Category talk:Independent MLAs in British Columbia

Improper use of this category
I just notice Noah Shakespeare and another pre-1903 politician in this category, which I guess was created for Vicki Huntington. The term "independent" for pre-1903 politicians is wildly off the mark...."unaffiliated" is more like it, as all had political alliances; there's also instances like Tom Uphill who ran at times without a party affiliation but were recognizably "of a stripe". Then there's the sorry tale of how Gordon Campbell treated Joy McPhail and Jenny Kwan when he refused them recognition as an Official Opposition, and refused the NDP official status in the House because there were only two of them; technically that makes them "independent" also.....anyway the call to "populate" this category needs a qualification that pre-1903 politicians should not be included as "independent", which gives teh wrong idea about their politics.....Skookum1 (talk) 16:52, 13 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Oh, I see I'd already commented about this, which I was about to again; "Independent" had a specific meaning 1871-1903 and was not the same as "Government" or "Opposition" (which were only loose alliances, and only applied to who was sitting on which side of teh House during the campaign, or had declared themselves on-side with that side of the House). Maybe there should be Category:Non-party MLAs in British Columbia or something similar; Premiers from that period wind up in the Premiers category; I'm going to add the BC MLAs category to that one....in the main MLAs category there are people like George Cowan and other per-party MLAs, and there'll be more.  But that they didn't have a party didn't mean that they should be called "Independent" (unless Elections BC's records lists them that way).Skookum1 (talk) 06:34, 9 December 2010 (UTC)