Former Toronto Dominion Securities Inc. chief economist Paul Summerville didn't end up running for the provincial New Democrat nomination in Oak Bay-Gordon Head - in part, because party hierarchs seemed unwilling to forcefully ask his would-be competitor, Greater Victoria school board chair Charley Beresford, to step aside and make room for the late entrant star candidate. But that unwillingness doesn't seem to have hurt Mr. Summerville's feelings because he showed up on Saturday to deliver Ms. Beresford's nominating speech.

Said one insider who attended the coronation, "You know that old rule to make sure nominators don't speak better than the candidate. He broke it. He was very good. Very smooth-tongued. He has a decade of media experience with the BBC and CNN as their go-to-guy for the Asian economy. So for anyone in the room that might have understood he was an option that was being pushed around (to run in Oak Bay-Gordon Head), they might have wondered why he wasn't running." Insiders also tell us Mr. Summerville recently assisted Victoria-Hillside election candidate Rob Fleming prepare his nomination meeting stump speech.