Credit: CFJC Today

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: What this country needs is good, workable recall legislation

Jan 6, 2021 | 4:35 AM

KAMLOOPS — ALL THIS STUFF about politicians travelling to the tropics over Christmas has a lot of people wondering why something can’t be done about it.

The words were barely out of my mouth a couple of days ago criticizing Jason Kenney for not disciplining several of his caucus members who took off for warmer climes during the holiday, when he did an about turn and lowered the boom.

Several guilty caucus members were demoted, as they were elsewhere, but nobody is actually going to lose their job over it.

I suggested Monday they should, but currently there’s no way of accomplishing that in most Canadian jurisdictions. In my view, the situation with politicians travelling in contravention of policies set for the entire population is tailor made for an effective recall process.

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It’s surprising that recall legislation is almost non-existent in this country. B.C., which hasn’t directly been caught up in the current controversy, is the exception. We’ve had recall legislation here since 1995 but it’s ineffective.

While there are no criteria for recalling MLAs in B.C., the bar set for the collection of signatures is out of reach. In order to recall an MLA, a sponsor must collect signatures from 40 per cent of registered electors in a riding.

There have been 26 recall petitions since 1995 and not one has succeeded.

In 2011, for example, a recall effort was attempted against then-MLA Terry Lake over harmonization of the sales tax. It would have required more than 15,000 signatures, a threshold so daunting that the petition was never filed with Elections B.C.

What we need is recall legislation for all levels of government that sets specific requirements for why a petition is filed — such as an MLA or MP who egregiously violates public policy — but sets a bar of, say, 25 per cent, reasonable in view of typical election turnouts.

Then, instead of just being outraged when something like this happens, we can actually do something about it.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.