1991 British Columbia recall and initiative referendum
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The British Columbia Recall and Initiative Referendum was a
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
held in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
on October 17, 1991. It was concurrent with that year's general election. The referendum posed two questions. They were on whether elected officials should be able to be recalled and whether voters should be given a citizen's initiative. Both questions were decisively approved with over 80% of the electorate voting yes to both questions.


Lead up

British Columbia has had several referendums in its history. A previous bill, the '' Direct Legislation Act'', was passed by the Oliver government in 1919. the ''Direct Democracy Act'' was given
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
in March of that year, but was never proclaimed. A similar statute was struck down by the
Manitoba Court of Appeal The Manitoba Court of Appeal (french: Cour d'appel du Manitoba) is the court of appeal in, and the highest court of, the Canadian province of Manitoba. It hears criminal, civil, and family law cases, as well as appeals from various administrative ...
s later that year. These combined to leave the BC law in legislative limbo until it was removed in a 1924 statute consolidation. A promise to hold referendums was included in the
British Columbia Social Credit Party The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia, Canada, for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For fou ...
(Socred) government's
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in April 1990. In preparation, the Socreds had invited two experts from California familiar with recall and initiative to their annual convention. Appropriate legislation was introduced on July 5, 1990. The two questions were:
A: Should the voters be given the right, by legislation, to vote between elections for the removal of their
member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...
of the Legislative Assembly?

B: Should the voters be given the right, by legislation, to propose questions that the
Government of British Columbia The Government of British Columbia (french: Gouvernement de la Colombie-Britannique) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of British Columbia. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assumi ...
must submit to voters by
referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
?
Both of the questions were announced by Premier
Rita Johnston Rita Margaret Johnston (born April 22, 1935; née Leichert) is a Canadian politician in British Columbia. Johnston became the first female premier in Canadian history when she succeeded Bill Vander Zalm in 1991 to become the 29th premier of Bri ...
during a news conference on September 5, 1991, although by then they were an
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. NDP leader
Mike Harcourt Michael Franklin Harcourt, OC (born January 6, 1943) served as the 30th premier of British Columbia from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th mayor of Vancouver, BC's largest city, from 1980 to 1986. Early life and education Harcourt was ...
criticized the timing, saying that the Socreds had moved too slowly in launching the proposals.
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leader Gordon Wilson also criticized the referendum, saying that it was intended to divert attention away from the
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-plagued Socreds. In response, Johnston said she could not comment on either timing or structure for the proposals because they would be decided after the referendum. The referendum was run by
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. The total cost was 1.7 million dollars. The cost includes information pamphlets, advertising, toll-free information telephone lines, and costs related to running the referendum. The referendum also got caught up in the
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going on at the same time. Both Premier Johnston and
British Columbia New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social-democratic provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. As of 2017, it governs the province. It is the British Columbia provincial arm of the federal New Democrati ...
(NDP) leader Harcourt announced that they would be voting yes in the referendum.


Results

There was overwhelming support for both questions. Support was over 80% of yes votes for both questions. However, more than nine percent of ballots for question A were rejected, and more than eleven percent were rejected for question B. Turnout was slightly less than that in the general election.


Question A: Recall


Question B: Initiative


Aftermath

British Columbia's legislation made a referendum binding only on the government that called it. As the Socreds had been defeated, the incoming NDP government was not required to enable recall and initiative. Nevertheless, Premier-elect
Mike Harcourt Michael Franklin Harcourt, OC (born January 6, 1943) served as the 30th premier of British Columbia from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th mayor of Vancouver, BC's largest city, from 1980 to 1986. Early life and education Harcourt was ...
announced that his government would be bound by the results. As a consequence, the ''Recall and Initiative Act'' was passed and entered into force on February 24, 1995. In 1998, MLA
Paul Reitsma Paul Reitsma (born January 22, 1948) is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada, for the electoral district of Parksville-Qualicum. He was born in 1948 in the Netherlands. Reitsma served as the mayor of Port Alber ...
resigned his seat when it appeared that a recall petition would be successful and he could be the first person ever recalled under the legislation.


See also

*
Politics of British Columbia The Politics of British Columbia involves not only the governance of British Columbia, Canada, and the various political factions that have held or vied for legislative power, but also a number of experiments or attempts at political and electora ...
*
Referendums in Canada National referendums are seldom used in Canada. The first two referendums in 1898 and 1942 saw voters in Quebec and the remainder of Canada take dramatically-opposing stands, and the third in 1992 saw most of the voters take a stand dramatically ...
*
William Aberhart William Aberhart (December 30, 1878 – May 23, 1943), also known as "Bible Bill" for his outspoken Baptist views, was a Canadian politician and the seventh premier of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1943. He was the founder and first leader o ...
, the first politician in Canada ever to be subject to a recall campaign


References


External links


Elections BC
{{British Columbia elections 1991 elections in Canada Political history of British Columbia 1991 referendums Elections in British Columbia Initiatives 1991 in British Columbia October 1991 events in Canada