British Columbia Refederation Party
The B.C. Refederation Party ("RefedBC") is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada advocating Direct Democracy and reform to Canadian federalism. It was formed shortly after the 2000 federal election as the Western Independence Party of British Columbia with an explicit western separatist platform; it later renamed itself as the Western Refederation Party of British Columbia before ultimately adopting its current name.
The party has since slightly changed its focus; it now hopes to force changes to the way that British Columbia is governed within Canada. BC Refederation believes in the collective wisdom of the people of BC and believes that nothing initiated by the citizens should be restricted including being allowed a provincial referendum on political independence from Canada for British Columbia if desired by the public.
The B.C. Refederation Party argues that there are three constitutional flaws in Canada. The first, that there exists no confederation document approved democratically. The second, that there exists no democratically achieved constitutional documents federally or provincially and the third, that there is no constitutional basis for the federal governments rights to collect income tax.
As the Western Refederation Party of British Columbia, RefedBC nominated four candidates in the 2005 provincial election, who won a total of 653 votes (0.039% of the popular vote across the province):
- Bruce Ryder won 275 votes (0.90% of the total) in Nanaimo-Parksville,
- Linden Robert Shaw won 168 votes (0.69%) in Nanaimo
- Allen McIntyre won 149 votes (0.62%) in Powell River-Sunshine Coast, and
- Mel Garden won 61 votes (0.21%) in Comox Valley.
Party program
The goals of the B.C. Refederation Party are contained in a three-step plan.
- Enact direct democracy to immediately empower the citizens of BC to control politicians and The Political Process.
- Create a citizen designed and ratified written constitution that will entrench the rights of citizens and clearly define the rights of citizens over government.
- Regain areas of former provincial control from the federal government. This combined with the application of direct democracy principles will amount to a re-federation. This does not mean separation.
See also
- List of British Columbia political parties