Why this Independent MLA wants to make it easier for MLAs to be ousted by voters

An Independent MLA has put forward a private member's bill that could make it easier for MLAs to lose their job.

Amelia Boultbee, who represents Penticton-Summerland, introduced a private member's bill earlier this month that would lower the threshold for a successful recall campaign against MLAs.

“I think we've all heard complaints from the public for years … that once a politician is in place, you can't really do much about it if you're not happy with their performance until you get to the ballot box in the next election,” said Boultbee, who left the B.C. Conservative caucus in October after clashing with former leader John Rustad.

“It seems like consensus might be building in the house to actually do something about it.”

If passed, those seeking to recall a petition can start their campaign 12 months after an election, instead of the current 18 months.

Employees in the private sector typically get a performance review after a year and a recall campaign is like a performance review carried out by British Columbians, Boultbee said.

The number of signatures needed for a successful recall would be much lower — equivalent to the number of votes received by the MLA in the last election.

In most ridings, that’s thousands of votes less than the current threshold, which is 40 per cent of eligible voters in the riding.

“You don't want every angry mob running someone out of town every time they're not happy but if you've really lost your mandate, which is reflected by the number of votes you received, we need to give voters a meaningful mechanism to do something about that.”

MLA says her bill is not targeted at OneBC

Boultbee insists her private member's bill is not targeted at two former B.C. Conservative MLAs — Dallas Brodie and Tara Armstrong — who formed their own party called OneBC.

A group of residents in the Vancouver-Quilchena riding are gearing up for a recall campaign against Brodie, the MLA for that riding.

Brodie ran as a B.C. Conservative, but was kicked out of caucus by Rustad in March after he accused her of mocking residential school survivors.

Since forming OneBC in June, Brodie and Armstrong have advocated for bills to ban Indigenous land acknowledgments and create a national holiday to honour the freedom convoy.

The two have since had a falling out. First the party removed Brodie as leader, then Brodie returned as leader but Armstrong and several party executives quit.

It means OneBC no longer has official party status in the legislature.

Premier David Eby says Brodie and Armstrong are advancing views no one voted for.

“I’ve been openly supportive of the idea that people should be able to get together and recall these candidates who ran on one thing and are campaigning entirely on a different thing, which I think would be offensive to people who voted for them,” Eby told CBC News in a year-end interview.

Eby did not specifically say if he supports lowering the recall threshold.

“I think with their conduct that they’re likely to hit the threshold without that change.”

Those helping with the recall campaign say Brodie is advancing harmful anti-Indigenous views that have no place in the legislature.

While Steve Sxwithul'txw does not live in the Vancouver-Quilchena riding, he leads the Indigenous Accountability Coalition and has helped put up posters in advance of the official recall campaign.

“I can’t sit back and not do anything,” said the 60-year-old.

A member of the Penelakut Tribe near Chemainus, B.C., Sxwithul'txw attended the Kuper Island Residential School in the 1970s.

He says he’s been appalled by statements Brodie has made that “directly counter what our elders and those who have past told us happened at residential schools.”

Sxwithul'txw says as he and other volunteers put up posters earlier this month, he was approached by people in the riding who are upset by Brodie’s views.

“If you break away from a party, that riding should immediately go to a byelection and let the people decide.”

Brodie told CBC News there are many MLAs who might face recall campaigns in addition to her.

"I never worry about things I cannot control. There are a lot of recall campaigns planned and I am one of them. It is their right to try to recall me and I have no feelings about it one way or the other."

Brodie says she supports "the concept of allowing citizens to play a stronger role in the political system when they don’t like what they see from their elected officials. Lowering the threshold for recall is not just going to affect me but also all others who are the targets of recall campaigns."

Recall campaigns face a high bar

No MLAs have been successfully recalled in B.C. in the 30 years the act has been in force.

Those aiming to oust Liberal MLA Paul Reitsma came close in 1998.

They surpassed the number of signatures, but Reitsma, who admitted to writing letters to newspapers and political opponents under phony names, resigned before the recall campaign ended.

Salvatore Vetro organized the unsuccessful recall campaign against Eby in 2023.

“The threshold is humungous.”

Vetro says lowering the threshold for ousting an MLA will keep politicians more accountable to their campaign promises.

“How else do you keep in check any MLA from whatever party if they don’t do a good job?”