Elections B.C. approves anti-HST recall application in Ida Chong’s riding

Elections B.C. has approved the recall application for Liberal cabinet minister Ida Chong’s Vancouver Island riding.

Acting chief electoral officer Craig James announced the decision today (November 30).

“The petition will be issued on Monday, December 6, 2010, and at that time, registered canvassers may begin collecting signatures,” he says in a news release.

“The petition must be returned to this office no later than Friday, February 4, 2011.”

Craig sparked controversy last week when he rejected a previous recall application in Chong’s Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding, saying a word-count limit had been exceeded.

Under B.C. legislation, recall campaigners have 60 days to gather the names of at least 40 percent of voters in a selected riding to trigger a by-election.

Michael Roy Hayes is the official recall proponent in Chong’s riding.

More than 15,300 signatures will need to be collected and verified to unseat Chong, universities minister and regional economic and skills development minister. The recall effort also has a $35,938.72 cap on expenses.

Chong is the first Liberal MLA to be targeted as part of the Fight HST group’s strategy to compel the B.C. government to get rid of the HST.

You can follow Stephen Thomson on Twitter at twitter.com/thomsonstraight.

Comments

4 Comments

glen p robbins

Nov 30, 2010 at 2:03pm

NW says no wording was changed from the original - what's up with that?

Ted

Nov 30, 2010 at 4:20pm

thank goodness, ok, if Ida is smart she will "resign" , although it will be kinda fun if she decides to "try to get reelected. but I dont think she is that stupid. Great work BC,

Patrick Lawson2

Nov 30, 2010 at 6:29pm

Reasons for Ida Chong to resign

—there are no guarantees the referendum will go ahead as planned

—governments should be accountable

— In Ida Chong's, "Six Pillars for a Strong BC" flyer that was distributed throughout the Oak Bay Gordon Head Electoral District during the 2009 election, she promised she would be "lowering costs on our economy — reducing taxes for families and businesses".

— the HST (the Harmonized Sales Tax) was not mentioned in Ida Chong's flyer or during her campaign, and in fact Ida Chong went to great lengths in an interview with CFAX Victoria radio's Adam Sterling to avoid saying she would not quit over the HST.

Island Man

Dec 1, 2010 at 12:01pm

Looks like Ida's going to take one for the team while the rest of the rats try to figure out a new way to pull the wool over our eyes. We'll take them down one by one...best defence to keept heir jobs is move that referendum up real soon.