BC Voters Move to Recall Defiant MLAs

Most people have probably heard at least something about the ongoing fight to repeal the Harmonized Sales Tax in BC, which added an additional 5% tax onto many products and services that had previously been exempt.

The fight has been ongoing for nearly a year now, ever since BC's Liberal controlled provincial government signed onto a Federal agreement to meld the provincial sales tax with the Federal Goods and Services tax.

The new "Harmonized" tax has been hotly contested, mainly since the Liberal government had partly been elected by standing on a political platform of rejecting the idea of a harmonized sales tax.

Having our elected officials renege on election promises is not a new development in Canada. However, in a rare form of democracy being exercised, more than 10% of eligible voters in EVERY BC riding signed a petition which forced the BC government to make a choice: Either table new legislation to repeal the tax all together, or hold a province wide referendum allowing the voters to decide whether to scrap the tax.

Now a few things should be noted here. First of all, tabling new legislation does not mean the tax would actually be repealed. Since the Liberal government still hold a majority in the BC legislator, they could in effect, vote the bill down. The tax would carry on and nothing would change. Aside from the problem of mass voter revolt in the next election which would probably decimate their political party for the next 10 years.

The other option of choosing the referendum has its flaws too. A referendum is a lengthy and expensive process, not unlike a general election. It requires polling stations stacked with election officials, and vote counters. It is also NOT legally binding. This means that even if an overwhelming amount of voters choose to scrap the tax, the government is not obligated to do so. Though again, failure to listen to the voters most likely means political death.

In recognizing that the non-binding and expensive referendum is not a favorable option, the organizer of the anti-HST movement, Bill Vander Zalm publicly called for the government to call the legislature into session early and to table a bill to repeal the tax.

Vander Zalm, who spent a great deal of effort to rally BC voters to have their voice heard, was also very up front in stating that failure of government MLAs to table the legislation and to listen to voters and repeal the tax would face the unpleasant consequences of a recall.

In true politicking fashion, the Liberal government chose the route of holding a referendum. Next year. This would allow the tax to be integrated into the province for a considerable amount of time (ie, the citizens would be used to paying it), the heat of the topic would die down, and it would buy the government time to buy votes. Pardon me. Regain voter confidence.

Bill Vander Zalm is now on a mission to show the government his bite is as harsh as his bark. He has already set a date for recalling Liberal MLAs. And, he's published his hit list of MLAs that will be recalled first.

While recalling an elected MLA is exceedingly difficult, (it requires 40% of eligible voters in the MLA's riding to sign a petition in 60 days) the MLAs on the hit list should be legitimately worried.

Vander Zalm's campaign has specifically targeted MLAs that are already weak prey. They are the elected officials who won their ridings by slim margins, or have been embroiled in public controversy since the election. In addition, Vander Zalm is going to start with attempting to recall 3 MLAs, with another one being added every month starting in February. To determine who the first 3 targets for recall will be, Vander Zalm is hosting a Survivor-like contest asking for extremely competitive volunteers to help with recall efforts. Whichever 3 ridings have the most volunteers signed up will end up being the targets. Holding this contest should keep the recall efforts on the list of top stories for every BC news outlet for the next 3 months.

Ultimately, Vander Zalm's goal, aside from showing his displeasure with the government, is to recall enough Liberal MLA so that they will lose their majority in the Legislature.

I for one, hope his efforts succeed. This is a rare glimpse of the Canadian public doing something to hold their elected representatives accountable. It happens so rarely in Canadian politics. Other provinces should be paying close attention to these developments. If the recall campaign is successful, voters across the country may decide that there are viable courses of action to punish their representatives for failing to listen to them.

And after all, isn't that what democracy is all about?

For those of you that live in BC, here is Vander Zalm's complete hit list of MLAs. Yours may be on it:

John Slater - Boundary-Simikameen

Donna Barnett - Cariboo Chilcotin

Terry Lake - Kamloops North

Bill Bennett - Kootenay east

Ida Chong - Oak Bay - Gordon Head

Ron Cantelon - Parksville - Quallicum

Bill Barisoff - Penticton

Norm Letnik - Kelowna - Lake Country

Ben Stewart - Kelowna Westside

Steve Thomson - Kelowna - Mission

Eric Foster - Vernon Monashee

John Les - Chilliwack

Don McRae - Comox Valley

John Rustad - Nechako Lakes

Colin Hansen - Vancouver Quilchena

Jane Thornethwaite - North Vancouver - Seymour

Joan McIntyre - West Vancouver - Sea to Sky

Marc Dalton - Maple Ridge - Mission