Renee Tyson wanted to give MLA Marc Dalton a piece of her mind Friday over his plan to check the names of those who signed the MLA recall petition last month.
While she wasn’t able to meet the politician, her letter and anger may have had the desired effect.
Dalton now says he won’t be checking the list.
He also corrected a News story from April 14 which said he made a Freedom of Information request to look at the petition.
“I have made no such request and I will not be examining the lists,” he said in a letter this week.
He didn’t return phone calls to provide further explanation.
In April, Dalton said that as an MLA, he had the right to see the lists and wanted to peruse the names, “just to get an idea of what was happening there.”
His letter also pointed out the public can view the recall sheets at the Elections B.C. office in Victoria, providing they sign a form saying they’ll abide by the Recall and Initiative Act and the Election Act.
Some names will have personal information obscured if they requested that from Elections B.C.
About 2,500 people signed the petition earlier this year in support of the Done with Dalton campaign, part of the FightHST campaign intended to target vulnerable Liberal MLAs over the tax introduced last July.
The campaign was called off after incoming Premier Christy Clark announced a mail-in referendum will take place June 24.
Using a cane and carrying file folders and letters, Tyson said her “main reason for coming here is just to make Mr. Dalton know how I feel.”
Tyson signed the recall petition as well as last year’s anti-HST petition and is an NDP supporter, although she didn’t work on either petition campaign.
Done With Dalton volunteers Corisa Bell and Wilf McIntyre accompanied her to the office on Friday.
On Tuesday, McIntyre was happy with Dalton’s reversal.
“I’m happy to hear that he’s not being vindictive to people that have a democratic right to do what we’re doing.”
That will help with future petitions so people won’t be afraid to sign them, McIntyre pointed out.
“These things are not personal situations. He’s not representing the constituents, that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
But she says Dalton took the recall campaign personally.
“All we were doing is exercising our democratic right to voice our opposition with regard to what he was doing to support the HST.”
Tyson said she wasn’t worried about people seeing her name on the list. “But I want to know what is his purpose in wanting to see those names?”