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Application approved for petition to cancel Site C Dam Project

Initiative needs 10 per cent support
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An artist’s rendering of the Site C dam, the third hydro dam on the Peace River. BC Hydro image

Elections B.C. a non-partisan Office of the Legislature has announced that a petition application concerning the Site C Dam project has been granted approval in principle.

British Columbia’s Chief Electoral Officer, Keith Archer, has granted approval, in principle, for the initiative petition application.

The petition will be issued to proponent Ion Delsol Moruso on July 3, 2018. The title of the initiative is: “An initiative to cancel the Site C Dam project”.

“This initiative petition application is the eleventh to be approved since the Recall and Initiative Act came into force in 1995”, says Archer.

The law has only been used successfully once, to force the cancellation of the harmonized sales tax in 2010.

Horgan reluctantly approved the continued construction of Site C in December, two years into the project to build a third dam on the Peace River.

Any registered voter can apply to have a petition issued to gather support for a legislative proposal. After the petition is issued, the proponent will have 90 days to canvass and collect signatures of at least 10% of the registered voters in each of British Columbia’s 87 electoral districts.

Individuals or organizations who intend to oppose the initiative, conduct initiative advertising, or canvass for signatures must be registered with Elections BC. The deadline to apply to be an opponent of the initiative is June 4, 2018.

Registered voters as of July 3, 2018 may sign the petition once, and only for the electoral district in which they are registered.

For more information on the initiative petition, visit the Elections BC website (elections.bc.ca).