The British Columbia Recall and Initiative Referendum was a
referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
held in
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
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 othe ...
in March of that year, but was never
proclaimed. A similar statute was struck down by the
Manitoba Court of Appeals 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 was a conservative political party in British Columbia, Canada. It was the governing party of British Columbia for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For fou ...
(Socred) government's
speech from the throne
A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or their representative, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a Legislative session, session is opened. ...
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 () is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The term ''Government of British Columbia'' can refer to either the collective set of all three institutions, or mo ...
must submit to voters by referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
?
Both of the questions were announced by Premier
Rita Johnston during a news conference on September 5, 1991, although by then they were an
open secret
An open secret is information that was originally intended to be confidential but has at some point been disclosed and is known to many people. Open secrets are ''secrets'' in the sense that they are excluded from formal or official discourse, b ...
. NDP leader
Mike Harcourt
Michael Franklin Harcourt Officer of the Order of Canada, OC (born January 6, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 30th premier of British Columbia from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th List of mayors of Vancouver ...
criticized the timing, saying that the Socreds had moved too slowly in launching the proposals.
Liberal leader
Gordon Wilson also criticized the referendum, saying that it was intended to divert attention away from the
scandal
A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...
-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
Attorney-General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Russ Fraser. 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
campaign 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 political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...
(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 Officer of the Order of Canada, OC (born January 6, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 30th premier of British Columbia from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th List of mayors of Vancouver ...
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 Alb ...
resigned his seat when it appeared that a recall petition would be successful and he could be the first person recalled under the legislation.
As of April 2023, according to Elections BC the ''Recall and Initiative Act'' has been invoked:
* 29 times with registered Recall petitions, all of which are deemed to have failed;
* 14 times with registered Initiative petitions, of which only one passed (see 2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum
A referendum on sales tax was held by postal ballot in British Columbia from June 13 to August 5, 2011, though Canada Post workers were locked out until June 27. Voters were asked whether the Harmonized Sales Tax
The harmonized sales tax (HS ...
).
See also
* Politics of British Columbia
The politics of British Columbia involve 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 electoral ...
* Referendums in Canada
Referendums have been held in Canada at the federal, provincial and city levels.
National referendums are seldom used in Canada. The first two referendums in 1898 and 1942 saw a large number of voters in Quebec and in the remainder of Canada ta ...
* William Aberhart
William Aberhart (December 30, 1878 – May 23, 1943), also known as "Bible Bill" for his radio sermons about the Bible, was a Canadian politician and the seventh premier of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1943. He was the founder and first le ...
, the first politician in Canada ever to be subject to a recall campaign
References
External links
Elections BC
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Columbia recall and initiative referendum, 1991
1991 elections in Canada
October 1991 in Canada
Recall and initiative referendum
1991 referendums
1991 recall and initiative
Initiatives