John Cummins must go “for the sake of the party”, B.C. Conservative constituency presidents write

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Rebels in the B.C. Conservative Party are asking leader John Cummins to beat it.

      In a letter released today (October 9) and signed by two constituency association presidents, they asked Cummins to leave “for the sake of the party”.

      They said that with a “new leader”, the party could recover from its recent setbacks.

      Full text of the letter:

      Dear Mr. Cummins, Leader of the B.C. Conservatives and Mr. Siebring, Party President,

      The last several months have been stressful for all B.C. Conservatives. More recently, after the AGM, the approach of “unifying” the party by exorcising and excommunicating the “dissident” members has been especially disconcerting for those of us who have found ourselves described as “dissidents” and who appear to have made the enemies list.

      There has been no organized effort to remove you. Individual CA’s operating on their own began to get the feeling that you were disinterested in their concerns and, in many cases that in fact it was your intent to replace them. This has been reinforced by your minions by email. This feeling was intensified by middlemen reported to speak on your behalf. We never knew if these confusing, contradictory verbal missives were with your blessing or the articulation of confused and uninformed individuals simply making claims to be representing you. We did not know then and we don’t know now because there was not then or now a clear chain of command that we have been asking for.

      We never got to know you John, but whatever the case, the buck stops with you.

      And now there are at least 20 CA presidents who are asking you to resign. We acknowledge your legitimate win at the AGM and given the manner in which it was organized, you could hardly lose. Be that as it may, we too represent our CA’s and we too have a legitimate voice in all of this. And while you may argue that we have no right to challenge your legitimacy as head of the party, you have no right to challenge our legitimacy as heads of the CA’s and call us “dissidents” and then ask us to leave the party. WE ARE THE PARTY.

      Your way of unifying the party by first deciding who the “dissidents” were, and then finding reasons to expel them is beyond the pale. Is this truly the best you can do?

      Our letter is the result of a groundswell of CA presidents who did not know each other, but found each other by circumstance and discovered a common theme in the shortcomings of your leadership.

      The division that has occurred within the B.C. Conservatives has occurred under your watch. This division has cost us our only sitting MLA and the possibility of having others who were ready to cross. These missed opportunities cannot be undone. However, with a new leader, we can start to win back the support of British Columbians who are tired of the arrogance of the BC Liberals and recognize that the B.C. NDP will be disastrous for our economy.

      In short, we want you to know we are NOT leaving-but we ask, for the sake of the party, that you do.

      Sincerely,
      Allison Patton, CA President Surrey-White Rock and Ariane Eckardt, CA President Burnaby North

      Comments

      3 Comments

      DavidH

      Oct 9, 2012 at 2:49pm

      You have to laugh at the BC Conservatives. Cummins isn't viewed as a strong enough leader, Van Dongen has behaved as the moron that he is, and that leaves ... who exactly?

      I have no use for conservatives at all, but clinically, the party is at least 10 years from mounting a credible opposition. They need grass-roots support (currently none), province wide organization (currently none) and a stable of leadership candidates (currently none).

      The dissidents who are now yapping and barking are nothing more than silly little people who know nothing about politics or political parties. Cummins doesn't either. Good luck to them all!

      0 0Rating: 0

      Chris A

      Oct 10, 2012 at 6:00pm

      Who gives a fuck about the Conservatives, they're from the 1800's & base their values & ideas on that era.

      0 0Rating: 0

      Ian G62

      Oct 12, 2012 at 10:35am

      The only way this party is going to survive is by taking on a "green" mantra and become a right leaning green party.

      0 0Rating: 0