Questioning the independence of the electoral commission unacceptable

I am surprised and concerned that Bill Vander Zalm and the members of the Anti HST leadership team are saying that Elections BC is influenced by the BC Liberal Party and the business group that has brought a court challenge against the petition. In my mind, Elections BC is one of the only entities that is preserving some semblance of democracy in this province because they are independent of political influence and partisanship. Suggesting otherwise is of grave concern. As well, Elections BC and the Chief Electoral Officer cannot defend themselves against this kind of accusation.

I appreciate that the excitement of having the petition certified was diminished by the Acting Chief Electoral Commissioner’s decision to delay sending the result to a legislative committee. But questioning the integrity of one of the independent offices of the legislature, even in the heat of the moment, is discouraging. When it comes to protecting our democratic right to free and fair elections, Elections BC is second to none and the Green Party of BC, and all other political parties in BC, knows they are beyond reproach.

I would like to see Bill Vander Zalm apologize to the Acting Chief Electoral Commissioner and Elections BC. I think he can do that while still disagreeing with the decision. Not only that, by calling the Acting Chief Electoral Commissioner a “bureaucrat”, Vander Zalm has taken a cheap shot at and negatively stereotyped all of those who work for our government.

I would like to commend Premier Campbell for finally recognizing the success of the petition and seeing it as an expression of people’s democratic right to be heard. However, it’s time to respond to the people of BC and the over 700,000 who signed the petition with more than Colin Hansen’s statement that they will follow the legislation to a “T”. The BC Liberals know that the success of the Initiative demands more than hiding behind the Recall and Initiative Legislation and making some platitude about democracy.

To really acknowledge the success of the petition and to let the people who worked so hard to organize and collect signatures know that the government understands that it has an obligation to respond, I’d like to hear Premier Campbell announce that he is voluntarily sending the question to the legislative committee to review the HST. Maybe they could even provide an opportunity for a real debate of the issue in the Legislature.