Tuesday, November 23, 2010 About 150 Garibaldi students took a vow of silence to help build a school in Sierra Leone?
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Maple Ridge goes medieval Jim Welch (aka Baron James Wolfton), teaches Alexys Murphy (aka Alexandra Jones) how to hold and fire a traditional crossbow during the Antioch Invitational in the Albion Fairgrounds on Saturday. The event was a meeting of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a non-profit group focused on preserving and re-enacting pre-17th century life. SCA events are usually closed to the public, but the Antioch Invitational, an event meant to capture the interest of potential members, was open to all – the first of its kind in B.C. Organizer Mary Kittel said she hopes it will become an annual event. See story page A23.
Mitch Thompson/TIMES
Politics
Dalton expected on February recall list Local organizers have enlisted 160 volunteers to help collect signatures for the recall initiative. by Maria Rantanen mrantanen@mrtimes.com
Plans are afoot to launch a recall campaign against Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Marc Dalton in February 2011. Recall organizers for the Maple RidgeMission riding are compiling lists of people who will canvas for signatures in an attempt to have Dalton ousted and have set Feb. 28 as the date to put in an application for recall. “We’re very confident we’ll be successful with the recall campaign,” said Corisa Bell, campaign organizer for the riding. Currently they have about 160 canvassers lined up to start collecting names when the application is put in. After the
recall campaign begins, the organizers have 60 days to collect signatures. They will need to collect signatures from 40 per cent of registered voters from the riding, and plan to do so between Feb. 28 and April 30, 2011. Dalton is part of phase four of the recall campaign. The first phase began yesterday in an initiative to recall Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong. The goal of the recall campaign is to pressure the government to push up the HST referendum, currently set for Sept. 24, 2011, but Bell said the campaign is about much more than just opposition to the new tax. “It’s so much bigger than that,” she said. “HST was just the beginning.” Other issues people have raised concerns about are the BC Rail scandal and the suspension of the 15 per cent tax break, which Premier Gordon Campbell promised just a couple weeks ago. “People are just upset with the Liberal
party,” Bell said. Dalton, however, said the recall campaign is “NDP-driven” with people from the New Democrats working in the background. “A lot of the impetus is coming from the NDP,” he said. This is destabilizing for government and democracy, he added. “Recall was meant to recall someone who’s totally incompetent ... (who’s) transMarc Dalton gressing law,” he said. Dalton said he wants Maple Ridge-Mission MLA to keep working for his constituents until the fixed election date of May 2013. “That’s the time I can be judged on my record,” he said. Dalton pointed out that the economy of the province is in good shape and it’s an
“exciting time” for the province. A strong economy means more people in B.C. have jobs and are financially better off. “It’s really about the little guy, the senior citThis izen, the person on the story first street,” he said. Maple Ridge-Pitt appeared Meadows NDP MLA as Michael Sather disagreed with Dalton, saying the breaking recall campaign is being news at driven by the same www. people who organized the anti-HST petition and mrtimes. not the NDP. com If the recall campaign goes ahead, he would only be involved at a “low-level.” Sather doesn’t plan to attend any rallies to support recall, adding that he respects Dalton and doesn’t want to embarrass him. “I’m not a dirty fighter,” Sather said.
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