Kelowna MLA recall campaign delayed due to lack of funding and volunteers

Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong has been staring down the threat of a recall campaign for months, but now that threat has taken a step back.

The Recall Armstrong campaign released an open letter explaining why it hasn’t filed a petition to oust Armstrong from office today, Sept. 8. The letter explains the need for hundreds of volunteers and $20,000 to have a hope for success.

“We have learned, from other recall campaigns, what we will need in order to give our petition a real shot at success. That is over $20,000 in donations, 200 volunteer canvassers, and support from community organizations,” the letter to supporters reads.

There are already dozens of volunteers signed up to go door-to-door collecting signatures and thousands of dollars raised for the effort. But, the potential petition filer and campaign organizer John Plant told iNFOnews.ca that it isn’t enough.

“Our leadership team recognized that we need to have more volunteers, more money, and a bit more structure in place if we’re going to be successful,” he said.

The campaign was allowed to file a petition in April, but it has been delayed several times. It is unclear when exactly the petition might be filed at this point.

Plant said some supporters understand the decision while others are frustrated by the delay and want a petition filed this fall.

Even though the petition doesn’t have a date, the campaign isn’t giving up.

“Make no mistake, based on your record to date, we remain steadfast in our belief that you should be removed from power because of your actions,” the open letter from the campaign reads.

Armstrong’s time in office has been mired in controversy. She has made headlines for starting a new political party which increased her pay, attempting to repeal the BC Human Rights Code, repeatedly attacking the transgender community and more. Those controversies spurred the recall campaign.

B.C. has the Recall and Initiative Act which allows voters to pull an MLA out of office if enough voters sign a petition. There have been many recall petitions filed but none have been successful because the requirements are steep.

To recall Armstrong from office the campaign would need to collect at least 18,000 signatures from voters in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream in person in 60 days.

Armstrong’s former OneBC partner-turned-adversary MLA Dallas Brodie had a recall petition filed against her earlier this year, but it failed to collect enough signatures. The Brodie campaign had 118 registered canvassers collecting signatures and it managed to get 3,663 out of the 15,232 needed to oust Brodie and force a byelection.

Plant said the team opposing Armstrong is learning from what happened there.

“To get the feedback from them on what worked and what didn’t work was very helpful,” he said.

Armstrong’s office did not promptly respond to a request for comment for this story.

“I’m not afraid to talk to the media, unlike our representative,” Plant said.