Local Liberal MLA Marc Dalton wants to personally check every one of the 2,000 or so signatures on the failed petition to recall him.
Why bother?
The Done with Dalton campaign collected between 2,000 and 2,500 signatures before folding its tents several weeks ago because organizers said they wanted to refocus their efforts on the HST mail-in vote on June 24. They maintain that if they had continued, they would have collected the required 14,882 signatures to remove Dalton as MLA for Maple Ridge-Mission.
The short-lived campaign was, as one would expect, bitter, with Dalton supporters claiming it was driven by NDP members. Recall organizers publicly denied that.
Now Dalton is using the Freedom of Information process to access the petition to review every name on it.
What good that will do, we don’t know, but it makes us feel uneasy, our MLA snooping around to see who doesn’t like him.
Would it surprise anyone if a few of the names were false, or that some are those who support the New Democrat Party, or the reborn B.C. Conservatives?
No.
And so what? The campaign is over. Even Dalton said it was falling short. He is still going to have to defend the HST, as well as his first-term record.
Going over all those names – whether it’s him or a host of volunteers – seems a grand waste of time.
And what is his motive for doing so?
Is he going to call all of them, try to change their minds, explain the merits of the HST, apologize for how it was introduced, try to win their votes?
Good luck, but don’t call at dinner time.
Surely some voters might feel that the portion of their taxes that pays Dalton’s salary could be better spent, that he could be attending to other constituency matters.
But if Dalton wants to do this on his own time, rather than, say, watch the Canucks cup run, then go for it.
– The News