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Recall support a bold step

When you consider how much scrutiny and citizen disapproval our current city council has endured, endorsing recall at the local government level is a brave move.
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Penticton Western News editorial.

When you consider how much scrutiny and citizen disapproval our current city council has endured, endorsing recall at the local government level is a brave move.

The idea was endorsed at a Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention two years ago, but the provincial government declined to take action on the recommendation. Elevena Slump recently asked Penticton City Council to renew the call for recall.

But the resolution city staff suggested council endorse would have made local recall even more difficult than at the provincial level, adding approval from an integrity commissioner to the requirements.

Council, to their credit, said that wasn’t good enough, and created their own resolution, asking simply for the province to develop a recall process for local elected officials.

Recall is a tricky thing. The concept of being able to check an out-of-control politician is a positive; for instance, some U.S. voters may be rethinking which box they should have ticked to elect a new president.

But recall is also open to manipulation, with politicians facing recall movements from people with an ax to grind or other petty reasons to attack the person selected through the electoral process.

No MLAs have been recalled under B.C.’s current legislation, but if similar requirements were brought to the local government level, a very different picture might result. It might be tough in a large city, and a mid-size city like Penticton might only need 13,000 signatures to initiate recall, but in some small communities, as few as 100 signatures could swing it.

It shouldn’t be easy to recall a politician at any level, but it should be possible. Easy recall would make governing impossible, with elected officials unable to make long-term plans, but citizens need a way to prevent politicians from going too far.

That may be more true at the local level, where council decisions touch the daily life of every citizen. And who knows, the possibility of recalling a council might give citizens more confidence in the system.