Dear Editor:
Re: No chance for Libs in Royal City, Letter to the Editor, The Record, Feb. 15.
I must take issue with my good friend Paul Forseth's self-serving prediction of B.C. Liberal demise. Christy Clark will not be the Kim Campbell of B.C. politics, but I think you can safely say John Cummins is now synonymous with Bill Vander Zalm. The Zalm gleefully kicked the ball through his own uprights with Fantasy Gardens, singlehandedly surrendering an undeserved victory to the NDP in 1991. John Vander Cummins sounds about right.
As a staunch right-winger, acquaintance of Preston Manning and early Reform Party volunteer for both Cummins and Paul, I cannot express enough how deeply disappointed I am with the foolish and opportunistic B.C. Conservative Party.
As Paul's helpful history lesson showed, the B.C. Liberals can win here. The only absolute certainty is that the B.C. Conservatives cannot win anywhere.
A split on the right is simply not justified, and right-of-centre voters should stick with the highly successful coalition strategy. The Reform Party split the right federally, but for me the game changer was "western alienation." Reform was, in many ways, anti-establishment, bucking the eastern domination of Canada and forging a more democratic ethos nationwide.
It was a multi-dimensional cause worth fighting for. Think about it. Our prime minister is from Alberta, and we have Reform to thank for that.
Let's not spoil the legacy of Reform in this province by gift-wrapping the election for the NDP. There is no worthy cause to the Cummins campaign. It's a short-term strategy to leverage a temporary dip in support for the government. That's it.
The business community, and in particular the natural resource sector that I work in, will never, ever forgive the B.C. Conservatives if they siphon off enough votes to ensure a socialist win. I can see it now. Vast forests of for-sale signs and armadas of Alberta-bound U-Hauls all emblazoned with one clear message: "Thanks John Cummins. Thanks for nothing."
David Brett, New Westminster
