Background
He was born in 1948 in the Netherlands.
He was born in 1948 in the Netherlands.
Reitsma served as the mayor of Portuguese Alberni and Parksville, prior to his move to provincial politics. Reitsma was elected in the 1996 British Columbia provincial election for the British Columbia Liberals, defeating New Democratic Party of British Columbia incumbent Leonard Krog. In early 1998, Reitsma was accused of writing letters to newspapers under assumed names, praising himself and attacking his political opponents.
A Parksville newspaper had asked a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police handwriting expert to compare a sample of Reitsma"s handwriting to that of letters to the editor submitted by a "Warren Betanko", and then ran a story entitled "Modern Language Association Reitsma is a liar and we can prove it".
However, he resigned his legislative seat on June 23, 1998 when it appeared that a recall petition led by proponent Mark Allan Robinson had enough signatures from the electorate.
Reitsma was ejected from the British Columbia Liberal caucus although he chose to remain as a member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly.