And referenda, too

Recall to become Official ©

LEGISLATION GIVING EFritish
Columbians the power to recall
MLAs and initiate province-wide
referenda should be in place by
next summer.

So says Ujjal Dosanjh,
chairman of. the ail-party. com-
mittee which recently. released.
recommendations.on how the sys-
tem should work,

‘But critics insist legislation

~~ based on thosa recommendations

will” ensure ' neither recall | nor
referendums ever happen.
Explaining the . committee

recommendations, Dosanji said
voters could go for recall on any
grounds they saw fit, but could
not make such a challenge until
18 months after the MLA had
been elected,

For a recall petition to be suc-
cessful, it would “have to contain
the signatures of. a majority of
those people who were on the
voters list at the: time the MLA

was originally elected,

And petitioners would have 60
days in which to collect those sig-
natures.

If a petition collected the re-
quired signatures, Dosanjh said
the law would requite a by-
election take place within 90
days.

‘That takes the discretion out
of the hands of the premicr,’’ he
pointed- oul, a reference to the
current system where it is up to
the premier to decide when to cali
a by-election, _

If the petitioners fail te gather
the required signatures within the
60 days, that petition dics.

However, he noted, they could
try again as. many times as they
wanted throughout the MLA’s
term of office.

But if the MLA successfully
defends his seal at a recall in-
itiated by-clection, that’s the only |
challenge that can be mounted

A look at how
recall would work

HOW WOULD the proposed

recall system work here in. the

Skeena riding?

In 1991 Helmut Giesbrecht was
elected with 5,472 votes.

“The combined vote of his two
opponents was 6,018 for a total of
11,490 dallots cast.

“Those ‘ballots represented 68.3
per cent of the 16,823 voters
eligible to vate.

‘And it’s that last figure, eligible

‘yoters, on-which any attempt to —

recall Giesbrecht would have to
be based.

“To succeed, petitioners would -

have to get ihe signatures of 50
per cent plus one of those voters,

or 8,412 names.

But it is highly unlikely people
who couldn’t be bothered to vote
in the original election are going
to have any interest in signing a
recall petition.

Realistically the petitioners
would have to find their 8,412
names, or 73 per cent of the

people, from among those who.

did vote.

Put another way, for a recall
against Giesbrecht to succeed, the
petition would have to carry the
signatures of every person who
voted for his opponents ples
nearly half of those who voted for
him.

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before the next general election.
Blasting the signature require-
ment, Social Credit MLA Jack

Weisgerber said, ‘*I predict there -

will mot be one successful recall
petition in this province “under
(these) rules.
- “Nat only won't it work,’’ be
added, “it was designed not to
work.”

Weisgerber pointed out restrict

ing the signatures: to those who -

were on the last voters list ig-
nored both how many people had
actually voted then and popula-
tion turnover in the interim.

The Liberal opposition has also
called for the number of signa-
tures required to be reduced to the
number of votes the MLA
received when elecied.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Tax-
payers Federation (CTF) has
taken aim at the recommenda-
tions governing votcr-initiated

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referenda,

There, the committee suggested ° :
anissue go to referendum only if ]#
a petition was signed by 10 per
cent of the eligible voters in every
riding in the province.

There would again be a lime
limit, 60-90 days, in which fo
gather those signatures.

And @ referendum question
would only pass if a there was a
province-wide majority in favour
and a majority in two-thirds of
the ridings.

Dosanji cxplained the signature
and double-mijorily provisions
were recommended to allay fears
expressed by northern and interi-
or residents that population fig-
ures would allow the Lower
Mainland to control what
referenda were successful.

However, CTF Troy Lanigan
says the commities has gone lo
far in its caution.

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