David Parkins for The Globe and Mail
Of all the candidates the BC Liberals could have chosen for their leader, none creates headaches for Elections BC like Christy Clark.
During Ms. Clark's campaign for leadership, she didn't just box the election calendar in - she created a stack of boxes that are expected to pile up on the doorstep of the Chief Electoral Officer in the coming months.
Elections BC's events calendar, for a year that was supposed to be quiet, is already busy. It is managing three recall campaigns and must review the financial contributions for the twin leadership contests of the BC Liberals and the BC NDP.
But a Clark government could have voters swimming in a sea of ballots this year, and Elections BC must prepare for a deluge.
The HST vote
A vote under the Recall and Initiative Act on the harmonized sales tax was already in the works for this fall, a legacy of outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell. Ms. Clark wants to fast track that to June 24. That doesn't leave much time to prepare. The proponents and opponents haven't even registered yet - surely the government won't forget to take part this time - and the legislature will have to be recalled quickly to enable the new timeline. The vote will have to be under the Referendum Act, but Ms. Clark is adamant it will still be an election-style vote, rather than the less expensive mail-in option.
A by-election
Ms. Clark needs a seat in the legislature, fast. Since winning the party leadership on Feb. 26, she has met with Premier Gordon Campbell, who has offered to vacate his seat. Since no one else seems keen to step aside at this point, it's a good bet Mr. Campbell will give up Vancouver-Point Grey in mid-March, allowing Ms. Clark to run in a by-election there. It takes 50 days for the return of the writ, meaning Ms. Clark could become an MLA again by early May.
A general election
Ms. Clark was the only leadership candidate to tout an early election. While the BC Liberal caucus wasn't wildly enthusiastic about the idea, they are pretty quiet about their opposition now that she is the boss. Ms. Clark may decide she has a greater chance of capturing a fourth consecutive term for the BC Liberals by going to the polls as early as this fall, while she is still the new face of the party - and before the next budget's challenges overtake her new government.
There is a price tag, naturally, associated with all that democracy. The cheapest option, to combine the referendum with a general election, is the least-likely scenario. The last thing the Liberals want right now is to tie their fate to the outcome of the HST vote.
There is another wrinkle. By law, the province is required to conduct a full enumeration - a door-to-door campaign to update the voters list for the first time in 20 years - before the fixed election date of May, 2013. Candidates will want the best lists possible, but Attorney-General Barry Penner said an early election would escape that requirement.
Voters might expect the agency to be election ready at all times - it wasn't that long ago that our premiers could play with the polls at their whim. But the move to fixed election dates allowed the provincial government to trim the agency's budget. Why maintain a standing army when you know precisely when you need troops?
Given what Ms. Clark has telegraphed, Elections BC must get ready, just in case.
The non-partisan agency is recruiting more than 170 district electoral officers and their deputies, but it takes many more workers to carry out a provincewide vote.
"It's a huge undertaking," said Craig James, the acting chief electoral officer. "We're suddenly training up to 35,000 people. … It's a lot of money."
Speaking of troops, imagine being one of Ms. Clark's campaign workers. You've just spent three months getting your candidate elected as head of the BC Liberal Party. Now there is a month-long by-election campaign coming up. And then an general election?
Campaigns are expensive, too. The business community has been tapped - sometimes by more than one candidate - for the leadership campaign. Now the BC Liberal Party, still digging itself out of debt from the 2009 election, could be coming back for more.
From the perspective of the voters, it is daunting, too. There is a strong possibility of a federal election this spring, and November will bring municipal elections across the province.
Apathy reached new levels in the 2009 election, with barely 50-per-cent turnout at the polls. In seeking an early mandate, Ms. Clark runs the risk of turning off voters with - dare one suggest - too much democracy.
Justine Hunter