Talk:Bill Vander Zalm/Archive 1

Biography assessment rating comment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- KenWalker | Talk 06:48, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Scandal info question/reply
Shouldn't this article be "Bill Van der Zalm"; thought that's how he spelled it; I made a redirect page from that to here, though, just now; also from "the Zalm" Skookum1 00:14, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

He spelled it "Vander" (and still does ;) ). CJCurrie 03:26, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

I gather the reason you reverted my question on your talk page was that it was not the right place for it. Or, if I may ask, do you have objections to including some of the Fantasy Garden scandal's more salacious side? Or are there limitations on what can be in political biographies?Skookum1 06:00, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

(i) It was the wrong place, yes; (ii) I don't object to an inclusion of the more "salacious" details of Fantasyland, but some aspects your initial edit were over-the-top and unencyclopedic (hence the reversion). CJCurrie 19:51, 22 November 2005 (UTC)
 * LOL I see your comment's rather old, but the Fantasy Gardens scandal, and all its players, were ALL "over the top", as was teh scandal itself; to omit mention of the colourful characters would not be encyclopedic, it would be soft-soaping and out-of-touch with the historical reality. It was teh larger=than-life personalities of all involved that gave teh scandal much of its lurid appeal in the press....Skookum1 (talk) 16:14, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

"the Zalm"
The etymology given that his name means "from the salmon" is literally correct, but if I'm not wrong, it means "from Zalm" (a village in the Rhine delta the name of which is Zalm). I've tried looking it up on Dutch Wikipedia http://nl.wikipedia.org but there's nothing about it, and a web search for "Zalm-am-Zee" which is what I think its full name is doesn't turn up anything; I know I've seen it on maps though; or maybe it's "Zalm-am-something else". Surprisingly there's no Dutch translation of this article so I'll propose it at WikiProject Translation and WikiProject Netherlands.Skookum1 (talk) 16:46, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

High school teacher?
Did Bill Vander Zalm become a high school teacher? I didn't hear anything about it but there is, or at least was, a teacher at Windermere Secondary School in Vancouver, BC by the name of Bill Vander Zalm. Although it's probably not the same one.
 * "there can be only one". Yes, that's him, he was a teacher for some years; which is why he had the Education portfolio originally, as I recall.  There's lots of other details missing from the article, which does need major work.Skookum1 (talk) 16:46, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

No he has been an entrepeneur his entire life other then his time in Politics, having been a big part of Art Knaaps Plantland, his son Wim still owns the Port Coquitlam BC store to this day. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.156.65.57 (talk) 16:36, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Referendum majority required?
The text of the article says "Premier Gordon Campbell stated a simple majority (50%+1) of those eligible and casting ballots would be sufficient" The cited source does not say that. The Referendum Act requires that kind of majority but it does not apply to referenda under the Recall and Initiative Act which this is. s 15 of that Act makes it clear. It says "the chief electoral officer must declare an initiative vote to be successful if (a) more than 50% of the total number of registered voters in British Columbia vote in favour of the initiative, and (b) more than 50% of the total number of registered voters for each of at least 2/3 of the electoral districts in British Columbia vote in favour of the initiative." Many remember Gordon Campbell and Christi Clark saying 50%+1 is what it takes. But nothing I have seen says that they said it is of the votes cast and the legislation makes it clear it is of the registered voters. My math puts that number at 1.15 million yes votes for the initiative to carry and even then it must be evenly distributed around the province. That is 50% more than the number of petition signatures and they had a lot more than one day to come up with those. My question is whether there is a source for the "of the votes cast" otherwise it should be changed. -- KenWalker | Talk 08:21, 9 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Checking media, I see that Gordon Campbell did indeed promise that it would be 50% of the votes cast but the problem remains that it is not what the law says and he is being replaced. The question becomes whether his successor adopts that promise and then whether she follows through with the necessary amendments to the legislation.  -- KenWalker | Talk 06:01, 10 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Not that it matters in terms of the Wikipedia article, but our politicians have too much control/ability to jerry-rig the democratic processes in this country, such as with this situation. The older referenda rules, including the one that brought in the elimination ballot for 52-53, were 50%+1 of teh votes cast, and with no riding restrictions.  How can you get 50% of the total electorate when less than half of them vote in the first place?Skookum1 (talk) 17:28, 10 March 2011 (UTC)