British Columbia's New Democrat Opposition believes the rules may not have been followed when former Liberal premier Gordon Campbell was granted one of the province's top honours.

NDP house leader John Horgan said his inbox has been filled with comments from citizens who are wondering if the Order of B.C. was granted too soon.

"The nomination (deadline) was the eleventh of March. Mr. Campbell was a member of the legislature on the fifteenth of March, that strikes me as out of order," Horgan said Tuesday.

The rules say sitting politicians aren't eligible to receive the Order of B.C., Horgan said.

But a government spokeswoman says the rules apply to the date of the appointment, not the nomination, and Campbell was appointed to the Order of B.C. on Friday, Sept. 2.

"A person who is an elected federal, provincial or municipal representative is not eligible to be appointed as member of the order while that person remains in office," reads Section 17 of the Provincial Symbols and Honours Act.

Horgan has sent a letter to the Speaker of the B.C. legislature asking him to explain the nomination process.

Several hundred people have signed an online petition saying Campbell isn't eligible or doesn't deserve the honour.

Campbell is on the list of 14 to receive the 2011 Order of British Columbia.

The list also includes Child Find B.C. president Crystal Dunahee, whose son vanished in 1991, former member of Parliament David Emerson and Jim Robson, the long-time voice of the Vancouver Canucks.

In announcing the recipients last week, the government news release said Campbell has been an exemplary British Columbian in education, business and public service.

Campbell announced his resignation as premier last year in the wake of the highly unpopular implementation of the harmonized sales tax.

He was replaced by Premier Christy Clark in February and resigned his Point Grey seat as a member of the legislative assembly in March.

In August, 54 per cent of British Columbians voted against the HST in a referendum.

The province will now go back to the old system of a separate provincial sales tax and the goods and services tax.