Encyclopedia > Refederation Party of British Columbia
The Western Refederation Party of British Columbia ("RefedBC") is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada.
It was founded as the Western Independence Party of British Columbia to promote the separation of the four western provinces of Canada (BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) to form a new, independent nation. Although it shared this goal with the federal Western Independence Party, it does not appear to have been a branch of that party.
The aim of the Western Refederation Party is to force changes to the way that British Columbia is governed within Canada. If it is unable to achieve these changes, then it would pursue political independence from Canada for British Columbia.
Party program
The mission of the Western Refederation Party of BC is to change the political system in British Columbia by:
Declaring the citizens of this province to be the sole source of political rights in BC, and allowing them to write a Constitution of British Columbia that will define and limit the powers they grant to government,
Implementing direct democracy based on the Swiss model, as a right for the citizens of British Columbia, in order that all aspects of governance in the province are subject to the will of the people,
Simultaneously, negotiating changes in the relationship of BC with the federal government and the rest of Canada, so that fair and equitable treatment is afforded to all citizens of British Columbia and Canada. That is the concept of refederation.
If those negotiations fail, a RefedBC government will recommend to the people that a referendum be held on the issue of independence for BC.
BritishColumbia has Canada's least restrictive elections laws with regard to political party registration, and consequently there are currently nearly 50 parties registered with Elections BC, by far the most of any jurisdiction in the country.
One member elected as a Liberal left the party to sit as a member of Democratic Reform BritishColumbia; one member elected as a Liberal left to sit as an independent; the party lost one by-election to the opposition New Democratic Party; and two former Liberal seats were vacant when the election was called.
Democratic Reform BritishColumbia is a new party created in early 2005 by the merger of the BritishColumbia Democratic Coalition—a coalition of minor centrist parties— with the All Nations Party of BritishColumbia and key elements of the Reform BC.
In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite having similar names.
From approximately 1898 to 1905, political parties were active, however, legislative government was eliminated when the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created out of the heavily populated area of NWT.
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