Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her United Conservative Party caucus isn’t afraid to defend its record as it faces more than a dozen recall petition campaigns.
Smith, during question period Wednesday, said that’s especially true for two of her ministers as their accomplishments speak for themselves.
She said Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, one of seven cabinet members facing petitions, has overseen more government funding for schools in the history of Alberta while also making child care cheaper for parents.
“This is a record that my minister is going to be able to stand on, and I know he can’t wait to go out there and campaign on it,” Smith told the legislative assembly.
The premier also supported Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally, saying he has made doing business easier by cutting red tape and has worked on major overhauls to systems including the provincial land titles registry.
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“He’s doing a great job,” she said.
Smith also defended Nally from accusations from the Opposition NDP that the minister broke provincial elections laws for something he said in his official response to his recall petition.
Nally publicly claimed the constituent behind his petition didn’t vote in the last election and questioned whether it should disqualify the petition.
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi asked about Nally’s potentially inappropriate use of the confidential list of electors from Elections Alberta. Smith said Nally was mistaken in claiming the constituent didn’t vote, but she brushed aside calls to have Nally stripped of his responsibilities.
“I know the member opposite likes to think himself as judge, jury and executioner, but we do have due process in this province,” Smith said.
“I think the process that we’re going through right now is one where my MLAs are all going to be able to go out to the public and talk very confidently about their record in this government and their record in their ministries.”
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A spokesperson for Elections Alberta said in a statement it’s prohibited from commenting on investigations it may or may not be undertaking. It didn’t address questions about whether Nally violated any laws.
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After several more petitions were approved this week, a total of 14 UCP caucus members now face recall petitions.
Under Alberta’s Recall Act, any person eligible to vote in a riding can ask to collect signatures to try to get their legislature member expelled if they feel the member is failing at their duties.
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Those behind the 14 campaigns have three months to collect signatures equal to 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the constituency in the 2023 election. If successful, a vote is held on whether the representative gets to keep their seat. If the member loses, a byelection is held.
Many of those behind the petitions have said they’re driven by their representatives not being responsive or not advocating enough for the community, or because they voted to use the notwithstanding clause to end a recent provincewide teachers strike. Some have cited both reasons.
With 14 petitions underway, it means almost a third of the 47 UCP caucus members in the legislature are engaged in the recall process, potentially threatening the balance of power in the house.
Calgary-based political scientist Lori Williams said she would be surprised if many of the petitions reach the voting stage.
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“It’s important to understand that this is a high, high threshold that’s unlikely to succeed in any of these ridings,” she said.
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Williams said some of the 14 constituencies where petitions have been issued are considered safe for the UCP, including Highwood, a rural area south of Calgary, represented by Agriculture Minister R.J. Sigurdson, and Airdrie-East, represented by backbencher Angela Pitt.
“But if enough people are mad, anybody could be vulnerable,” Williams said.
“It depends on how strong this momentum gets.”
Williams said she four ridings — three of them in Calgary — could be vulnerable to getting enough signatures.
One is Calgary-Bow, where Nicolaides won by a small margin (623 votes) in 2023, and he has been a high-profile figure lately because of the teachers strike.
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Another is Calgary-North, represented by associate minister of multiculturalism Muhammad Yaseen, who won by 129 votes in the last election.
“It’s the combination of the small margin victory and the low voter turnout,” Williams said.
“The chances are good that there’s going to be enough people that are motivated, because there are a lot of people that are angry about a lot of things.”
She also said there might be a chance of getting enough signatures in Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf’s riding of Lethbridge-East, as it has historically been held by parties across the spectrum.
“But again, that’s just the first step,” she said.
“The threshold was set high, so high that it’s very unlikely for anybody to succeed, generally speaking.”
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