COPE staff member Neil Monckton told the Vancouver Sun that Vancouverites will get to vote on whether or not they support the 2010 Winter Olympic bid, but the vote won’t be legally binding.
He said, “the public want their say so they’re going to get it. Ultimately there will be a public declaration of their feelings”.
According to COPE’s polling before and after the election, most Vancouver residents will support hosting the 2010 Games. “So the bid committee should go out and emphasize the positives. They have to put their best arguments forward”, said Monckton.
Mayor-elect Larry Campbell is now looking for a less expensive alternative to a referendum on the Games. “There’s an impression we’ve folded”, he said.
Now COPE party members, the city clerk’s office and the city legal department are going over the Vancouver Charter to determine if there’s a way for city residents to vote in a simpler way.
One idea discussed is having a plebiscite. But what does that mean? The Vancouver Sun reports that according to the Elections B.C. Web site a plebiscite “is an expression of opinion by the people on a general course of action proposed by the government” whereas a referendum “involved submitting or referring an important legislative measure to a direct vote of the whole people”.
It also says a plebiscite is a public opinion poll and is not legally binding on the government. But a referendum “automatically binds a government to enact a law (or refrain from doing so) according to the voters’ wishes”.
