A growing number of voter-led recall efforts against sitting MLAs in Alberta is raising pressure on Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party.
Elections Alberta on Monday approved recall petitions for six more UCP caucus members, bringing the total number of MLAs facing potential removal to nine.
The group includes members of Smith’s cabinet and the Speaker of the Alberta legislature.
Although the petitioners face an uphill battle to successfully get the MLAs removed from office, the fact it’s happening at this volume speaks to the populist groundswell in Alberta and around the world, political experts say, combined with anger at Smith’s government in particular.
It may also make other jurisdictions think twice about following in the footsteps of Alberta and B.C., which are the only two provinces in the country with recall legislation.
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“It can get out of control of the government in question and be used for an expression of anger,” said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
What does the Alberta law say?
The United Conservative government under former premier Jason Kenney passed the Recall Act in 2021, allowing constituents to launch petitions to remove their MLAs.
Under the original law, petitioners would need to collect signatures from at least 40 per cent of eligible voters in a riding within 60 days after the recall effort is approved by Elections Alberta.
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The law was a campaign promise for Kenney, who said it would strengthen democracy by allowing regular Albertans to hold politicians accountable if they “break faith with the people.”
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Earlier this year, Smith’s government passed amendments to the Recall Act that lowered some of its thresholds, including extending the deadline to 90 days after a recall petition’s approval.
Petitioners now have to collect signatures from electors “equal to” at least 60 per cent of people who voted in the most recent provincial election in order to be successful.
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The change results in a lower signature requirement. For example, under the old rules, a petitioner in the riding of Calgary-Beddington would need to gather at least 13,913 signatures. Under the new rules, the number falls to 12,492.
Petitioners can register canvassers to gather signatures on their behalf and then submit the signatures to Elections Alberta for review.
If enough signatures are verified, a recall vote is held within four months and must garner at least 50 per cent support for the MLA to be officially removed from office.
Who’s facing a recall effort?
The six recall petitions approved Monday are against cabinet ministers Rajan Sawhney, Myles McDougall, Dale Nally and RJ Sigurdson.
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They also target Ric McIver, Speaker of the legislative assembly, and Muhammad Yaseen, associate minister for multiculturalism.
Elections Alberta previously approved petitions to recall Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, backbencher Nolan Dyck and deputy Speaker Angela Pitt.
While reasoning varies, many of the newly approved petitioners said they were upset the UCP government used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause last month to end a provincewide teachers’ strike.
Others say their MLAs are not responsive to community concerns or aren’t engaging with their constituents. The MLAs facing those accusations have denied them.
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Alberta recall campaigns being planned for UCP MLAs
Smith and her UCP caucus have argued the recall efforts are an effort to bring down her government before the next election scheduled for 2027, rather than using the process appropriately to address accusations of serious wrongdoing.
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Smith said this month that no changes to the recall rules are on the table, but has also said her government has concerns about how the campaigns are being financed and that people who don’t live in the ridings are lending their support.
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Williams said organizers are simply adopting the same organizational tactics as groups like Take Back Alberta and the Black Hat Gang, which has pressured Smith’s government to take hard-right policy positions and filled local bodies like school boards with their members.
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“I suspect that others who have been watching this have been wanting to have their voices heard (and) organize their voices more effectively, to match some of the things that have been done by those on the right flank of the United Conservative Party,” she said.
She added voters appear to be angry with the province’s perceived “overreach” of using the notwithstanding clause multiple times — not just to end the teachers’ strike but also to uphold legislation regarding transgender health care — and overriding municipal decisions.
Smith’s amendments to the Recall Act also lowered the threshold for voter referendums, which has sparked fears of a future vote on whether Alberta should secede from Canada.
Elections Alberta had asked the province for over $13 million in additional funding to deal with an increase in voter petitions this year, but was denied the request earlier this month.
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Does any other province have recall legislation?
British Columbia is the only other province with recall legislation, which was adopted in 1995.
The legislation requires signatures from at least 40 per cent of eligible voters in a riding within 60 days to be successful.
Since then, just 30 recall petitions have been launched. While none were technically successful, an effort to recall MLA Paul Reitsma in 1998 managed to gather more than the necessary number of signatures — though Reitsma resigned before the signatures could be verified.
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B.C. Premier David Eby faced an attempted recall effort in 2023 that accused him of being a “dictator,” but the petition was not submitted by the deadline.
Williams noted that Alberta had passed recall legislation once before — in 1936 — only for the government to repeal it 18 months later after then-premier William Aberhart was targeted by voters in his riding. The repeal effectively killed the petition against Aberhart.
Attempts have been made to pass recall legislation in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island over the years, but have failed to advance.
Since the mid-1990s, five private members’ bills have been introduced in the House of Commons to create a system to recall members of Parliament — including one from now-Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre back in 2005. None were successful.
Williams doesn’t expect a groundswell in support for legislation after watching what’s unfolding in Alberta.
“My guess is that this will lead many to be a bit more cautious about how they approach direct democratic mechanisms,” she said.
— With files from The Canadian Press
