irec
WHEN you think
about it, direct democ-
racy shouldn’t really be
so difficult. After all,
the technology for —
public consultation has

never been so won-
drous as it is today.

Earlier this week I
addressed Ontario’s Standing
“Committee on the Legislative
Assembly, which is looking
into more public participa-
tion in the decision-making
of that province’s govern-
‘ment.

I made my presentation
via the magic of videocenifer-
“encing. I was here and they
“were in Toronto — but we

had a healthy exchange of
_": This raises an interesting
question: if Ontario legisl1-
tors can reach out across’ the
country in a process of «on-
sultation, why can’t our. .
politicians take’ the.time or :
make a’ génuine’effort to *
engage. the talents and ener-
gies of the people of British
; ia? Is the NDP gov- -
meat afraid of real democ-
racy, or just.convinced that it
knows best? Or-both?.. ‘
If you’re wondering what
told. the Ontario commiit-
tee, let me summarize: In |
‘B.C. we had a rare opportu-
ity to‘develop a model of

stalk dog
childfed play. They are not a. 2 Parl 1
beware. If' we catch you, 15. -
“cougars are going’ to ‘take a.”
whiz on your. front lawn! .

€ g

Editor: |,
We. all: know that, only 4% ’
f dog’ owners aré ‘responsible ‘
‘enough to‘own one.
t's probably why: 96% of.
latidlords ‘don’t. allow sthem. #
Our district’ playing fields are’

juist’ that, places’ where our:

_who did ’an
nes: would ,‘go.a,long. way.

a second
opinion

direct democracy. In 1991
over 80% of voters said they
wanted the right to recall
their MLAs and a chance to
propose initiatives for refer-
endum. The NDP govern-
ment delayed, diverted and
diluted, giving us instead the
Recall and Initiative Act.

This appalling piece of
legislation is actually designed
to prevent any politician from
ever being recalled and to
frustrate the efforts of any
citizen-based initiative from
being passed into law. .

__ Ttold the Ontaria com-
mittee that we failed — and

“failed. badly in my opinion.
“Rather than having toyed

with people’s hopes and
expectations, our provincial
government should have sim-

ly been honest and admitted _/

it doesn’t believe in direct /
democracy. © é
Politics in our province’

_ are now more poisoned than
2 they were even under the

decaying Social Credit
é

/

vA
i f
ed
q

well-marked tailet for-dogs.’ |.

“If we had a ‘dog-catcher
ing, those $90

towards” financing .'a-: third

* crossing.In'-the ‘meantime,

McCartney” Park, Kirkstone

administration when these
proposals first came forward.

{told members of the
Ontario committee that they
now have an opportunity to
implement a small but signifi-
cant parliamentary reform:
the referendum option. T
urged them not to repeat the
mistake made in British
Columbia. I suggested they
could learn from the experi-
ence of the westernmost
member of their Canadian
family. I told them I know
from experience that direct
deniocracy is easy to talk
about but much more diffi-
cult to implement. f also
wished them good luck.

If you think I was being
too harsh on our province,
consider these facts: More
than two years after the pas-
sage of our infamous Recall
and Initiative Act there has
not been any serious consid-
eration given to recalling a
single MLA. In the heated
world of'B.C, politics, this
can only be explained by the
obvious conclusion that it’s
virtually impossible to do so
under.our bogus law.

/..To date there have been
four applications for initia-
tives, The first was an
attempt to legislate a bal-.
anced budget and retirement
of the provincial debt.

The organizer couldn’t
locate enough canvassers in

s who dirty fields.

‘and Myrtle, Park dog’ owners:

Tony Roper mene
Manager Mt. Seymour U12. ...
Cougars Soccer Team.

each of the province's 75 rid-
ings to even try to obtain the
10% of cligible voters’ signa-
tures required to take the
petition to the next stage.

The second was an effort
to abolish the MLAs’ pension
plan, It was withdrawn when
the government passed legis-
lation achieving the same
end.

The third was an attempt
to separate school taxes from
property assessments. Again,
the sponsor failed to organize
sufficient canvassers around
the province.

The fourth, and most
recent, is an effort to ban the
hunting of bears in B.C. This
initiative is currently being
organized by determined
environmental groups who
are unlikely to achieve more
than raising the profile of
their cause.

The process is a bad joke.
By giving us tools that’can-
not work, the government
serves only to increase the ©
cynicism and alienation of a
-general public already disen-
gaged from politics and
politicians. a

That’s not to say it’s too
late for direct democracy, The
other British Columbian who
was asked to'address the
Ontario committee was
North Vancouver MP Ted

| White. Next week I'll tell you

about his proposal for greater

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