Mark Allan Robinson

Mark Allan Robinson (born January 20, 1975 in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada) was the proponent of the first successful campaign in Canadian history to remove an elected politician from public office by use of a recall petition.

Robinson had been active politically since the age of 18, sitting on various local government committees and boards of directors for non-profit organizations.

In the spring of 1998, Parksville-Qualicum Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Paul Reitsma had been caught by Cam Purdy, editor of local Parksville newspaper, Parksville/Qualicum Beach Morning Sun, writing letters to the editor for years praising himself and signing them under fabricated names.

Robinson organized over 300 volunteers in the riding of Parksville-Qualicum (Vancouver Island), which included the city of Parksville, the town of Qualicum Beach, the northern half of the city of Nanaimo, and smaller communities such as Nanoose Bay and Coombs/Errington.

Going door-to-door, volunteers amassed several thousand signatures above what was legally required to force Reitsma out of office during the official campaign period of April 15 to June 15.

On June 15, 1998, Mark Robinson with volunteer Rev. Bill Robinson (no relation) presented the petition to Jennifer Miller of Elections BC.

The signatures were verified between the dates of June 15 and June 23, with a count of over 25,000 (just over 14,000 required), and an announcement was to be made that the recall petition had enough signatures to force a recall.

On June 23, 1998, Paul Reitsma resigned his seat in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly after being tipped off that the campaign had enough signatures to remove the politician from office.

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