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Fair points, and worth a discussion. But not among the politically correct. Mr. Cummins was taken to task by some native leaders, including one who called him “ignorant of the history of this province.” And Ms. Clark jumped in. “My message to John Cummins would be, ‘Join the real world,’” she said Monday.

Reached Tuesday, the premier modified her remark. “I might have said, ‘Join the modern world.’ ”

Mr. Cummins has faults and also makes mistakes — he apologized last year, for example, after musing that homosexuality may be a “choice” — but his knowledge of B.C. shouldn’t be underestimated. Nor should his experience outside of politics. He’s worked in oilfields, on construction sites and as a commercial fisherman, which gave him good insight into related aboriginal affairs. He is planted more firmly on the ground than most.

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I reached him Tuesday via cellphone. The 70-year-old former MP was on his property near Vancouver, sitting at the controls of a loader. Folks in the “real world” know that’s a piece of heavy equipment, akin to a tractor. He had borrowed the brute to “move around some dirt and rocks.”

He stepped away for a few minutes to explain what he had said on the weekend, or at least what he had meant. “It’s just common sense,” Mr. Cummins argued. “If we all just agreed that aboriginals have title to B.C., it would mean the province doesn’t own any resources, and it would have to go to the aboriginals for their permission to do anything. The provincial government is behaving as if [aboriginal land] title has always existed,” but the courts have not adopted that position, he said. Treaties are “unaffordable,” Mr. Cummins added.