Bill Vander Zalm

Last updated

In 1986, Premier Bennett announced he was retiring. Vander Zalm attracted considerable attention as he considered whether he would run for the leadership of the Social Credit Party. He generated more press from the race than the other candidates did. At the party's convention in Whistler, British Columbia, he prevailed over 11 other candidates by winning on the fourth ballot.

He was sworn in as premier just a month before the 1986 election. During the subsequent provincial election campaign, "Vandermania" swept BC, and the Socreds easily won another term over the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP).

Vander Zalm promised a fresh start after the confrontational Bennett years. Once gaining a seat in the legislature, Vander Zalm filled most of the cabinet slots with MLAs who had languished on the backbench under Bennett. Vander Zalm decided to release the normally secret list of cabinet appointments to two Vancouver Sun reporters hours before the official announcement was to be made. Under his watch, the Socred government took a more social conservative hue. This didn’t sit well with more moderate Socreds, who began drifting to the previously moribund Liberals--a trend that would haunt Vander Zalm's successors later.

On July 7, 1987, during the first session of the 34th Parliament, Vander Zalm's health minister Peter Dueck introduced the Health Statutes Amendment Act (Bill 34). [5] This bill specified quarantine procedures for individuals with “serious reportable communicable disease." [6] The bill was met with serious backlash and protest from HIV/AIDS activism groups like ACT UP, the Vancouver Lesbian Connection, and the Vancouver Persons With AIDS Coalition. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] The mobilization by activists in protest of the bill led to the formation of the Coalition for Responsible Health Legislation (CRHL) by Vancouver-based AIDS activists that led several actions for protest, but also education like safer sex workshops focused on preventing HIV transmission. [10] [11] The bill received Royal Assent on December 17, 1987, and was passed into law. The protests continued, but effort from the BC Civil Liberties Association shifted to the modification of the bill, rather than discarding it completely. [12]

The government of Premier Bill Vander Zalm refused to fund the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver and cited inappropriate usage of public resources. [13]

In 1988, after the Supreme Court of Canada decision of R vs Morgentaler, the provinces were now expected to cover abortion. Vander Zalm, chose not to extend provincial medical coverage to abortion by citing that abortions were an elective procedure and not medically necessary. [14] [15]

Vander Zalm became embroiled in an alleged conflict of interest controversy over the sale of his Fantasy Gardens flower garden and theme park. The conflict of interest arose because the Taiwanese buyer, Tan Yu, was provided VIP treatment by members of the Vander Zalm Government prior to the sale. Adding fuel to the fire, Faye Leung, a Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur and the woman who brokered the deal, claimed that Vander Zalm was a "bad man" since the day she first met him and secretly recorded conversations she had with him, which were subsequently leaked to the media. Faye Leung, for her part in the affair would later be convicted of four counts of secret commissions over 100k, and one count of theft over 45k, and two counts of fraud in 1995 by the BC Court of Appeals. [16]

Vander Zalm resigned in 1991 after a provincial conflict of interest report by Ted Hughes, found that he had mixed private business with his public office in the sale of the Gardens. He was charged with criminal breach of trust, but was acquitted in BC Supreme Court in 1992. The judge ruled that Vander Zalm had acted in a manner that was "foolish, ill-advised and in apparent or real conflict of interest or breach of ethics", but that the prosecution had not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. It was revealed that during the sale of Fantasy Gardens, Vander Zalm had accepted $20,000 payment in cash from Tan Yu, the buyer of Fantasy Gardens, to which Vander Zalm said he took "for innocent reasons relating to travel and expenses incurred." [17] [18] [19]

Vander Zalm was succeeded as premier by Deputy Premier Rita Johnston, who defeated McCarthy in the race to replace him as Socred leader. Contrary to popular belief that the party would thrive under new leadership, Social Credit collapsed to a distant third in the 1991 election, with the NDP returning to government and the Liberals becoming official opposition. The Social Credit Party were completely shut out of the legislature in the subsequent 1996 election and never again won seats.

Later career

Leadership of British Columbia Reform Party

Vander Zalm returned to politics in November 1999 when he was acclaimed as leader of the Reform Party of British Columbia. [20]

Shortly after, he ran for office by running in a December 1999 by-election in Delta South, but finished second, with 32.91% of the vote behind BC Liberal Party candidate Val Roddick, who received 59.63%, with the governing NDP finishing in a distant fourth place with just 2.44%, their worst showing ever.[ citation needed ]

He attempted to orchestrate a merger of the Reform Party with other right-wing parties, but ran into stiff opposition. Vander Zalm and supporters within the party would later merge with several other small right-wing parties to form the British Columbia Unity Party. The Reform Party was de-registered as a BC political party in 2001 and Vander Zalm retired from politics. He now lives in Ladner. [21]

Successful campaign against HST

Vander Zalm returned to the political spotlight in 2009, alongside Bill Tieleman, as a recurring critic of the provincial government's conversion of the Provincial Sales Tax to the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). A series of populist rallies led to him becoming the official proponent, in accordance with the Recall and Initiative Act, of a petition seeking a referendum to cancel the HST. Vander Zalm established a website, FightHST, to promote the initiative. [22] The provincial Liberal government countered Vander Zalm's campaign and devoted a section of their website to the positive aspects of the HST. [23]

For the petition to be certified, there was a requirement to secure the signatures of a minimum of 10% of all registered voters on the provincial voters list in each riding in the province, no later than June 30, 2010. [24]

On June 30, 2010, Vander Zalm delivered 85 boxes containing 705,643 signatures from voters in every riding across the province. Those signatures represented some 45% of votes cast in the 2009 provincial election. [25]

On August 11, 2010, Elections BC verified the official anti-HST petition submitted by the province's Fight HST campaign. [26]

Vander Zalm said he was pleased with the result, but "very disappointed" to learn the province's chief electoral officer would not act on the petition until all court proceedings involving the tax were complete. The anti-HST campaign turned its attention to a recall campaign for Liberal MLAs. Vander Zalm told reporters. "We will recall every Liberal MLA in the province, if that's what it takes." However, the initial attempts at recalls were unsuccessful. [27]

On August 20, 2010, Chief Justice Robert J. Bauman ruled that the petition was valid. Bauman said Elections BC was correct when it approved the petition on August 11. [28]

On September 14, 2010, it was announced a referendum would be held September 24, 2011 on repealing the HST. Premier Gordon Campbell stated a simple majority (50%+1) of those eligible and casting ballots would be sufficient for the government to cancel the HST if the referendum went against the government. [29]

Elections BC conducted the referendum via mail-in ballot. The 2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum was conducted throughout June and July 2011.

The Question on the ballot was: Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) and reinstating the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) in conjunction with the GST (Goods and Services Tax)? Yes or No [30]

On August 26, 2011, Elections BC revealed the results of the referendum: 55% of 1.6 million voters in favour of abolishing the HST. The BC Liberals revealed a plan to re-instate the GST/PST system within 18 months, with a target date of March 31, 2013. [31]

2012 defamation suit

In 2012, a BC Supreme Court judge and jury heard a defamation lawsuit lodged against Vander Zalm by retired conflict-of-interest commissioner Ted Hughes. The former judge and Officer of the Order of Canada alleged that he had been defamed in Vander Zalm's 2008 self-published autobiography, For The People. The book suggested that Hughes, then in an interim appointment, may have conducted an unfair inquiry of Vander Zalm in 1991 by the prospect of achieving a permanent employment. [32]

Vander Zalm defended the statements about Hughes, saying they had been fair comments, not facts, and that they had been made as a matter of public interest. [33] Vander Zalm was found liable and ordered to pay $60,000 in damages, with Hughes to pay his own costs. [34] [35]

Related Research Articles

BC United (BCU), formerly known as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and being on the centre-right of the left–right political spectrum. The party commonly describes itself as a "free enterprise coalition" and draws support from members of both the federal Liberal and Conservative parties. Since the 1990s, BC United has been the main centre-right opposition to the centre-left New Democratic Party (NDP). Once affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada, the British Columbia Liberal Party became independent in 1987. The party changed its name to BC United on April 12, 2023.

Rita Margaret Johnston is a Canadian politician in British Columbia. Johnston became the first female premier in Canadian history when she succeeded Bill Vander Zalm in 1991 to become the 29th premier of British Columbia, serving for seven months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Columbia Social Credit Party</span> Political party in British Columbia, Canada

The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia, Canada, for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For four decades, the party dominated the British Columbian political scene, with the only break occurring between the 1972 and 1975 elections when the British Columbia New Democratic Party governed.

Grace Mary McCarthy, OC, OBC, LLD, DTech, FRAIC (Hon.) was a Canadian politician and florist in British Columbia. A high-ranking member of the Social Credit Party of British Columbia, she was largely responsible for rebuilding that party after its defeat in the 1972 provincial election.

The harmonized sales tax (HST) is a consumption tax in Canada. It is used in provinces where both the federal goods and services tax (GST) and the regional provincial sales tax (PST) have been combined into a single value-added tax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reform Party of British Columbia</span> Former political party in British Columbia, Canada

The Reform Party of British Columbia is an unregistered right-wing populist political party in British Columbia, Canada. Although its name is similar to the defunct Reform Party of Canada, the provincial party was founded before the federal party was and it did not have any formal association with it. Their peak of support came in 1996 when they elected two members to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 British Columbia general election</span> British Columbia State Assembly

The 1991 British Columbia general election was the 35th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 19, 1991, and held on October 17, 1991. The incumbent Social Credit Party of British Columbia, which had been beset by scandals during Bill Vander Zalm's only term as premier, was defeated by the New Democratic Party of Mike Harcourt. Liberal Party leader Gordon Wilson surprised observers by leading his party to winning one-third of the votes cast, and forming the official opposition in the legislature. The new legislature met for the first time on March 17, 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1986 British Columbia general election</span>

The 1986 British Columbia general election was the 34th general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The sitting Social Credit government was re-elected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilf Hanni</span>

Wilf Hanni is a politician and oil industry consultant in British Columbia, Canada. Hanni served as leader of the Reform Party of BC from August 30, 1997 to June 1998, and later as leader of the British Columbia Party, and the BC Conservative Party. He was the leader of the Christian Heritage Party of BC until 2013 when he stepped down due to family health issues.

The Politics of British Columbia involve not only the governance of British Columbia, Canada, and the various political factions that have held or vied for legislative power, but also a number of experiments or attempts at political and electoral reform.

The British Columbia Recall and Initiative Referendum was a referendum held in British Columbia on October 17, 1991. It was concurrent with that year's general election. The referendum posed two questions. They were on whether elected officials should be able to be recalled and whether voters should be given a citizen's initiative. Both questions were decisively approved with over 80% of the electorate voting yes to both questions.

Brian Ray Douglas Smith is a Canadian politician and business executive. He served for a decade on Oak Bay municipal council and was mayor of Oak Bay from 1974 to 1979. Smith was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 1979 election to represent the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head for the Social Credit Party. He was re-elected in the 1983 and 1986 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">39th Parliament of British Columbia</span>

The 39th Parliament of British Columbia sat from 2009 to 2013, replacing the 38th parliament and being succeeded by the 40th parliament. It was composed of two elements: the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, as elected by the general election of May 12, 2009, and The Queen represented by the Lieutenant-Governor. That election resulted in a majority government for the BC Liberal Party led by Gordon Campbell, and a BC New Democratic Party official opposition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Pimm</span> Canadian politician

Pat Pimm is a Canadian politician, who was elected as a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009 provincial election, and represented the riding of Peace River North. He has lived in Fort St. John, British Columbia and has a business background working at an instrumentation company that specializes in the oil and gas sector. He spent 12 years on the Fort St. John city council before his election to the Legislative Assembly. In the 39th Parliament of BC Pimm served on several committees and first became involved with the Executive Council in October 2010 when former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell appointed Pimm as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Natural Gas Initiative under the Ministry of Energy. When Christy Clark became Premier of British Columbia in March 2011, she retained Pimm at the same position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Donaldson</span> Canadian politician

Doug Donaldson is a Canadian politician, who represented the Stikine electoral district Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 2009 to 2020. He is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party and was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the 2009 election and re-elected in the 2013 and 2017 elections. During the 41st Parliament (2017-2020) he served in the Executive Council as the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development. In that role he led the government through adopted several bills including amending the Heritage Conservation Act to create a legal duty-to-report discoveries of specific sites or objects with potential heritage value and amending the Forest Act to insert consideration of the "public interest" in decisions to approve the forestry dispositions. As a member of the official opposition in the 39th and 40th Parliaments he served in various critic and deputy roles at different times, such as on issues relating to mines, energy, finance and children and family development issues. He introduced one private member bill to amend the Oil and Gas Activities Act to prohibit the conversion of natural gas pipelines to transmit oil or diluted bitumen.

Bill Tieleman is a lobbyist and former NDP political strategist in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is known for opposing the 2009 referendum on electoral reform, and the 2018 referendum on whether to hold a second vote to choose a proportional voting system. Tieleman is also known for strongly advocating hydraulic fracturing to extract methane for export from British Columbia, and for denying the role of global warming in forest fires. Tieleman supported the Site C dam and opposed the 2017 confidence and supply agreement between the BC Green caucus and BC NDP caucus under leader John Horgan, which gave Horgan a legislative majority to become premier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Lake</span> Canadian politician

Terry Lake is a former Canadian politician, at the municipal and provincial levels, and veterinarian.

Peter Albert Dueck was a politician and cabinet minister in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

David Maurice Mercier was a Canadian politician. He served in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991, as a Social Credit member for the constituency of Burnaby-Edmonds. In 1991, he served several months as British Columbia's Minister of Environment. He was a chartered accountant. Mercier was mayor of Burnaby, British Columbia from 1979 to 1981. He previously ran unsuccessfully in Burnaby-Edmonds in the 1966 provincial election as a Liberal candidate and in Burnaby-Willingdon in the 1972 provincial election as a Social Credit candidate.

The Vander Zalm ministry was the combined Cabinet that governed British Columbia from August 6, 1986, to April 2, 1991. It was led by Bill Vander Zalm, the 28th premier of British Columbia, and consisted of members of the Social Credit Party.

References

  1. ↑ Patricia E. Roy. "Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie Vander Zalm". Encyclopédie Canadienne. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  2. ↑ Rayner, William. British Columbia's premiers in profile: the good, the bad, and the transient. p. 213. Heritage House Publishing, 2000. ISBN   978-1-895811-71-1
  3. ↑ Hawthorn, Tom (April 30, 2008). "In Memory of Bob Bierman". Globe and Mail.
  4. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19831020&id=YhUyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SKUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1068,5054470 . Montreal Gazette Oct. 23, 1983.
  5. ↑ "Bill 34, Health Statutes Amendment Act, 1987", 1st reading, British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Debates (Hansard), 34-1 (7 July 1987) at 2236 (Hon Mr Dueck). Archived from the original on 16 March 2023.
  6. ↑ "Bill 34, Health Statutes Amendment Act, 1987", 2nd reading, British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, Debates (Hansard), 34-1 (24 November 1987) at 2635 (Hon Mr Dueck): "...while the revision of this section of the bill was originally prompted by concerns about tuberculosis patients, these procedures are intended to apply to persons with any serious reportable communicable disease." (italics added for clarity). Archived from the original on 16 March 2023.
  7. ↑ Kozachenko, John (29 October 2014). "Vancouver Interviews". AIDS Activist History Project. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  8. ↑ Banner, Richard (28 October 2014). "Vancouver Interviews". AIDS Activist History Project. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  9. ↑ Brooke, Cynthia (16 September 2016). "Vancouver Interviews". AIDS Activist History Project. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  10. 1 2 Hamilton, Jamie Lee (13 September 2016). "Vancouver Interviews". AIDS Activist History Project. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  11. 1 2 Craik, Paul (30 October 2014). "Vancouver Interviews". AIDS Activist History Project. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  12. ↑ “Health Bill 34: AIDS Quarantine Legislation.” BC Civil Liberties Association, April 11, 1987. https://bccla.org/our_work/health-bill-34-aids-quarantine-legislation/.
  13. ↑ Davidson, Judy (2007). "Homophobia, Fundamentalism, and Canadian Tolerance: Enabling Gay Games III in Vancouver". International Journal of Canadian Studies (35): 151–175. doi: 10.7202/040768ar . ISSN   1180-3991.
  14. ↑ "Supreme Court of Canada - SCC Case Information - Search". January 2001.
  15. ↑ "Hansard — Monday, February 29, 1988, Afternoon Sitting — British Columbia Legislative Assembly".
  16. ↑ "R. V. Leung (F.), (1995) 57 B.C.A.C. 252 (CA)".
  17. ↑ "Bill Vander Zalm: Former B.C. Premiers Flustered During Testy Exchanges With Lawyer Over Lawsuit". Archived from the original on 2012-02-05.
  18. ↑ "Vander Zalm in court over contents of autobiography". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 2012-09-06.
  19. ↑ "Former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm guilty of libel". Archived from the original on 2012-02-12.
  20. ↑ WOOD, CHRIS. "Bill Vander Zalm returns to the fray | Maclean's | OCTOBER 5, 1998". Maclean's | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  21. ↑ "Former premier Bill Vander Zalm wants Ladner farm cleaned up". Vancouver Is Awesome. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  22. ↑ "Official website". Fighthst.com. 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  23. ↑ "Jobs and the Economy. Facts about the HST". Hst.blog.gov.bc.ca. Archived from the original on 2011-01-10. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  24. ↑ Elections BC. An initiative to end the harmonized sales tax (HST)
  25. ↑ Darah Hansen (2010-06-30). "HST petition delivered to Elections BC". Globaltvbc.com. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  26. ↑ "B.C. HST petition verified but stalled". News.ca.msn.com. 2010-08-11. Archived from the original on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  27. ↑ "Anti-HST petition approved by Elections BC". Ctvbc.ctv.ca. 11 August 2010. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  28. ↑ "HST petition can proceed, B.C. judge rules". Ctvbc.ctv.ca. 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  29. ↑ "HST referendum coming to BC next September. MacLean's Magazine". .macleans.ca. 2010-09-14. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  30. ↑ "Elections BC HST Referendum Homepage". Archived from the original on 2011-08-18.
  31. ↑ Bailey, Ian (2011-08-26). "B.C. rejects HST in landmark referendum". The Globe and Mail. Toronto.[ permanent dead link ]
  32. ↑ "Bill Vander Zalm sued for alleged libel". Canadian Press/CBC. 2012-01-30.
  33. ↑ "Vander Zalm defamation lawsuit in jury's hands". Canadian Press/CBC. 2012-02-08.
  34. ↑ Korstrom, Glen (2012-08-02). "Vander Zalm wants Lloyd's Underwriters to cover libel judgment". Business Intelligence for BC. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  35. ↑ Mulgrew, Ian (2012-02-08). "Court refuses to impose double-legal costs on former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2024-01-29.

Further reading

Bill Vander Zalm
28th Premier of British Columbia
In office
August 6, 1986 –April 2, 1991
Flag of British Columbia.svg
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.