FORT ST. JOHN, BC -- Elections B.C. has approved a petition to recall the MLA for Peace River North.

The petition was filed against Dan Davies by Wayne Bell of Cecil Lake. He claims Davies voted in favor of Bill 36, which overhauls the province’s system of professional colleges for healthcare workers.

However, the Liberal caucus voted against Bill 36 on the third reading, and Davies was not present for the vote.

Bill 36 was passed in the legislature in November of 2022 without much fanfare. However, it has been the subject of criticism from healthcare workers who have taken issue with the law’s changes to the administration of professional colleges, as well as what they called a lack of consultation before the bill was passed into law.

Bell claims the bill takes away doctor’s rights, and that a 5-year-old can now go to a doctor’s office and get hormones to start a gender transition. In fact, the bill has no such provision.

Bell is also against COVID-19 mandates, and blames Davies for encouraging masking and vaccination.

Another recall petition recently filed against premier David Eby also cites Bill 36 as a reason. However, bell is not affiliated with the person who filed that petition.

Bell also says Davies has failed to meet with him and a group of “concerned citizens” that he is part of.

“We are concerned citizens that want to take some of the control away from our corrupt government and put it back into the hands of the people,” said Bell.

Davies stated that he fully supports the petition as part of the democratic process, and appreciates that the group is politically engaged. However, he says his other commitments are the reason he has not met with the group.

“I’ve been gone quite a bit, and when they’ve had their town hall meeting or when they’ve been here and said they wanted to meet with me, I wasn’t here,” said Davies. “And that’s the life of an MLA.”

Any registered voter in B.C. can file a recall petition. They need to pay a $50 fee, and provide a statement on why they believe the MLA should be recalled. The petition will be issued on February 3rd, after which Bell has two months to get 40% of Peace River North voters to sign it – or 10,487 people.

“There have been 28 previous recall petitions approved by Elections BC since the Recall and Initiative Act came into force,” said Andrew Watson, communications director for Elections BC. “None have met that 40 per cent threshold.”

With files from CTV's Penny Daflos and Ian Holliday.