B.C. HST foes launch drive to vote Liberals 'off the island'

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A high-stakes, political version of the popular reality TV show Survivor is coming to British Columbia.

Announcing their long-anticipated campaign to recall individual Liberal MLAs for supporting the HST, anti-tax organizers are calling their initiative "MLA Survivor Recall - Vote them off the island."

Their goal is to pressure the government to repeal the HST, or have enough MLAs recalled to imperil the Liberal's nine-seat majority in the legislature.

The drive is designed to begin officially next Jan. 1 in three Liberal ridings yet to be decided. The ridings will be selected on the basis of a weekly competition among anti-HST organizers in 18 targeted constituencies to see who can enlist the most canvassers.

On the hit list are ridings represented by Finance Minister Colin Hansen and four other cabinet ministers, plus Speaker Bill Barisoff.

"It's going to be a fun contest," said anti-HST campaign leader Bill Vander Zalm, referring to the anticipated tussle to be one of the first recall ridings.

Organizers hope to roll out further recall campaigns at the rate of one a month, based on the extent of canvasser signups.

"It's a way of ensuring that we've got a good robust campaign team in place in each riding where we're going to do a recall," said lead organizer Chris Delaney:

Premier Gordon Campbell and other Liberals angrily denounced the anti-HST campaign.

"This is actually a serious matter. ... This is not a reality television show," Mr. Campbell told reporters during a brief break from a closed-door Liberal caucus meeting in Kelowna. "This is about the future of people that are working in the forest industry or in mining. ... I think it's getting more and more obvious to British Columbians that Mr. Vander Zalm's agenda is to get attention for himself."

Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake called Mr. Delaney a bully and a petulant child. "As far as I'm concerned, he can get stuffed," said Mr. Lake, in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Anti-HST forces face an uphill task. At least 40 per cent of the voters registered in the riding during the last provincial election must sign the petition to have their MLA recalled.

"It's a very, very difficult threshold," Mr. Delaney acknowledged.

In the late 1990s, with the governing NDP's popularity at a low ebb, opponents targeted three New Democrat MLAs for recall. None of the efforts succeeded, although then education minister Paul Ramsay said the fight to unseat him caused many sleepless nights.

"The reality is you're trying to be an MLA and a cabinet minister, while fighting an extended election campaign," he said. "It takes a whole lot of your time."

He questioned the use of recall legislation to wage political battles over government policy, rather than for its intended purpose to get rid of MLAs guilty of individual transgressions.

Mr. Ramsay said the only proper use of recall occurred against former Vancouver Island MLA Paul Reitsma, found to have signed false names to letters to the editor praising him.

Mr. Reitsma resigned shortly before the successful signup campaign against him was officially ratified.

"It's a real mish-mash of the parliamentary system to attack MLAs because of the government they are part of," said Mr. Ramsay. "I guess it's just another tool in the wacky world of B.C. politics."

Mr. Campbell's government has agreed to a referendum a year from now, following the success of a provincewide petition to axe the tax. However, those seeking an end to the HST want the vote held before the end of 2010.