanked by former B.C. Liberals candidate Laurie Throness and retiring MLA John Les. Martin was peppered with questions about his role as onetime rival and vociferous critic of the B.C. Liberals, while running in Chilliwack-Hope last spring for the B.C. Conservatives. He was ready with answers. “Simply put, I believe there is more that unites us than divides
us,” he said, adding he thinks he can work better from within. Martin cast aside suggestions he was flip-flopping by defecting. He smiled and posed while signing his B.C. Liberals membership card on-camera. He called the Liberals’ “a big tent” where there’s ample room for a broad spectrum of opinions from free-enterprisers like himself. The real aim is preventing “another disastrous NDP government,” he said. “We have to be big enough to show that we can unite and put the interests of British Columbia ahead of parties.” He decided recently the B.C. Conservatives party was “no longer” for him upon careful reflection. “I knew change was in the air shortly after the byelection,” he
said, when the BC Conservatives were experiencing a profound sense of demoralization. A mutual friend of his and some B.C. Liberals initiated discussions about his joining the other party. “This has not been underway for a long time.” It was suggested last Friday’s announcement was timed to upstage the B.C. Conservatives’ annual meeting. But Martin said it was the ability of people like Les and Throness to map out a different perspective on the party and its leader. “I liked what I heard.” “Obviously this is an imperfect party, they all are. However this administration has done a lot of good things,” he said. He has made clear his opposition of the B.C. carbon tax and the incineration option for the region. But in general he likes what he
sees. “They’re going in the right direction and they’re in the process of renewal. “And again I am thrilled and excited to be part of that process of renewal.” But the provincial media continued to press him about the barrage of criticism he leveled at the B.C. Liberals, and whether it will come back to haunt him. Martin is a competitive barbecue pit master, so he threw out a joke with a culinary twist: “If anyone can make eating crow taste good, It’s me.” But the byelection campaign was “tense” and “emotional” but not personal in any way. “I think this shows people change, times change and most important for me the B.C. Liberals are showing change by welcoming me.” jfeinberg@theprogress.com
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