Petition to recall B.C. Premier David Eby fails

An effort to recall B.C. Premier David Eby as the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey has failed after the petition was not submitted by the March 20 deadline, according to Elections BC.

The petition was issued to proponent Salvatore Vetro on Jan. 17, and a total of 271 voters registered as canvassers to collect signatures. 

For their petition to be successful, petitioners would have needed to collect a total of 16,449 signatures from voters in Eby's electoral district who were eligible to vote in the last election in 2020.

If they had met that threshold – representing 40 per cent of the riding's electorate – then Elections BC would have had 42 days to validate the signatures.

It's rare for recall petitions to get that far in B.C.

Since the Recall and Initiative Act was adopted in 1995, there have been 29 recall petitions issued in the province.

One – in Peace River North – is currently ongoing. Canvassers there have until April 4 to gather 10,487 signatures. 

Of the remaining 28 recall petitions, only six have been returned to Elections BC for signature verification. Five of those six did not have enough valid signatures, while the sixth was halted during the verification process because the member of the legislature the petition was targeting resigned.

Two of the province's previous recall petitions have been issued in Vancouver-Point Grey, both of them targeting former BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell, one in 1998 and one in 2003. Each time, the petition was not returned by the deadline, according to Elections BC.

Eby, Vetro and advertising sponsors now have until April 17 to file financial disclosure reports relating to the recall campaign with B.C.'s chief electoral officer.