Elections BC says the province’s paramedics did not get enough signatures to go to the next step under the Recall and Initiative Act.
The initiative petition was aimed at getting amendments to the Fire and Police Services Collective Bargaining Act that would have seen paramedics added to the essential services category. That would mean contract disputes automatically go to arbitration, and strikes or lockouts could not be used.
The paramedics needed the signatures of at least 10 per cent of the registered voters in every one of the province’s 85 electoral districts.
There was a lot of support in Powell River-Sunshine Coast, which was the first riding where the group Your Province-Your Paramedics hit that goal. According to the group, they also met the threshold in at least nine other ridings by the April 10 deadline.
Just before the Legislature adjourned prior to the election, Green Party leader Andrew Weaver introduced a private member’s bill that would have made the changes the paramedics were asking for. It never went to a vote.
