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The British Columbia Recall and Initiative Referendum was a referendum held in British Columbia on October 17, 1991. It was concurrent with that year's general election. The referendum posed two questions. They were on whether elected officials should be able to be recalled and whether voters should be given a citizen's initiative. Both questions were decisively approved with over 80% of the electorate voting yes to both questions. ==Lead up== British Columbia has had several referendums in its history. A previous bill, the ''Direct Legislation Act'', was passed by the Oliver government in 1919. the ''Direct Democracy Act'' was given royal assent in March of that year, but was never proclaimed. A similar statute was struck down by the Manitoba Court of Appeals later that year. These combined to leave the BC law in legislative limbo until it was removed in a 1924 statute consolidation. A promise to hold referendums was included in the British Columbia Social Credit Party (Socred) government's speech from the throne in April 1990. In preparation, the Socreds had invited two experts from California familiar with recall and initiative to their annual convention. Appropriate legislation was introduced on July 5, 1990. The two questions were:
Both of the questions were announced by Premier Rita Johnston during a news conference on September 5, 1991, although by then they were an open secret. NDP leader Mike Harcourt criticized the timing, saying that the Socreds had moved too slowly in launching the proposals.〔 Liberal leader Gordon Wilson also criticized the referendum, saying that it was intended to divert attention away from the scandal-plagued Socreds. In response, Johnston said she could not comment on either timing or structure for the proposals because they would be decided after the referendum.〔 The referendum was run by Attorney-General Russ Fraser. The total cost was 1.7 million dollars. The cost includes information pamphlets, advertising, toll-free information telephone lines, and costs related to running the referendum.〔 The referendum also got caught up in the campaign going on at the same time. Both Premier Johnston and British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Harcourt announced that they would be voting yes in the referendum.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Columbia recall and initiative referendum, 1991」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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