You're fired! (recalling politicians).

What can you do if the person you elect turns out to be a total dud? The answer, unless you live in British Columbia, is not much until the next election. B.C. is the only province to have a law that allows voters to fire politicians before their term is up. (By early 1999, other provinces were thinking about similar laws.)

The British Columbian law says that if 40% or more of eligible voters in a riding sign a petition their Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) can be removed from office. A by-election would then be held to elect a replacement. The law was designed as a way of recalling and removing useless or crooked politicians.

In 1998, voters in the northern B.C. ridings of Prince George and Skeena started recall petitions against their New Democratic MLAs. If successful the recalls would have threatened the downfall of Premier Glen Clark's government which only had a three-seat majority. But, both recalls fell short of the number of signatures required.

Premier Clark claimed the two campaigns were abusing the intent of the recall law. There's a strong suspicion that organizers were using the recalls to re-fight the May 1996 election. During their campaign for re-election, the NDP government repeatedly claimed it had balanced the budget. Shortly after winning the election, the government said it had made a mistake and there was a budget deficit. Many voters concluded they had been lied to and some may have tried to unseat the government through the recall law.

However, the recall law has been used successfully. Paul Reitsma was the MLA for Parksville on Vancouver Island. In 1998, it was revealed he had written several letters to local newspapers using false names. Some letters praised Mr. Reitsma as a great guy, others trashed his political opponents. Disgusted voters started lining up to sign a recall petition. When it became obvious that Mr. Reitsma was going to be recalled he quit. A by-election replaced him.