Paul Reitsma (born January 22, 1948) is a former member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, for the electoral district of

Parksville-Qualicum Parksville-Qualicum was a former provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest betwe ...

. He was born in 1948 in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Reitsma served as the mayor of Port Alberni and Parksville, prior to his move to provincial politics. Reitsma was elected in the 1996 BC provincial election for the BC Liberals, defeating

New Democratic Party of British Columbia The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in British Columbia, political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of ...

incumbent Leonard Krog. In early 1998, Reitsma was accused of writing letters to newspapers under assumed names, praising himself and attacking his political opponents. A Parksville newspaper had asked a former

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

handwriting expert to compare a sample of Reitsma's handwriting to that of letters to the editor submitted by a "Warren Betanko", and then ran a story entitled "MLA Reitsma is a liar and we can prove it". Reitsma was ejected from the BC Liberal caucus although he chose to remain as a member of the BC Legislative Assembly. However, he resigned his legislative seat on June 23, 1998, when it appeared that a recall petition led by proponent Mark Robinson had enough signatures from the electorate to recall him (thus result in a by-election to elect a new MLA).

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External links

BCForums
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reitsma, Paul Dutch emigrants to Canada BC United MLAs People from Parksville, British Columbia People from Port Alberni 1948 births Living people 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 20th-century mayors of places in British Columbia