Acting chief electoral officer Craig James was mistaken when he decided not to send the citizens’ initiative petition against the HST and its accompanying bill to a legislative committee, according to one of Canada’s preeminent and most experienced constitutional scholars.
“[James’] statement [relayed via petition organizer Bill Vander Zalm] that it would be disrespectful of the courts for him to pass the petition to the legislative committee is just nonsense,” said 86-year-old Ted McWhinney, who has advised Canadian prime ministers dating back to John Diefenbaker as well as various premiers, foreign heads of state and the United Nations.
McWhinney also served two terms as the Liberal MP for Vancouver Quadra in the 1990s.
“I’ve never heard a stranger theory,” McWhinney told Business in Vancouver. “Parliament is at least a coordinate authority to the courts. I would have said the courts might want to withhold any action until they see what the legislature was disposed to do.”
B.C.’s Recall and Initiative Act lays out the ground rules for petitions.
It notes that the chief electoral officer has 42 days to verify petition signatures; criteria which James met.
The act then states that “if the chief electoral officer determines that the initiative petition meets the requirements, the chief electoral officer must send a copy of the petition and draft bill to the committee."
The act does not say when the chief electoral officer must send the bill to committee only that it must happen.
“[James] is on dangerous ground,” McWhinney said. “If he has any political connections, it’s a disaster for the premier. I wonder if there was pressure on him. I wouldn’t think Gordon Campbell would put pressure on him.”
B.C.’s lieutenant governor typically appoints the chief electoral officer on the advice of an all-party committee of the legislature.
However, Attorney General Mike de Jong appointed James to the post of acting chief electoral officer after former chief electoral officer Harry Neufeld finished his term in June.
Vander Zalm attacked Elections BC August 11 after, he said, it told him that the citizen’s initiative against the HST passed the necessary threshold for signatories but would not be passed to a legislative committee until all outstanding court challenges were resolved.