Canvassing underway for recall of Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie

Canvassing officially started Thursday in the recall campaign to remove controversial Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie from office.

Elections BC said it would issue the petition against Brodie on May 21, after approving an application that says Brodie is unfit to represent the riding.

The campaign is being spearheaded by Dorothy Cumming.

“At its core this is about giving voters the opportunity to choose someone they believe is fit for office and reflects the values and needs of the community,” said Cumming.

Cumming is a resident of Vancouver-Quilchena, but despite living in the riding, Cumming provided Elections BC with a mailing address in Langley—one that matches Imagine Surrey.

Imagine Surrey is a municipal party running former NDP legislator Mike Starchuk as a candidate for that city’s mayoralty.

Scott Williams, campaign manager for Imagine Surrey, said the party’s financial agent Cindy Dalglish was involved in the Brodie recall, but Imagine Surrey is “not paying for, subsidizing, staffing, or otherwise supporting any other campaign.”

“To be clear: we have no involvement whatsoever in the Vancouver-Quilchena recall petition. None” said Williams in an email to CTV News.

When asked about the mailing address provided at a press conference in Vancouver Thursday, Cumming said she “was nervous.”

“Another person stepped forward so that the public would only get my name and I was able to use another address and phone number,” she said.

Cumming did not specify that the address was associated with Dalglish.

The campaign to remove Brodie from office will have until July 20 to collect the necessary 15,232 signatures to remove her and trigger a byelection, something no previous recall petition has ever achieved.

Brodie was elected as a B.C. Conservative but was kicked out after then-leader John Rustad said she had mocked residential school survivors. Brodie now sits in the legislature as an Independent.

Steve Scwithultxw is one of the canvassers for the recall and a survivor of the residential school system.

“Mocking our real experience and hurtful comments that continue to this day and this conduct does not belong in British Columbia politics”, said Scwithultxw at a press conference Thursday.

B.C. has never seen a successful recall

Stewart Prest is a political scientist and professor at the University of British Columbia, and said there are not set criteria that need to be met for a recall to be initiated.

“It’s not like an impeachment process or anything like that. It’s just an expression of voters feeling they’ve been let down by their MLA and they would like to replace them,” he explained.

Prest noted the process has never been successful in B.C.’s political history and he is not confident about the latest effort given how many constituents have to get on board.

“They tend to not have a lot of grassroots support and the number is a high number—40 per cent of the total electors in a riding. We don’t always get that many people voting in a given election”, explained Prest.

If Cumming and her canvassers do succeed in gathering signatures, according to Prest, Elections BC would then need to verify that the names are eligible voters.

“It is going to require a significant effort to actually cross that threshold. So, these are the kids of things to watch as the petition unfolds”, said Prest.

The recall bid says Brodie prioritized starting a new political party over the needs of her constituents in Vancouver-Quilchena and local priorities like affordability, health care, and community services.

CTV reached out to Dallas Brodie’s office for comment but did not hear back by deadline.

In a statement posted on social media last week, Brodie welcomed the recall attempt, saying she supports the right to recall politicians in B.C. and has participated in an attempt to recall Premier David Eby in the past.

“Let the chips fall where they may! I stand by by everything I have said and done and will never stop fighting for the truth or for representation of the 98 per cent of British Columbians who are NOT being represented in this province,” the post reads, in part.

With files from the Canadian Press