A surge of signatures in the final week of the Recall Don McRae campaign was not enough to unseat the rookie MLA, but the effort produced very positive results, according to organizers.
鈥淎 lot of good has come from the anxiety the government has been feeling over recall,鈥� said Kathryn Askew. 鈥淭his pressure from the people produced the end of Gordon Campbell, the HST referendum, the promise the referendum will be held sooner than September, and the removal of Colin Hansen, Campbell鈥檚 finance minster and deputy premier, from cabinet.
鈥淵ou can bet your HST refund that none of that backpedalling would have happened if the people had not stood up and said 鈥榥o.鈥� We have shown this government that they can鈥檛 treat people like property. Now they know citizens will take action.鈥�
The final count was 5,181 actual signatures, about one-quarter of the 鈥渧ery challenging鈥� threshold of 19,000 verified voter names needed to unseat McRae. The HST referendum held last spring required just over 4,800 signatures.
Canvassers reported that on the streets and doorsteps, a feeling of government betrayal on the HST was the main motivation for people signing, said Oliver Clarke, one of 135 volunteer canvassers who signed up to collect signatures.
鈥淗undreds of people wrote their names publicly to say they are very angry that the government misled us so blatantly on their HST plans and then basically ignored the half a million voters who signed the petition to end the HST,鈥� said Clarke.
Canvasser Gordon Bailey said the 鈥渟pirited and extensive campaign鈥� was mounted locally to recall McRae for not representing those he was elected to represent.
鈥淭he campaign has been incredibly successful in giving Comox Valley voters a voice, the opportunity to say, loud and clear: democracy requires accountability.鈥� 鈥―espite the 鈥渕assive discontent鈥� encountered by the canvassers, capturing 40 per cent of all the names on the voter鈥檚 list at the time of the past election proved a virtually impossible task, he said.鈥ㄢ�淲hat we learned, in fact, is that the recall provisions are such that it is nearly impossible to meet the statutory standards for recall,鈥� said Bailey. 鈥淚t is a process designed to fail.鈥�
The voter's list provided to the canvassers by Elections BC was 鈥渋ncredibly out of date,鈥� last officially updated in May of 2009.
鈥淲e found the list includes many, many people who no longer live in the riding or who passed away. The rules said we had to get 40 per cent of everyone on that list to sign. With all those people no longer here, we were unable to canvass in Ontario, Forest Grove or the graveyard.鈥�
He noted that the Valley has a high turnover, with military members and their families posted elsewhere and young adults having to leave to establish careers.
Another shock came when canvassers found that even the signatures of many currently registered Comox Valley voters would have been disallowed: those who moved within the riding or had changed their names in the past 20 months but had not made a special call to Elections BC to update their information.
鈥淭hose signatures would not have been counted,鈥� he said.
Bailey noted that despite the frustrations, canvassers and signers feel the campaign was well worth the effort, and they look forward to expressing their views again when the HST referendum is offered in June.
鈥淰oters think that Mr. McRae has failed them and does not deserve re-election. Voters are very concerned that he and his government do not appear to care what a large number of people in the Comox Valley think. And they know that our opportunity to change the way things are done in Victoria comes at the ballot box. We鈥檒l get a new, revitalized democracy.鈥�
鈥淚 hope Don McRae and his birds-of-a-feather have learned their lesson,鈥� added Askew. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 go into an election campaign chirping one thing and then parroting the opposite.鈥�
鈥� Recall Comox Valley
