In 1990, a grey-haired, fiery politician named Bill Vander Zalm used every platform to preach the message of giving power back to the people.
That summer, the European immigrant, turned-botanist, turned-businessman, turned-politician, turned-B.C. premier, passed a law allowing provincial governments to put questions to the public through referendums, and promised more direct democracy would follow.
Vander Zalm left the premier's office amid scandal before the first such referendum the following October, -- held alongside a provincial election that tossed his Social Credit party from office -- asking the public whether they wanted to be able to remove sitting politicians from office.
The referendum passed, and it wasn't long before British Columbians were given the right to recall their politicians -- a concept that has been scrutinized by politicians in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba, but repeatedly rejected as an interference in their elected term.
More than two decades after Vander Zalm sowed the seeds for B.C.'s recall legislation, he is leading the campaign to use it to remove at least three Liberal politicians over the introduction of the HST.
Activists see recall legislation as a fundamental right to hold elected officials accountable. Academics see it as an inefficient and ineffective path to good governance.
One observer says what's going in British Columbia now will make it even less likely for recall laws to be enacted elsewhere
But all agree on one thing: The only way such legislation could ever be implemented in other provinces is the replication of B.C.'s political climate in the 1990s.
The debate over the recall initiative was put to a vote in B.C. during the 1991 provincial election, with 80 per cent of voters saying Yes.
But the current Recall and Initiative Act, introduced and passed by the NDP government nearly three years later, wasn't born out of the referendum, said Dennis Pilon, political science professor at University of Victoria.
"These things don't come about because the public want them," said Dennis Pilon, a political science professor at the University of Victoria.
"They usually come about because they serve some political purpose."
When the Social Credit government, then led by Rita Johnston, announced the referendum questions days before launching the 1991 election campaign, the party was embroiled in scandal,.
The SoCreds were "grasping for some sort of populous issue that they thought would save them," said Pilon. "In the end, the public said 'Thanks for that referendum but good-bye SoCreds."'
B.C. was left with a new political instrument, which Pilon said would not have been offered up under different circumstances.
In Alberta, Paul Hinman of the Wildrose Alliance Party, has been pushing a private members' bill to give Alberta the legislation. It has failed once and on Nov. 22, he introduced it again, but he's not holding his breath.
"It severely limits their (politicians') ability to push something through that is controversial."
In lobbying for his bill's passage, Hinman cites B.C. as an example of how successful the process is.
But Manitoba's opposition Liberal Party leader, Jon Gerrard, suggested the situation in British Columbia is giving him pause.
His party will push for a voter recall law as part of its platform in the October 2011 provincial elections.
"Politicians have been nervous about the recall initiative and those who are, are watching very closely what's happening in B.C.," Gerrard said.
"When I had initially envisioned voter recall, it was to hold MLAs or MPs doing bad things accountable, but if you are trying to change the government that is a different concept."
Former Toronto mayoral candidate, Rocco Rossi, had a voter recall initiative as part of his political platform in this year's municipal elections.
He withdrew from the mayoral race and the idea has since faded in Ontario. The province's premier, Dalton McGuinty, has often spoken out against recall legislation.
In fact, no one in British Columbia has ever been recalled under the act.
Stan Gauthier came close.
After news in 1998 that Liberal Paul Reitsma was sending media laudatory letters about himself under a fictional pen name, Gauthier organized a campaign to recall the Parksville-Qualicum representative.
Gauthier was successful in getting 25 per cent above the required number of signatures, but "Elections BC allowed Reitsma to resign thereby stealing history from us," Gauthier recalled.
In organizing the recall campaign, Gauthier had one rule for those on the team: "No political aspirations. That was the one clause."
For Gauthier, this wasn't about political preference, "it was about ethics."
Gauthier said it is too early to label the current initiative to recall Liberal MLAs over the HST as a success.
"If there is political appetite or aspirations among those involved, that is the main distinguishment between abuse of the process and good use."
If Vander Zalm was trying to trail blaze in those early days with promises of direct democracy, Pilon said his leadership of the recall campaign ongoing now could lead to the ultimate failure of that original goal.
"What's happening in B.C. right now, I think it turns politicians away from it (recall legislation)," said Pilon.
