Davies responds to recall “misinformation” pamphlet

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — North Peace MLA Dan Davies says a “misinformed” pamphlet from a group of individuals demanding for him to be recalled is causing confusion.

Davies took to Facebook on February 22nd with a picture of a circulated pamphlet with a list of issues the group was trying to attribute to Davies. 

Davies had marked the pamphlet as if it were a test and indicated which level of government and party were responsible for each point, if any were involved. 

“I give this flyer an F,” Davies stated in the post. 

Davies spoke with Energeticcity.ca from Victoria and said while he supported people’s rights to practice “democracy from any angle,” this pamphlet was causing confusion and spreading misinformation. 

He mentioned one of the primary areas of the confusion comes from a lack of distinction between provincial and federal issues. 

“I had some people already call because of this pamphlet. Why did you vote to take our guns away? Well, I didn’t,” Davies said. 

“I’m not in the federal parliament. So there’s just a lot of misinformation that this group is pushing out there.” 

The controversial Bill 36 also appeared on the list, to which Davies explained again that the BC Liberals had not voted in favour of the bill, only to get it read in the legislative assembly. 

“The only vote on a bill that matters is the third vote. That is the vote on the bill because the bill is fluid until then. There’s amendments that can be made. There’s pieces that can be removed, or the bill might just die even before it gets to third reading and not be a thing,” Davies explained. 

“First and second readings just move it into where you have the ability to debate it.”

When it came to other issues on the list, such as the Infant Act, Davies simply pointed out that B.C.’s Infant Act was passed in 1996, well before his time in politics. 

“I was, you know, a young adult working in the oil patch then. I’m not sure how I had anything to do with that.”

When asked if he felt the listed misinformation was intentional, Davies said he thought it stemmed from a misunderstanding of Canada’s political system.  

“I really do think that there probably is a misunderstanding of politics and how our system works. How our constitutional democracy works in this country, and that is unfortunate, and I think that’s what’s kind of stirring up a lot of this false information here.” 

Davies finished by saying he was always willing to speak with people who reached out, and encouraged people to look into governmental issues and which level of government they fell under. 

The recall petition for Dan Davies was issued on February 3rd. The proponent of the recall is Joseph Wayne Bell, a Cecil Lake resident who is part of a northeast B.C. separatist group.