As the first province to implement fixed budget and election dates, BC is the country's leader in democratic reform. The province has also embarked on a review of its voting system and may change it based on recommendations of the historic Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform. All of these reforms were part of the Liberal 2001 New Era election platform.

To their credit, the government has forged ahead with almost all of their democratic reform promises. However, a central plank of those reforms, to establish "workable" recall and initiative legislation, has been all but forgotten.

Again, unlike any other province, BC has had a recall and initiative law since 1994. The law offers citizens a direct role in the democratic process; enabling voters to recall their MLA or to initiate legislation via petition. However, it has been repeatedly criticized as "unworkable" because of its steep requirements. Citizen initiative and recall campaigns have a very short period of time to acquire an extraordinary number of signatures.

One of the chief critics of the recall and initiative law has been BC's Premier, Gordon Campbell. Long before his 2001 election promise, Campbell was trying to amend The Recall and Initiative Act. When the bill was introduced to the legislature, Campbell was an opposition member and advocated for several amendments. After the bill passed, Campbell then introduced a private members' bill to make changes to The Recall and
Initiative Ac. The bill's primary goal was to reduce the number of required signatures and extend the length of time to acquire those signatures for both recall and initiative campaigns.

Despite Campbell's professed commitment to make recall and initiative law 'workable', the only amendments made by the Liberals have been financial in scope. In 2002, they prohibited charities from making recall contributions and introduced a requirement for the disclosure of union contributions. These minor changes have done nothing to fulfill Campbell's New Era Promise. Indeed, not much has changed to The Recall and Initiative Act since 1995. According to the act, a citizens' initiative begins once the proponent has submitted a draft bill and applied for a petition. The petitioner then has 90 days to acquire the signatures of 10% of all registered voters in every
electoral district.

A successful petition would require well over 200,000 signatures, at a rate of 2,300 per day. If successful, the draft bill can either be introduced to the legislature or referred to a general vote. To carry the initiative in a vote more than 50% of the total registered vote in 2/3 of the ridings is needed. The requirements are onerous and to date no one has been able to satisfy them.

The recall requirements are just as difficult. A recall campaign can only be initiated 18 months after an election and begins when a voter applies for a petition. To be successful, the recall petition needs to be returned within 60 days and be signed by more than 40% of the registered voters in the district at the last election. If the Chief Electoral Officer deems the requirements met, the MLA is recalled and the seat becomes vacant.

Campbell's private members bill would have changed the initiative time frame to gather signatures from 90 days to a full year. Instead of 10% of the registered vote in every electoral district, Campbell proposed the threshold be lowered to 5% of at least 50% of the electoral districts. If put to a referendum 50% of the vote in at least 2/3, districts would have to vote in favour.

Campbell also wanted to increase the signature time frame for recall from 60 days to 6 months. His bill would allow a recall campaign to begin 6 months following election and would have required the same number of voters as the member received plus one.

Although the BC Liberals have made some great strides to stem the growing democratic deficit, Gordon Campbell needs to "recall" his 2001 election promise to make recall and initiative workable. He doesn't need to reinvent the wheel; all he has to do is pass the bill he drafted while in opposition.

During the 1994 legislative debate, Campbell aptly noted, "You can't say on the one hand that we are for recall and referenda, and then keep putting the nails around the coffin so that you can never use it." Mr. Campbell, it's time to take the nails out.