A12- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 24, 2002 From front Recall veteran doubts pro-rep drive will make it Although she’s petitioning as a private citizen, it’s clear her propo- sal, if successful, would help the Green Party gain political ground where it counts ~ in the legislature. “Of course it would help the Green Party,” she said. “More im- portantly, it would help create a fair system where people would feel freer to vote the way they really want to,” She said her interest in changing the voting system stems from her own experience as a voter frustrated by the lopsided results in both the 1996 and 2001 provincial elections. Last year, the Liberal parly swept to power on a tide of anti-NDP senti- ment, taking all but two seats. In 1996, the Liberals lost to the NDP despite earning the majority vote. Coincidentally, that’s the same year B.C, Liberal party leader Gor- don Campbell ran on a platform that would have reduced the number of seats in northern B.C. Carr and her supporters have just 90 days to collect the 213,000 signa- tures needed to meet crileria set out in B.C.’s Recall and Initiative Act. She needs to collect signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in each of the 79 ridings in B.C, As the “Free Your Vote” cam- paign closes in on the Aug. 12 dead- line, canvassers have succeeded in Lorne Sexton Adriane Carr gathering enough signatures in just one riding, Nelson-Creston and are very close in a few others — Powell River-Sunshine Coast, Carr’s home riding, and the Comox Valley. A Terrace resident who’s some- thing of an expert on B.C.’s Recall and Initiative Act, wouldn’t be sur- prised if Carr fails to gather enough signatures in Skeena. Lorne Sexton, who made history in early 1998 when he tried to fire then-Skeena MLA Helmut Gies- brecht using the recall act, suspects Carr’s plan won’t attract broad sup- port in this part of the province, Sexton says voters in Skeena and the handful of northern ridings will lose out under Carr’s proposal be- cause it will cut the already scant number of seats here in half. “It would be bad for us up in the north,” Sexton said. “Unless they double the amount of MLAs. We have to have represen- tation up here.” Sexton said the north steadily lost ils political clout as the electoral map was redrawn over the years. “We had 10 MLAs in the north in 1952 when there were 52 seats in the ~ house and now we’ve still got 10 MLAs and there’s 79 seats.” He’d rather see a preferential bal- lot, like the kind used by the Cana- dian Alliance to elect leaders, Voters simply rank their prefer- ences in order. Successive ballots are used to break a tie. Sexton and his “Crash Helmut” supporters failed to collect signa- tures from 40 per cent of Skeena’s registered voters in 60 days. Sexton isn’t sure if the 10-per cent threshold and 90-day limit will be any easier for Carr. “It depends on how well orga- nized they are,” Sexton said. “It’s a lot of ridings. I think it would be difficult unless the propo- sal is very clear.” Looking ahead, Sextan can’t help but predict the way British Colum- bians elect their governments will change, whether it’s through some form of proportional representation or a preferential ballot system. “It's coming. It will happen at some point.” Clock ticking down on local petition A TERRACE woman col- lecting signatures for a pe- tition calling for a propor- tional representation vo- ting system in. B.C. says time is running out for other potential canvassers to come forward, Jeannette Delpart-Sak- hillah, who is collecting signatures from registered voters who want to sign the Free Your Vote initia- tive, says it took 10 days for Elections B.C. to ap- prove her application, With the 90-day cam- paign period winding down Aug. 12, there isn’t much time for other people to re- pister as canvassers. The Free Your Vote Campaign, a citizen’s in- itiative launched May 13 339 48 MONTH LEASE $3,700 DOWN OR PURCHASE FOR $25,672! by Adriane Carr must ga- ther signatures from 10 per cent of the registered vo- ters in every riding in B.C. Here in Skeena, that works out to 1,723 voters. Cart’s initiative isn’t the first. A 1996 initiative that tried to sign up voters to ban black bear hunting in B.C. failed when can- vassers failed: to gather en- 2002 Highlander FWD 2.4: L)'4 cylinder, DOHC, 16 valve VVT-i engine, Low Emissions Vehicle (LEV), power door locks/ windows/ air conditioning, AM/FM CD, 6 speakers, overhead console, keyless entry, engine immobilizer, roof rack, TEAM TOYOTA (Ceetebration)) The same advanced techology found in Toyota’s famed F-1 cars is in these Toyotas, too. 2002 Camry LE 241,4 cylinder, 157 HP, VVT-i engine, Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV), fuel economy —10.1/6.9 L/100km 28/41 mpg ~ City/Hwy, full-size spare, 60/40 split -Tear seat, rear seat heater ducts, | AM/EM Cassette/CD. ough signatures. © The rules have changed since then, allowing can- vassers to sign up ahead of the 90-day campaign. To date, more than 4,000 registered canvas- sers have joined Carr’s Free Your Vote initiative. Province-wide, they’ve gathered about 18 per cent of the signatures required. 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