Has Elections BC Gone Outside Their Mandate? Are They Messing With Legislation?

The following post is from Bill Tielemans' Blog

Paul said...

Proof that Elections BCadded "Number of words in proponent statement" on November 24 Below is technical proof, this clause was added on November 23, 2010, AFTER the submission of the recall application. Technical Proof! This shows two Google snapshots of the Elections BC recall page. November 23, 2010 snapshot E. Recall petition application package: It is recommended that anyone planning to apply for a recall petition carefully study the forms and guides listed below before making an application. The application package contains: The "Number of words in proponent statement" link does not exist in the November 23 snapshot. The page on November 25, 2010 clearly shows the Number of words in proponent statement link. They placed this new link right in the middle of the original five links probably thinking that no one would notice the difference. Furthermore, there was a new folder created on November 24th beneath the Elections BC "/docs/" folder called "rcl/" A new .PDF document created on November 24, 2010 2:51 PM containing the new clause was placed into this new folder. The definitions of what counts as a word were obviously changed sometime between the filing and the rejecting of this Recall Petition. Craig James was obviously ordered to find something wrong with the application. What other monkey wrench is Craig James going to throw into the works after everything is re-submitted? People try to play by the rules and this Campbell anointed clown changes them. He's supposed to be appointed by an all party commitee not just the Campbell Liberals. Spread the link. The first commenter asks the question: This seems anti-democratic to the point of possibly being criminal. If this requirement were changed on November 24th as some are claiming does this deserve a criminal investigation? Or is that reserved for fictitious crimes against back decks?

 

(Gary E)How anyone in this province can believe that Elections BC is not being manipulate by this government is beyond me.

Why is it taking so long for the MSM to report these findings? Or are they going to report them at all? What kind of spin will Palmer and Baldry put on this? How will they make it look like it's the NDP's fault? Or for that matter the fault of the people of BC?

Is Democracy Being Subverted By a Corrupt Government and a Complicit Police Force?

Robin Mathews reporting from the Vancouver Courthouse on the adjustments today to Dave Basis sentence in the Legislature Raids had the following to report.


"Indeed, outside the Law Courts the massed media waiting to hear from Bill Vanderzalm and his team about the HST and the Recall Campaign, found themselves (willingly) addressed by Michael Geoghegan, a consultant from Victoria.  Describing himself as a concerned citizen and a friend of Dave Basi and a card-carrying member of the Liberal Party, Mr. Geoghegan stated his belief that there was going to be a grab ... by government ...for the evidentiary documentation produced  in the process of the pre-trial and trial processes.

Mr. Geoghegan said that the material should stay in hands that can make it available to a Public Inquiry - or for any other reasonable use to which the public wants it put."

And this from Bill Tieleman


Outside court political commentator Michael Geoghegan, a Basi friend, said the RCMP pressuring Basi to cooperate in what he said is their intention to regain evidence from the trial in his possession and destroy it, jeopardizing a possible public inquiry.
Now I don't know about my readers but if this is in the works I alledge it is tantamount to treason
In this country there is no room for this type of subversion. A complete and thorough investigation should be immediately launched into these allegations. Further a Court injunction should be sought  to lock this evidence into the hands of the people.

If this type of subversion is allowed to go ahead (if true) we in this country are in deep trouble. Very deep trouble.
I don't know anything about Mr. Geoghegan. It matters not to me, nor should it to you if he is pulling our leg so to speak but if these allegations are not investigated immediately there will be severe consequences to those involved. I believe the people of this province have had enough from this government. The time for Liberal MLA's to resign en masse is now, or face recall.

Further if there is no reporting of this in the mainstream media everyone in the province should be writing them and demanding to know why it is not being reported.

HST Extinuishment Question Loaded

 I have commented in various birdcage liners on the loaded question of removing the HST with this:

"In conjunction" is the problem here. That's what we have now. Hundreds of items that were not previously charged PST have been added to the GST, "in conjunction". This wording is completely unacceptable. A return to the old system is the only question we should have. Fair taxation for all. Businesses and the electorate alike.

And in The Tyee with this:

What kind of fools do they think we are in this province?
“Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) and reinstating the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) in conjunction with the GST Goods and Services Tax? Yes/No.”
The operative word in this statement is where the problem lies.
Conjunction:n. union, simultaneous happening.
Simultaneous: a.occurring at the same time.
Written like this it tells you that we will be keeping the status quo, and that's unacceptable.
The only way we can accept a question is if it is written "Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST and reinstating the system used prior to the HST system now being used?
In other words put it back the way it was. If you want to change the tax system just make sure that the taxation is fair. Not being forced on the backs of the citizens.

With the question the way it is written there is definitely going to be a recall.

 An anonymous commentor in the Province online came up with the best question I have seen yet:

"are you in favor of the HST being repealed and the PST and GST reimplemented in the exact form that that existed PRIOR to the HST?"

Simple straight forward yes or no question.

On this day of Remembrance I will be going to the local cenotaph to remember as I always do, those who fought, were wounded, died, and some whose mindsets were forever altered in war.
I remember, because what they died for was my freedom. Freedom to express myself in any manner I chose. Not to be muzzled by tyrants. Free to chose, and vote for a elected representative in government to do the bidding of their constituents. In BC, free to recall any representative who does not do the bidding of their constituents.
I will also never forget the 90 % of the population of this province who backed my expression of opinion on what is going on in this province.
That is what I do on Remembrance day. It's my gift. Today I am 66 years old and I will never forget.

And I will always be grateful to the many people who blog on the internet who backed my "freedom to express myself" and say what others were thinking.

Bloggers like: BC Mary at the legislature raids
                   : Kootcoot at the House of Infamy
                   :Grant G at The straight Goods
                   : Ross K The Gazetteer
                   : Lea at Sister Sage Musings
                   : Laila Yuile
And many many more that I didn't get time to look at because of the pressures brought on my endeavors.

Commentors on my blog like Lea, Lynn, North Van Grumps, cherylincanada.
These are people that help bring news that the mainstream media doesn't want you to know. We can only guess at the reason but they are running scared. Just listen to the labels they put on bloggers.
WE SHALL OVERCOME.

Delaneys' Response to Elections BC Heavy Handed Letter

For anyone who doesn't read the Fight HST site here is Chris Delaneys response to the letter sent out by the supposedly independent Elections BC

Elections BC intimidating voters and wasting police time

VANCOUVER – Fight HST is questioning why Elections BC has taken action against a small number of individuals who may have inadvertently or accidentally signed the citizens Initiative petition to eliminate the Harmonized Sales Tax twice.

Fight HST is concerned that both the timing of Elections BC’s threatening letters to citizens and disclosing to the media that they have asked the RCMP to investigate the actions of seven registered canvassers may negatively affect Fight HST’s Recall campaign against BC Liberal MLAs.
y Elections B
“Elections BC has completely overreacted to the 1/3 of 1% of the 705,643 voter signatures obtained in the historic Fight HST citizens Initiative campaign that were somehow duplicates,” said Fight HST lead organizer Chris Delaney. “Sending intimidating letters to voters who made an honest mistake is incredibly heavy handed and wrong.”

Delaney said Fight HST will cooperate with the RCMP, but questions why news of the investigation was given to media without informing anti-HST proponent Bill Vander Zalm, and only a week before Fight HST is set to announce which BC Liberal MLAs will be the first subject to Recall campaigns.

“The Chief Electoral Officer has had this information for months, but only now decided to release it to the police and media? That is especially perplexing given that Elections BC told us from the beginning that if any signatures were accidentally duplicated, the extra signature would simply be discarded since all signatures had to be validated in their process.”

“Now they are acting like some people intentionally tried to deceive them. That is ridiculous. We have been inundated with emails from upset people all over BC saying that if they signed twice it was in an attempt to correct their address, or to put their formal name in place of a nick name," said Delaney.

Delaney said if any individual intentionally broke the rules they agreed to obey, then they should be held to account. "However, it is hard to imagine anyone deliberately duplicating a name, since all the canvassers knew that any invalid signatures would be discarded anyway. There was nothing to be gained by doing it."

Delaney said Elections BC is making a mountain out of a molehill, especially given that Acting Chief Electoral Officer Craig James has already stated that the potential infractions do not invalidate the Initiative.

“Ordinary citizens did the extraordinary by volunteering and signing to make this the first-ever successful citizens Initiative in Canada,” Delaney said. “Attempting to make this into CSI Victoria is an unnecessary scare tactic and a waste of police