A petition has been filed with Elections Alberta to recall Calgary-Bow MLA and Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.
The move was triggered by Calgary resident Jennifer Yeremiy and Elections Alberta said it’s the first recall petition application approved under the Recall Act.
“His record demonstrates a clear failure to support public education,” Yeremiy said in the petition filed on Oct. 14.
She claimed the minister was committed to substantially increasing charter and private school funding; “meanwhile, public education faces: overcrowded classrooms, inappropriate curricula, inadequate resources, and insufficient funding and staff.”
Yeremiy also claimed the minister dismisses Alberta’s role in promoting fossil fuel disinformation in schools across the country.
“His actions render him unfit to lead Alberta Education or represent Calgary-Bow.”
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The recall legislation, which allows citizens to organize petition drives to initiate a process that could lead to the removing and replacing elected officials such as members of the legislature, municipal politicians and school board trustees, was first introduced in 2021 under former premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative government.
The Recall Act says if an Albertan feels the MLA in their constituency is not upholding their responsibilities, they can apply to the Chief Electoral Officer for a petition to recall that elected official.
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In addition to Nicolaides, notice of the petition was also sent on Oct. 14 to the leader of his United Conservative Party, Danielle Smith, as well as Ric McIver, the speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
The petition process allows for the MLA in question to respond and this week, Nicolaides sent Elections Alberta his statement saying he doesn’t agree with Yeremiy’s reasonings.
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“A recall of an MLA should not proceed when the stated reason is dissatisfaction with government policy rather than a failure of in the member’s core duties,” he wrote in his letter to Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure.
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Nicolaides said he was elected in 2023 to represent his constituents and support his party’s platform.
“Using the recall process to overturn an election based on policy disagreements undermines stable governance and the electoral process.”
The minister said recalls should be reserves for breaches of public trust, ethical violations, or dereliction of duty, “not to shortcut or trigger a new election over political differences.
“This recall targets the governing party, not the individual.”
Yeremiy has from now until Jan. 21, 2026, to collect signatures, the number which is based upon the amount of votes cast in the most recent general election.
In the 2023 provincial election, there were 26,676 ballots case in Calgary-Bow, and the petition must be signed by 16,006 people — 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast.
Yeremiy is allowed to build up a team of local canvassers but they must have lived in the Calgary-Bow riding for at least the past three months.
In order to sign the petition, people must be eligible voters who have lived in the Calgary-Bow riding for at least three months leading up to their signature date.
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After submitting the petition no later than Jan. 21, 2026, Elections Alberta will verify it within 21 days of receiving it.
After that, it has a week to then tell all involved of the results, which will also be published on the Elections Alberta website.
Jennifer Yeremiy, who ran for the Alberta Party as a candidate in Calgary-North West in the past election, is a geophysicist who has worked in oil and gas.
She’s launched a website to support the petition, where she wrote, “Growing strain on public education is creating damaging results in classrooms – students, teachers, staff, and support workers – are being pushed to their limits while Minister Nicolaides accelerates investment into private and charter school programs.”
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News of the petition comes on the third week of a provincewide teacher strike in Alberta.
Members of the Alberta Teachers’ Association walked off the job Oct. 6 and no formal talks with the province are scheduled.
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On Thursday during the first day of fall sitting at the legislature, Premier Smith said her government will introduce back-to-work legislation on Monday if a deal isn’t reached between the province and striking teachers before then.
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Smith said the province is being forced to step in due to the intolerable hardship students and families are faced with by a strike now in its third week.
While the two sides don’t have formal talks scheduled, Smith said there is still time for a deal to get done.
The provincewide strike is affecting 51,000 teachers and 750,000 students in public, separate and francophone schools.
The two sides are deadlocked over wages and classroom conditions. The province has offered a 12-per cent wage hike over four years and a promise to hire 3,000 more teachers to reduce overcrowded classrooms.
Thousands of teachers and their supporters protesting outside the Alberta legislature on Thursday, October 23, 2025.
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As Smith made her announcement inside, thousands of teachers and supporters outside jeered, chanted and dumped protest potatoes at the door of the legislature.
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Teachers have rejected the province’s offer, saying more teachers and more concrete steps are needed to address class sizes and other complexities such as students with special needs.
—with files from Aaron Sousa, Lisa Johnson and Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
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