Paddy Roberts (politician)
Paddy (or Patrick Tyrone) Roberts (born 8 November 1947 in Barrhead, Alberta) is the Chairman of the Progressive Nationalist Party of British Columbia, which says it will contest both provincial and federal elections in British Columbia, Canada on a platform of independent nationhood for British Columbia.
“We are a great people living in a great place, and we can form our own nation with no difficulty,” he told a local newspaper in 2005, saying the party had a few confirmed candidates for the 2005 provincial election, but hoped for a total of 50. Besides separation, he promised “a comprehensive, centrist platform, drawing the best ideas from all the parties.”[1]
In the 2001 provincial election, Roberts ran for the British Columbia Marijuana Party (BCMP) in Shuswap, receiving under 900 votes. He also served as the party's justice critic.
He was later critical of the BCMP and of its prominent figure Marc Emery, and began to propose a separatist party in 2001.
In the past, Roberts has been indicted in Canada and the United States on charges related to marijuana, and in 2002 and 2003, he was held for 135 days in a Dutch jail while the United States was seeking to extradite him. The extradition attempt was abandoned and Roberts returned to Canada where he was acquitted of the allegations in November 2004.
He has criticized the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the presence of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents on British Columbia soil. Roberts, despite his earlier criticism of Emery, is the originator of a tactic to thwart a US extradition attempt against Emery by laying the same charges against him in Canada, thereby creating a legal roadblock to the extradition.
Roberts was born and graduated from high school in Barrhead, Alberta. As an adult, he has lived primarily in British Columbia, but also in California, Ireland, England, and the Netherlands. He is a dual citizen of Ireland and Canada. He holds Airline Transport Pilot and Commercial Helicopter Pilot licenses, a bachelors in business administration from Simon Fraser University and a masters in business administration from Trinity College, Dublin.
Election results (partial)
| British Columbia general election, 2005: Shuswap | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||||
| Liberal | George Abbott | 11,024 | 46.96% | $89,183 | ||||
| New Democratic | Calvin Ross White | 8,281 | 35.27% | $60,432 | ||||
| Conservative | Beryl Ludwig | 2,330 | 9.92% | $5,715 | ||||
| Green | Barbara Westerman | 1,394 | 5.94% | $1,788 | ||||
| Marijuana | Chris Emery | 356 | 1.52% | $100 | ||||
| Bloc | Paddy Roberts | 50 | 0.21% | $897 | ||||
| Patriot | Andrew Nicholas Hokhold | 42 | 0.18% | $100 | ||||
| Total Valid Votes | 23,477 | 100.00% | ||||||
| Total Rejected Ballots | 93 | 0.40% | ||||||
| Turnout | 23,570 | 64.34% | ||||||