November 4 2002

NATIONAL NEWS

__Over The Edge Page 6

Vancouver Resident Attempts

Recall of B.C. Premier
Campbell unlikely to lose job experts say

By Kevin Groves, British
Columbia Bureau

VANCOUVER (CUP) — The
B.C. government machine
could get an overhaul if Louise
Camden succeeds in getting
Premier Gordon Campbell
fired.

Camden, a resident of East
Vancouver, has started an
electoral recall campaign in
Campbell’s home riding of
Point Grey, citing concerns
over the government's 77-seat
majority in Victoria.

“This is my last attempt to
believe in democracy,”
Camden said. “The [B.C.] gov-
ernment is doing a lot of hor-
rendous things and getting
away with them.”

According to Elections B.C.
spokeswoman Jennifer Miller,
British Columbia is the only
province in Canada that can

recall its MLA’s. Petitions can
be obtained from Elections BC
after Nov. 18.

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 MLA’s
riding in the last election.

Elections B.C. will then verify
the petition’s signatures by
checking the voter's list from
the previous election. If a suffi-
cient number of valid signa-
tures are on the petition, the
MLA ceases to hold office and
a bi-election must be called
within 90 days. A recalled MLA
can be a candidate in the bi-
election.

Miller refused to speculate
on whether the Premier or any
provincial MLA should be con-
cerned about being recalled.

“It's hard to say, we literally

won't know until the petitions
start coming though our door,”
Miller said.

But Paul Tennant, a
University of British Columbia
political scientist, was less
optimistic. He said any effort to
recall the Premier, or most
MLA’s, will likely fail.

“The [recall] process is
intended to be _ difficult,”
Tennant said. “This legislation
was created by B.C. MLA’s
who naturally are not eager to
make [recalls] effective.”

Tennant said there have
been 11 attempts to recall
MLA’s in B.C. since 1995,
when the legislation was intro-
duced.

None have succeeded, with
the possible exception of inde-
pendent MLA Paul Reitsma,
who resigned in June 1998
during a recall campaign in his

Parksville-Qualicum
said Tennant.

Tennant added that B.C’s
recall legislation is ineffective
because MLA’s are often
required to vote along party
lines.

That tendency makes it
harder for the public to judge
an individual MLA’s perfor-
mance and easier to blame all
contentious government acts
on the Premier or a cabinet
minister, said Tennant.

“Recall legislation is really
designed for an environment
like the U.S. where the party
controls on individual mem-
bers are weaker,’ he said.

Still, Tennant said a recall
campaign might succeed in
constituencies where the vic-
tory margins were close. One
is the Victoria-Beacon Hill rid-
ing where B.C. Liberal MLA

riding,

Jeff Bray won by only 35 votes.
All government MLA’s are
currently attending a B.C.
Liberal conference in Penticton
and none could be reached for
comment by press time.

Meanwhile, David
Cunningham, a spokesman for
the Premiers Office, said he
was not aware of Camden’s
campaign to recall the
Premier.

Camden admitted that her
efforts to recall the Premier
would likely be unsuccessful
but said there are other bene-
fits to the process.

“If it gets Campbell con-
cerned about the next election
and gets more people involved
in the political process then
this campaign will have done
some good,” she said.

Canada Valuable Model for Peace

Das paints hopeful picture of Canada’s future

By Jhenifer Pabillano, Alberta
Bureau

EDMONTON (CUP) — For
the title of his new book about
Canadian international leader-
ship, Edmonton author Satya
Das chose a phrase that isn’t
so modestly Canadian: ‘The
_Best Country: Why Canada
Will Lead the Future’

“It's very un-Canadian to say
that we will lead,” said Das.

“But if | wasn’t confident [in
our leadership], | would die of
despair. | really have lived ina
lot of places in the world and
I've seen utterly horrible
things. If we can’t project
Canada to the world and say
‘Here is a different way, here is
the path of nonviolence, here
is the path of the culture of
peace, then we are lost.”

A respected former journal-
ist with the Edmonton Journal,
Das draws on his formidable
experience in Canadian and
international issues to shape
his arguments.

The Best Country is an

ambitious book with an opti--

mistic tone, where Das argues
Canada can provide a crucial
example for the hatred and
violence seen internationally.
The experience of Canada,
says Das, shows that diversity
can exist peacefully, gover-
nance can be effective and
cooperative, and peace can
come out of a history of intol-
erance.

“(Canada’s example] is such
an antidote to the exclusion
and the hatred and the vio-
lence everywhere. That's the
obligation of our leadership:
not to say your country must
become like us too, but look
what we've done. Is there any-
thing you can draw from our
experience?”

Western Canada, says Das,
provides a key part of the
model. Not even 100 years old,
the provinces and cities of
Western Canada are exam-
ples of strong and peaceful

systems built on foundations of
diversity, said Das. Eastern
Canada is less applicable as it
retains a foundation rooted in
other cultures, such as French
or Anglo-Scottish history, says
Das.

“The only distinctive
Canadian experience [in the
West] is the experience of cul-
tural diversity, of lots of differ-
ent people coming together to
live. In the first few decades of
the Western Canadian experi-
ence, it was bitter and violent
and awful and racist. And the
last three or four decades, it
has significantly changed,”
said Das.

Arguing that Canadian gov-
ernance is exemplary because
of its consensus and coopera-
tion, Das isn’t fazed by the fed-
eral and provincial struggles
over the Kyoto accord.

“| think Kyoto is all about
consensus. Kyoto is proof that
Canada works,” said Das.

“What’s happened in the

debate in the last few days?
They got tired of shouting, now
they’re sitting down with each
other to look for solutions. ...
Full credit to Klein and
Chrétien for sitting down and
talking about this, because
that’s the Canadian way.”

And despite rumblings that
Canada may be succumbing
to interests that erode the
characteristics that Das’ book
prides, he isn’t worried that
they will succeed.

“?m not a pessimist that

way,’ said Das.

“| Know people like my friend
Mel Hurtig who think we’re los-
ing everything to the
Americans, and | respect his
view because | can’t deny the
validity of his arguments. But
what | would say is, what are
we going to do to fight that? ...
Maybe the best protection of
Canada is to share more of
ourselves with the world rather
than wait with dismay at the
inevitable dominance of
American culture.”

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