IDoNotThinkItMeansWhatYouThinkItDoesVille
The official number of signatories to the petition required to trigger a recall of BC Liberal Party MLA Ida Chong is 15,368 according to a story by Cindy Harnett in the VT-Colonist:
...In Oak Bay-Gordon Head, 38,419 voters were registered to vote on May 12, 2009. Registered canvassers will have 60 days to collect 15,368 or more valid signatures on the recall petition in order to have the MLA removed from office...
But here's the thing......
In 2002, the folks attempting to recall BC Liberal MLA Val Roddick thought they had gone way over their magic number of about 12,000.
However, it turns out that Elections-BC begged to differ and in the end instead of being a thousand signatures over the petitioners turned out to be almost 2,000 under their magic number.
Our good friend, and a guy who can dig up the relevant information publically available documents like no one else 'round Lotusland*, NVG, has the details straight from the horses mouth as it were.
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But even that is not the real story.....
After all, please recall (pun very much intended) that the 2002-03 version of E-BC was run by a guy named Harry Neufeld who demonstrated time after time that he, and his second-in-command were as fair as fair can be.
What's more, I'm pretty sure Mr. Neufeld did not send some 3000 letters to folks that signed the 2002 Roddick petition in error threatening them with jail, or worse.
And now?
Well, the folks running E-BC have, in my opinion, proven them to be duplicitous at best.
So, given all that, it's important to ask oneself....
What is real number required by Sir Laurence Olivier.....errrrr....Mr. Craig James before the petitioners seeking to recall Ida Chong can reliably answer the question....
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*Of course mining the gold buried deep within publicly available documents was the forte of one of the last, best DIY citizen journalists of the pre-internet age, Mr. I.F. Stone.....So you're in very good company there NVG...
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4 comments:
Is it too late to point out another one of those coincidences that happened in the Basi, Virk and Basi trial.....
The Defense lawyer for Bobby Virk made a big deal out of one of the facts that BC Rail Directors attended several hockey games, Vancouver Canucks hockey games, paid for by CIBC World Markets, and then the Directors sat down and decided on an untendered $6 million contract...... which was subsequently verified by the Executive Council of Gordon Campbell.
"The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) is considered to be the Province’s principal banker for interest rate reference purposes. As the need to determine the prime rate of the Province’s banker arises under various enactments and instruments across government, the historical record of CIBC’s prime lending rate can be referenced below. The rates are listed from 1974 and will be updated on a periodic basis. Please refer to CIBC's Web site for the most recent rate."
http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/PT/bcm/histrates.shtml
The really interesting thing about this page is this:
"View the Historical Effective Prime Rate table." http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/PT/bcm/ref/cibcHistoricalPrime.pdf
Another coincidence.... the 9% that is on the indemnity.... from the data above, on April 14, 2004, the going interest rate was 3.75%!!!!!
You probably want to know the source for the information above, eh......http://www.elections.bc.ca/docs/fin/407.pdf
Elections BC
Prime Interest Rates
The number of signatures required will be contained in written correspondence from Craig James to the proponent, so organizers will know exactly how many names they need. Nothing left to interpretation except verification. I would strongly suggest organizers aim for at least 50% more.
cheryl--
Understood....
It's that 'verification' thing that concerns me.
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