In Provincial Politics
After one unsuccessful run for the provincial legislature for the BC NDP, he was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly for Nelson-Creston 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, Mines and Petroleum Resources.
His first run in a BC NDP leadership convention came in 1996, when Glen Clark 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, 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 of November 1, 2000, Evans left his previous portfolios to become Minister of Health and Minister Responsible for Seniors.
Read more about this topic: Corky Evans
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