The political gods are a fickle bunch, your best friend one minute only to conspire against you in the next. John Cummins, the longtime MP for this riding and more recently the leader of the provincial Conservatives, knows this mercurial relationship better than most.
Cummins has experienced both highs and lows over the last quarter-century, his political career providing ample evidence that it doesn't take a whole lot to swing the political fortunes of an individual or an entire party.
He first surfaced on the local political scene back in 1988 as an also-ran for the upstart Reform Party, finishing a distant fourth, almost 18,000 votes back of Tory Stan Wilbee. Five years later, however, the political gods smiled on him as he rode a Reform wave that swept across Western Canada. Being in the right place at the right time back in '93 was parlayed into a distinguished 18-year career in Ottawa.
Shortly after leaving the federal scene Cummins was acclaimed leader of the provincial Conservatives. During his first year or so at the helm, the fledgling party made significant headway in the polls, to the point where it was neck-and-neck with the governing Liberals, and much of that success was attributed to the former MP giving it a legitimacy it previously lacked.
Again, the political gods were smiling, Cummins cast as the alternative that right-of-centre voters fed up with the Liberals had desperately been seeking. Many people, myself included, likened it to a repeat of 1991, with the new party leader reprising the role of breakout star Gordon Wilson.
We all know it didn't turn out that way, and it didn't really take a whole lot to make it go awry. Some infighting within the party coupled with British Columbians' fear of splitting the rightof-centre vote and a less than inspired debate performance all conspired to marginalize the Conservatives. And suddenly the guy who was hailed as the party's saviour just a couple of years earlier was tendering his resignation. Things could have easily followed that '91 script and Cummins could well have become the godfather of a new force in B.C., but the political gods didn't see it that way.
With his experience in the nation's capital and his straight-shooting ways, Cummins' foray into the provincial scene deserved a better fate, but even a veteran politician isn't immune from the fickle nature of the profession.
It won't, however, be how the maverick MP is remembered.
