Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides and Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary in May. Many Albertans are unhappy with the government forcing teachers to accept a contract that nearly 90 per cent had rejected.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
At least half a dozen United Conservative Party MLAs, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s education minister, have been placed in the crosshairs of an organized effort to use recall legislation to oust sitting politicians.
Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides has been the face of some of the provincial government’s most controversial decisions over the past year, including requiring parental consent for name and pronoun changes in classrooms, banning books the UCP deems sexually explicit from school libraries and the most recent decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause to force striking teachers back to work.
Mr. Nicolaides is just one of several UCP MLAs now facing the wrath of Albertans who are unhappy with the government’s decision to force teachers to accept a contract that nearly 90 per cent had rejected.
Alberta’s chief electoral officer Gordon McClure said on Monday he has approved a recall petition for Airdrie MLA Angela Pitt, while other organizers told The Globe and Mail they have submitted recall paperwork to Elections Alberta for cabinet ministers Dale Nally and RJ Sigurdson, associate minister Muhammad Yaseen, and backbencher Nolan Dyck, among others.
Alberta students stage walkouts to protest province’s back-to-work order to teachers
Alberta’s recall legislation was introduced in 2019 by former UCP backbencher Mark Smith who said the bill would empower the electorate and keep legislators in line.
Recall petitions require signatures totalling 60 per cent of votes cast in the riding in the most recent provincial election. Successful petitions will lead to a recall vote and if more than 50 per cent of constituents elect to oust their MLA, a by-election will be held for the seat.
In Mr. Nicolaides’ case, more than 26,600 votes were cast in his riding during the 2023 provincial election, which he won by less than 700 votes. Just over 16,000 signatures are needed in order to now force his recall.
Molly Metcalf, a public-school teacher in Okotoks, Alta., filed the $500 deposit to apply for a petition to recall Mr. Sigurdson, Alberta’s agriculture minister and MLA for Highwood. She said she decided to pursue recall last Monday as the government prepared to force teachers back to work: “I woke up in the morning and I was just feeling angry,” said Ms. Metcalf. She made a Facebook post and crowdsourced the $500 in two hours.
Steven West, a Calgary public school teacher, said Alberta’s back-to-work legislation and use of the notwithstanding clause compelled him to initiate a petition to unseat Mr. Yaseen, Alberta’s associate minister of multiculturalism.
“I’m voting because my MLA chose to go against my rights as a human being in his constituency ... I’m basing the recall on the idea of what he’s done to me personally and not what the government is doing to my profession as a whole,” said Mr. West.
One petition organizer in Grande Prairie is a mature student at Athabasca University; another in St. Albert outside Edmonton is a chartered accountant.
The Alberta government tabled legislation ordering thousands of striking teachers back to work, invoking the notwithstanding clause to put an end to their weeks-long job action.
The Canadian Press
Ms. Smith’s government has objected to the petition drives, arguing the Recall Act was created so residents could respond to legislative members who had transgressed in significant ways. Nevertheless, there is no predetermined criteria to approve a recall petition, according to Elections Alberta. No politicians have been recalled through the legislation before.
Under Ms. Smith, the UCP has been a proponent of direct democracy, a concept that allows voters to participate in decision-making processes through recall legislation and citizen-initiated referendums.
In July, the government lowered the bar for signatures needed to force a referendum, while also raising the percentage of signatures needed in a riding for recall to 60 per cent from 40 per cent and extended the signature-gathering period to 90 days from 60.
Voters are allowed to begin the recall process 18 months after an election and six months before the next one.
Sam Blackett, a spokesperson for the Premier, who has not yet returned from a week-long trade mission to the Middle East, deferred questions to the UCP Caucus.
“Recalls are meant to address breaches of trust, serious misconduct, or a sustained failure to represent constituents, not political disagreements,” said the caucus statement.
Heather Jenkins, spokesperson for Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery, said in a statement the government is not contemplating repealing the Recall Act.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, in a statement, wrote that general elections are sufficient tools to “elect or unelect MLAs.”
“However, the UCP brought in this recall legislation to make it law in Alberta, [and] citizens have chosen to act on it and have a right to pursue it,” Mr. Nenshi wrote.
Keith Brownsey, a retired political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the legislation first introduced under then-premier Jason Kenney was a “foolish oversight,” and that choice is now coming home to roost. More importantly, he argued, recall campaigns foster needless political instability that has a negative impact on democracy.
“We’re in a constant 24/7 election campaign and if you’re flooding the zone with this, and if people get tired of it, they don’t pay attention,” said Prof. Brownsey.
“Yet, this is one of the most important times in our history, and we need voters to pay attention.”
Along with a potential anti-separation referendum that could be scheduled next year, Elections Alberta on Monday requested more than $13.5-million from the government to process the numerous petitions and prepare for future votes.
“To say this is straining our organization from both a staffing and space perspective is an understatement,” Mr. McClure, of Elections Alberta, told the Standing Committee on Legislative Offices.
The UCP-majority committee denied Mr. McClure’s request, approving additional support of about $1.45-million.