AAP in Prince George – A victory for local democracy
Monday, April 30, 2012 @ 3:44 AM
By Peter Ewart & Dawn Hemingway
The citizens of Prince George, BC, have won a victory in the struggle for democratic process at the municipal level. Volunteers from all walks of life and political persuasions worked together to force Prince George City Council to either give up its plan to fund a controversial dike on River Road or put it to a city-wide referendum.
Under the provincially-mandated Alternative Approval Process (AAP), citizen volunteers were required to collect 5351 signatures (10% of eligible voters) in a few weeks time and submit them to City Hall in order to succeed in blocking the funding for the dike. On April 26, the count was announced. Citizen volunteers had collected an astounding 9,271 signatures. As Eric Allen, a key organizer, commented: “That [number] represents a lot of work by a lot of people. They did a terrific job.”
People signed the Electoral Response Forms for a variety of reasons. Many were concerned about the City running up its debt load unnecessarily. Others felt that the City had its priorities wrong, and should be focusing on repairing city roads which are in terrible shape. Still others questioned whether a dike of this nature would even work.
But underlying these reasons, a profound principle was at work; namely that citizens want more of a say, more of a share in decision-making, and more control over what their political representatives do. Far too often, voters elect political representatives only to be hit with a surprise attack or find out that there was a hidden agenda all along.
For example, in the November election, the mayor and various councillors promised voters that the terrible shape of city roads would be a priority in the new Council. There was no mention of the River Road dike as being a priority of any kind.
Yet within a couple of months of being elected, City Council failed to address the already grossly inadequate road repair budget and, instead, was proposing to spend $6.05 million for the River Road dike.
A similar thing happened in the last provincial election, where the Campbell Liberal government assured voters that it was not planning to bring in a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), but, indeed, sprung it on voters just two months later. This sparked an unprecedented response among British Columbians who, using the provincial Initiative and Recall legislation, were able to defeat the new tax.
And then there is the federal government. During last spring’s federal election, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives did not put forward in their election platform anything about raising the Old Age Pension eligibility age from 65 to 67. Yet just 9 months afterward, at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Harper announced to the business tycoons in attendance that the eligibility age was, in fact, going to be raised after all.
Voters do not like this kind of “surprise attack” politics, and want mechanisms to have more of a say over major decisions made by their elected representatives. That is why over 80% of British Columbians voted to adopt the Initiative and Recall mechanism back in 1991. And it is also why the provincial government – in an attempt to placate municipal voters – brought in the Alternative Approval Process.
Yet both mechanisms are deeply flawed, and very difficult for voters to use effectively. Indeed, the politicians who drafted the Initiative and Recall legislation openly admitted that they were making it as hard as possible for voters to utilize. In regards to the AAP, it was originally set up to require just 5% of eligible voters for it to come into play. When voters began to use it all over the province to have a say on funding proposals brought in by municipal councils, the province turned around and raised the threshold to 10% – a much more difficult bar to reach.
Contrary to what some politicians are claiming, both the successful HST Initiative last year and the recent successful Prince George AAP were achieved in spite of the stringent and cumbersome rules governing these mechanisms, not because these rules work well for voters. These successes reflect the depth of voter anger more than anything else.
All of this underscores the need for new and better voter empowerment processes at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. We live in times when voters want more of a say and more of share in decision-making. Elected representatives should embrace this trend, not spurn or block it.
Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
Comments
The question is, how do we recall city council! :-)
“We live in times when voters want more of a say and more of share in decision-making.”
I would agree, as long as the extent of the decision making involves signing a petition. Ask people to actually get involved or show up to a meeting and you’ll have a hard time finding anybody.
A lot of voters work… some 50-60 hours a week. I for one am grateful for those volunteers that do have the time to help keep our politicians in line and uphold our democratic principles on our behalf. I just wish we had a fund available for the volunteers to access to cover some of the related costs they incur out of their own pocket to ensure we have an opportunity to have our voices heard.
Congratulations to Eric Allen and all how collected signatures, and also to all those who signed the petition, demonstrating faith in the system. Petition is a central component in participatory democracy.
Having said that, beware the internet petition. They have no legal status, unlike the real thing.
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