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March 4, 2002

Campbell Visits Prince George

By Stephanie Wilson

B.C. Premier Gordon
Campbell visited Prince
George on Friday, March 1, to
speak to the media, attend a
Prince George Chamber of
Commerce function, and
watch a Cougars hockey
game.

During his time in Prince
George, he focused on
resources and the economy.
An issue that has been in the
minds of people all across
Canada is the- Canada-US
softwood lumber dispute.
According to Campbell, we
need to “fight this trade prob-
lem that’s been caused by a
small group in the States”
However, the B.C. lumber
trade with the States has to
potential to increase: “the
state of Idaho is looking for
wood.” A deal has yet to be
discussed.

Closer to home, the
Premier addressed the cur-
rent pine beetle epidemic in
B.C. “We’ve got a beetle

that’s run amok... we have to
be more aggressive,” said
Campbell.

Trans-Pacific trade was
also discussed. “The Chinese
initiatives we’ve undertak-
en... are not just to get into

the market.” He also stated
that B.C. has to “open the
market:in China, invigorate
the market in Japan.”
Campbell addressed the
dissidents to his recent
actions by saying, “We all
have to make tough deci-

Protesters follow Gordon Campbell throughout P’ George.

sions.” According to
Campbell, BC has a $3.8 bil-
lion structural deficit, and
“everyone looses when the
cost of government is out of
control.” The B.C. Liberals
have laid out a three-year

strategic plan that will focus
funding to specific areas such
as education and health.”
Campbell pointed out that
“there are thousands of peo-
ple” who are happy with the
B.C. Liberals because “we're
doing what we said we’d do.”

Outside the Coast Inn of
the North, people gathered to
protest the cuts. Armed with
signs such as “Gordon
Campbell is a_ dictator!”
approximately 250 people
loudly displayed their opposi-
tion and held a “Campbell
soup kitchen” to demonstrate
descent. According to one
protester, the Liberal’s cuts
are “unfortunate, unfair, in
excess, unjust, getting rich off
the. poor, almost like the
medieval days.” Students
were out in full force, protest-
ing the lifting of the tuition
freeze and cuts to work study
programs. Other protesters
were concerned about what
the Liberals have done to the
Forest Practices Code and
other environmental regula-
tion; the cutting the link
between forest tenures and
the mills; and the making B.C.
a banana republic and raw
exporter of our resources.

Government Recall Efforts Start Early in B.C.

BC:
British

By Kevin Groves,
Bureau Chief,
Columbia Bureau

VICTORIA (CUP)—The
face of the B.C. legislature
may change this winter if
Peter Kelly and those like him
get their way.

Kelly, a resident of
Nanaimo, has put together an
online petition asking visitors
to endorse a recall of govern-
ment MLAs "based on [the]
view that the election victory
of Gordon Campbell and the
B.C. Liberals was a fraud."

Though the petition is not a
legal document, there are
now 20,137 signatures on it
from across the province and
numbers continue to increase
each day. Kelly said he start-
ed the petition on Jan. 22 to
provide an outlet for what he
said was growing public frus-
tration about recent B.C. gov-
ernment policy.

He added that his petition's
expiry date was chosen delib-
erately to coincide with Nov.
18, the first day legal petitions
to recall B.C. MLAs could be
signed. "People are angry
now and they can’t wait until

November to put their names
on a petition," Kelly said.
"Even though [the petition]
has no legal bearing it’s good
enough to vent some of that
building anger."

Among the many govern-
ment policies Kelly and his
signatories take issue with
include the $6 training wage
instituted last November and
the 11,700 civil-service cuts
last January. "I’ve seen peo-
ple [who signed the petition]
who were Green Party sup-
porters, NDP supporters and
even B.C. Liberal supporters,"
Kelly said. "So the anger is
widespread and building
quickly."

According to Elections B.C.
spokeswoman Jennifer Miller,
B.C. is the only province in
Canada that can recall its
MLAs. Petitions can be
applied for from Elections
B.C. 18 months after any B.C.
election.

Once a canvasser has
received a petition, they have
60 days to collect signatures
from 40 per cent of registered
voters who voted in the last
election. Elections B.C. will

then verify the signatures
after the deadline. If sufficient
valid signatures are on the
petition, the MLA ceases to
hold office and a by-election
must be called within 90
days. A recalled MLA can be
a candidate in the by-elec-
tion.

Miller said 11 attempts
have been made to recall
MLAs in B.C. since 1995 but
to date none have succeed-
ed, with the possible excep-
tion of independent MLA Paul
Reitsma, who resigned in
June 1998 during a recall ver-
ification in his Parksville-
Qualicum riding. "To this day
we're not sure if he would
have been recalled or not,"
Miller said.

Miller refused to speculate
on whether current B.C.
MLAs should be concerned
about recall, but said there
may be more of a chance at
success in two B.C. con-
stituencies where the victory
margins were very close. One
is the Victoria-Beacon Hill rid-
ing where B.C. Liberal MLA
Jeff Bray won by only 35
votes. But Bray said he isn’t

concerned by possible recall
campaigns this fall. "If all |
was worried about was recall,
then | would not be doing my
job which is to represent my
constituents and work hard to
make this province number
one," Bray said. The other
constituency that may be
affected is the Victoria-
Hillside riding of B.C. Liberal
MLA Sheila Orr, who won by
only 82 votes.

Orr could not be reached
for comment by press time.

Norman Ruff, a University
of Victoria political scientist,
said he does not expect recall
attempts in the two Victoria
constituencies to be success-
ful since each have over
30,000 registered voters,
which would make getting the
necessary signatures diffi-
Cult.

"| suspect the Kootenays
might be more interesting
due to deeper community
concerns over health care
cutbacks, but if the current
anger is sustained to
November then | fully expect
a number of recall campaigns
around the province," he

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