Category: Gordon Campbell

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2009 BC Election Carole James Electoral Reform Gordon Campbell

#bcelection #fail.

The BC Liberals led by Premier Gordon Campbell claimed a third majority government in yesterday’s provincial election, but British Columbians joined the national trend of claiming new record low voter turnouts. Voter turnout dropped from 58% in the 2005 election to 50% yesterday.

While the STV referendum was decisively defeated, two of the hand full of ridings where the STV earned majority support were Premier Campbell’s Vancouver-Point Grey riding and BC NDP leader Carole James‘ Victoria-Beacon Hill riding.

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2009 BC Election Carole James Deb Grey Ed Stelmach Gordon Campbell Mel Hurtig Preston Manning Ralph Klein TILMA

bc votes (on tuesday).

British Columbians will be going to the polls on Tuesday May 12 to vote in their second fixed-date provincial election and second Single Transferable Vote referendum. While I haven’t written much about the BC election on this blog, I have been following this election with interest (check out the mighty Tyee’s Hook Blog, Public Eye Online, and the Gazetteer for some of the best info).

While many Albertans may not fully understand the quirky politics of our neighbours to the west, there are number of reasons why the electoral battle between the BC Liberals, led by Premier Gordon Campbell, and the BC NDP, led by leader Carole James, should be of interest to Albertans.

Since they were elected eight years ago, Campbell’s BC Liberals have forged a close relationship with Alberta’s governing Progressive Conservatives. Starting with meetings earlier in the decade, British Columbia and Alberta are now partners in the controversial TILMA (Trade, Investment, & Labour Mobility Agreement). The two governing parties have also hosted a series of joint-cabinet meetings to highlight their close relationship (and during this campaign, Campbell wore a pair of cowboy boots gifted to him by former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein).

In their platform, the BC NDP have pledged to renegotiate TILMA, which leads me to imagine what an entertaining time the first meeting between Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and a Premier-elect Carole James would sound like…

Stelmach: So, you’re a socialist? In Alberta, we call Liberals socialists.

James: In British Columbia, you’d probably be a Liberal.

My friends in Alberta’s PC party who thought Klein was around for too long should take note of Gordon Campbell’s political longevity. Campbell has been leader of the BC Liberal Party since 1993, and in a quick estimation, this makes Campbell the second longest serving current major provincial party leader in Canada (the current longest being Manitoba Premier Gary Doer, who has led the Manitoba NDP since 1988). During his time as leader of the BC Liberals, Campbell has outlasted five BC NDP leaders.

STV

British Columbians will also vote in their second STV referendum on May 12. Albertans including former Reform Party leader and Calgary-Southwest MP Preston Manning, former Edmonton-North Reform MP Deb Grey, and former Edmontonian Mel Hurtig have joined the broad list of prominent Canadians endorsing the change to STV in this referendum. Here’s a quick video explaining what the proposed electoral changes would mean:

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2009 BC Election Bill 203: Election Statutes (Fixed Election Dates) Electoral Reform Gordon Campbell Ken Allred Richard Marz

the delayed fixed-election date debate in alberta [am i detecting a trend?].

Tomorrow, in the City of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia will drop the Writ for their second fixed-date election. Introduced in 2001 by Premier Gordon Campbell‘s BC Liberals, British Columbia became the first Canadian Province to implement fixed-election dates, removing the power of the Premier to arbitrarily decide when elections are held.

In April 2008, St. Albert PC MLA Ken Allred introduced a Private Member’s Bill, Bill 203: Election Statutes (Fixed Election Dates), in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta that would have created fixed-election dates in our province. The Bill received very little public debate in the Legislature and was opposed by MLAs in the PC caucus, including Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Richard Marz, who argued to the media that fixed-election dates would allow public sector unions to strike in conjunction with elections.
In May 2008, Marz introduced a motion that “Bill 203, the Election Statutes (Fixed Election Dates) Amendment Act, 2008, be not now read a second time but that it be read a second time this day six months hence.” Marz’s motion was passed when 36 PC MLAs (including Allred) out-voted 5 opposition MLAs.
Five months later, while Premier Ed Stelmach opposed calls for fixed-election dates by then-Chief Electoral Officer Lorne Gibson, there was no public debate in the Legislative Assembly on Allred’s Bill 203.
Ten months later, as Gibson was dismissed from his position by a PC MLA-dominated committee, there was still no public debate in the Legislative Assembly on Allred’s Bill 203.
A year later, as British Columbians head to the polls in their second fixed-date election (and second STV referendum) on May 12, 2009, Albertans will celebrate exactly one year since PC MLAs voted for a six month delay on the debate about fixed-election dates in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
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