Knowing that he’s almost certainly destined for the long jump, metaphorically speaking, it must be mildly satisfying for Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure to have to keep approving those MLA recall-petition applications.
Nine applicants have now been given the stamp of approval by Mr. McClure’s office to start collecting signatures to remove their MLAs.
Six of those targeted MLAs were added to the approved list yesterday. All nine applicants seek to recall United Conservative Party MLAs. Five recall petitions will be directed at ministers in Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet. Another target is the Speaker, and yet another is his deputy. Two backbenchers also made the list.
But what else can Mr. McClure do but approve the applications? The Recall Act is the law, just the way the UCP wrote it … and then rewrote it to make it even easier to use!
The first time, under Jason Kenney, was bad, performative policy, intended only to be used against the NDP, if at all. Something to keep the party’s “lunatic”* base happy. The second time, after Danielle Smith had ascended to Alberta’s top political job, was plain stupid, amounting to electoral malpractice.
The UCP was certainly warned that the Recall Act was bound to be a problem sooner or later, by Justice Department’s staff lawyers if by no one else. Not for us, the UCP Cabinet seems to have decided.
So they went ahead, touting the benefits of “direct democracy,” never imagining for a moment that direct democracy would be directed against them. After all, their opponents were woke snowflakes. Ha-ha! We’ll show them.
This, Dear Readers, is what is known as hubris.
Here’s the list of targeted MLAs, as it appears today on the Elections Alberta website:
- Demetrios Nicolaides, MLA for Calgary-Bow, minister of education, 16,006 verified signatures required
- Angela Pitt, Airdrie-East, Deputy Speaker, 14,813
- Nolan Dyck, Grande Prairie, 9,427
- Myles McDougall, Calgary-Fish Creek, minister of advanced education, 15,454
- Ric McIver, Calgary-Hays, Speaker, 12,820
- Muhammad Yaseen, Calgary-North, minister of immigration and multiculturalism, 9,503
- Rajan Sawhney, Calgary-North West, minister of Indigenous relations, 14,893
- RJ Sigurdson, Highwood, minister of agriculture, 15,788
- Dale Nally, Morinville-St. Albert, minister of service Alberta and red-tape reduction, 15,700
The number of verified signatures required to move the process forward is now based on 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the previous election.
There will undoubtedly be a few more applications to come. It’s unlikely many of the resulting petitions will accumulate enough signatures to succeed, but a couple of them might. My money would be on Dr. Nicolaides and Mr. Nally if I were going to predict a couple of possible losers from this process.
But you never know. This isn’t just a grassroots movement, it’s becoming a grassfire!
The UCP wants us to imagine that there’s a vast and well-financed woke conspiracy behind this effort. They also keep trying to persuade us that the legislation was never intended to knock off MLAs like them – just lazy bums who didn’t go to meetings, were facing criminal charges, or had committed some kind of malfeasance.
There is no evidence for the first claim. If you have some, feel free to put it in the comments. It’s certainly not the NDP Caucus in the Legislature, which is far too cautious for this. And it’s not unions, restricted by UCP legislation to what they can spend money on without asking their members’ permission. Who else is there? Pissed off teachers? Well, we’ll get to that.
As for the second claim, of course it was intended to be used just as it is being used – except against New Democrats only. Tout le monde political Alberta understands this – especially those who are yelling the loudest.
And the applicants? What do we know about them? Not much in many cases. Almost nothing in some.
There’s a geophysicist, a couple of schoolteachers, a principal and a school council member. So, yeah, applicant demographics do seem to tilt toward a group of citizens who just had their constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights suspended by the use of the Constitution’s Notwithstanding Clause.
More UCP hubris, that.
But this is neither a well-financed group of influential activists nor a collection of high-profile political leaders. It sounds, rather, more like a group of what Ralph Klein used to call “severely normal Albertans.”
The truth is that the UCP mischievously engineered this law because they thought it would be easy to use to discombobulate the NDP. Well, look who’s discombobulated now?
There’s never a bad time to quote the Bard of Avon. That said, though, this is a really good time.
For ’tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petard; and ’t shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines
And blow them at the moon. O, ’tis most sweet
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
Hamlet speaking, that was. Act 3, Scene 4 of the play of the same name.
The Smith Government is going to end up having to repeal their own silly law. They will look like dopes, hoist with their own petard.
*Mr. Kenney’s word, not mine.
It will be interesting to see—or I guess I should say it will be interesting to hear back on all these media inquiries I fired off these evening—if there will be any consequences for Mr. Nally regarding that letter he sent to the commissioner alleging that the petitioner behind the recall campaign targeting him doesn’t vote. Nally’s letter claims he is citing Elections Alberta voting records, which by my non-lawyer reading of the Elections Act appears very illegal. And Mr. Eberhart, the petitioner in question, is saying that he actually does vote! Elections Act violation & defamation double-whammy?
So one thing I’ve been tracking since this began is the margins by which each MLA won their seat by now before I go any further just know I am ready and willing to be proven wrong but in saying that I’m kinda in the camp of thinking only a handful of these recalls are likely to bear fruit at the electoral level, mostly those who won by margins in the low to mid-hundreds, if it’s anything above that I think it’s very likely those are the MLAs more than likely to get re-elected
Again I’m willing to be proven wrong but for now I guess what I’m saying is I’m tempering my expectations and even putting all of this aside one thing that will be curious to see is that if Smith feels like she’s well and truly politically cornered then I think the likelihood of her calling an early election will very much be on the table
There are 6 ridings where the vote count was <1000, with 4 having recall petitions approved.
Calgary-Bow (Nicolaides): 13175 (UCP) – 12552 (NDP)
Calgary-Cross: 7533 – 7019
Calgary-East: 7123 – 6425
Calgary-North (Yaseen): 7927 – 7798
Calgary-North West (Sawhney): 11921 – 11778
Lethbridge-East (Neudorf): 10998 – 10362
If any of the petitions in these ridings clear every hurdle to force a by-election, that would be very interesting. However, I doubt the UCP will let things go that far. They will repeal/change the law to suit them and/or decline to fund Elections Alberta properly. Authoritarian Libertarianism on full display.
FWIW…..
From the breakdown …
Dale Nally somehow audited the voting records of Albertans and is using this as a metric for who can initiate recall?
And now all of the applicant statements and member statements have been removed from Elections Alberta?
( copy of letter to Gordon McClure..dated Nov 17th)
Randi-lee: I saw the statement on the Breakdown’s Twitter account that applicant statements and member statements. However, as you will see from the link that I forgot to add last night but have now put into the blog, that appears not to be the case. DJC
Yes, the growing number of recall petitions already approved must be increasingly concerning for the UCP government, which does not have that big of a majority to begin with. It is probably even more concerning for those specific MLA’s and cabinet ministers who may be recalled.
Of course like a duck paddling furiously, the UCP is probably doing or considering everything it can below the surface to stop the recalls or cause them to fail. So it would not be surprising if the UCP changes or ends the recall law fairly soon.
Of course this will probably not go over very well with their own grassroots, so I expect it will likely not happen until after the UCP AGM. However, like a prairie fire, the longer it is allowed to go on and build momentum, the harder it will be to stop and the more damage it will do to the party it is directed at.
Thanks for this article. Finally, some truth as to what, where, when, how and why Albertans are recalling their MLAs. The real story.
Are there reasons why these MLA’s are being targeted? Presumably they must be accused of committing certain acts that are beyond the acceptable range.
I can only speak to my own reason for signing a petition to recall my MLA. My MLA is actually a nice guy. I have had two respectful phone conversations with him despite the fact that we don’t agree on any single issue. What pushed me over the line was the authoritarian position of the UCP to not only utilize the notwithstanding clause but to also squelch debate on its use for the “Back to School Act” (Bill 2). It was a political choice. Not a legal requirement. My MLA is either willingly committed to the authoritarianism or he is shackled to it by the Premier. Perhaps it’s both. By recalling him, I am objecting to the UCP’s rejection of democratic principles.
There are. They are published on the applications on Elections Alberta website. https://as-cc-eabws-www-001.azurewebsites.net/recall-initiative/recall/current-recall-petitions/
Marlaina has painted herself into a corner. She can either allow the recalls to proceed, at the risk of losing a few of her stooges, or she can repeal the law and prevent Albertans from exercising their democratic rights. She has shown zero respect for the rule of law or charter rights already, so I expect her to once again disregard Albertans. Wouldn’t it be something if this was the straw that broke the camel’s back and finally caused Albertans to wake up and notice the corruption and incompetence? One can hope.
I seriously doubt it though-this is Alberta.
That’s a lot of Calgary MLAs–almost half the total.
Well recall, referendum, and initiative legislation have never been part of the Westminster Parliamentary order, and those who have played with it have got burned. But hey Premier Ditzy, just keep tending that red hot stove. I do hear you all owned a restaurant once. I’m sure the Alberta voter would like some bumble ‘n humble recall pie with baked in UCP MLA’s.
There were politician removal mechanisms before Smith and Co. became meltingly stupid. They were called “criminal law” and “elections”.
Note that her idea of “increasing direct democracy” wasn’t an improved voting method or paying attention to the voters who were screaming at her to make an honest agreement with school teachers…nope, it was a weapon for the *disruption* of democracy.
Welp, now it is disrupted. Whether she did this to disrupt the NDP or not, it’s permanent and she’s caused a migraine any future leader/s forced to overturn this law who will be condemned from the rooftops for “being undemocratic”
It’s deliberate sabotage of the political system. I don’t think she actually cares if it’s used against her as she’s already lined up her cushy O&G job.
Oh, dear. Hapless Dale Nally thinks only people who voted in the last election are eligible to initiate recall petitions. No, sir, that is not how this works. Read carefully: 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the previous election is needed to succeed. This does not mean the exact same people. Population growth should give a little boost, don’t you think? Now stop your nonsense before you end up getting a visit from a friendly detective. That’s a good boy. Run along.
Well the hubris of the UCP in my view has become humorous and I hope enough people get involved to throw out the UCP. Unfortunately I live in a riding that is solidly NDP so I can not jump in to help the cause. Every day lately the UCP commit some kind of malfeasance, by trampling on teachers and others human rights, ram through legislation that makes them less accountable, reject things like increases to minimum wages while giving themselves hefty increases in living allowances, being authoritarian in all the things they do. Sounds to me like a perfect example of malfeasance. Given there is no other mechanism to throw out a government between elections and the incredible damage the UCP is doing to Alberta, to me this is a perfect way to send a really big message to the UCP who do not listen to anyone other than their maple MAGA fans. The sad part is Dingy Smith is so stupid she doesn’t get the hint that people don’t like her and seems to ignore the recalls, petitions and protests.
Never write a law that can come back to bite you.
Louisiana, several years ago passed an education voucher program whose clear if unstated purpose was to fund Christian schools. The first application was for funding for an Islamic madrasa. OOPS!
It was a small group of Albertans who thanked Notley for handing the UCP such a small majority. People chatted on Facebook pages then Smith changed legislation and around that time David Parker said we didn’t know how to organize. A group of people got together and AB Resistance was formed. They put the call out for volunteers and a bunch of severely normal, pissed off albertans stepped up. They had done all the research on how to conduct a proper recall and whose seats were shaky. Swahney won by around 200 votes so her seat is ripe for recall. People are pissed by way more than what happened to teachers. Seniors are pissed it’s so difficult to get vaccinated and we don’t want them touching our CPP. We protect trans kids and walk proudly with our trans friends. We celebrated when measles were eradicated and pissed a baby died from measles in 2025. We don’t care about her endless fights with Ottawa, she’s hurting investment. We are done with her pandering to her base and celebrating Take Back Alberta as a grassroots movement while trying to cast doubt on AB Resistance.
Families are struggling to pay bills while Smith points fingers at Ottawa while jacking up our insurance, invites a slew of Canadians to come live here, but ignores she has failed to build new schools or attract healthcare professionals. Our tax dollars are paying for private schools and soon to subsidize healthcare while we watch services to us get cutback.
…..but yeah, blame the recall petitions on the NDP.
It’s all Trudeau’s fault.
No it’s Rachel’s fault.
It’s delicious irony watching the recalled MLAs whine and complain, especially Nicolaides and Nally. Both of them should be easy pickings for those collecting signatures.
I’d like to know if Nally broke the law in his search of his recaller’s voting. It certainly appears that he may have. Will he be censured and fined for it?
That’s the delightful thing about Karma, she has such a mischievous & poignant sense of irony…
The best part of the recall grassfire is that it’s put Premier Smith in a lose/lose situation. Recall the recall legislation and she risks angering her base. (If she takes this route, I’ll bet she waits until after this weekend’s UCP annual meetup.) Or let the situation play itself out and potentially deal with a caucus revolt from those MLA’s facing the loss of their cushy paycheques. I never thought I’d say this, but the current premier is actually making the previous premier (JK) look smart.
I’m sure, too, Smith will pull some dirty tricks to save her MLA’s butts but sooner or later it’s all catching up with them. This grassroots rebellion isn’t going away, even if Smith shreds every petition, fires every election officer, expires the auditor general, and sues everybody on social media or anyone who looks at her sideways. It’s interesting there is so much “buyer’s remorse” in Calgary regarding MLA recalls. People in that city were really stoked about the Forever Canadian Petition, too, that Thomas Lucaszuk got going. Did you see the line-ups to sign it?
The really powerful thing is that these are severely normal people who are rising up against the UCP’s corruption and betrayal. My husband and I gathered signatures for that petition and the people who came to sign were very much the silent majority, who have just had it. So many shaking their heads, unbelieving, saying, “who would have ever thought we would have to sign a petition for the province to stay in Canada? Hold a referendum?” They are mad as hell, and rightly so. And now, with the Smith government pulling that “Notwithstanding” baloney all the time? And bringing in “pay-to-play” health care? It’s gratifying to see the UCP “legislators” running around like chickens with their heads cut off after all the damage they have done, and continue to do to our province. They can point fingers at “the left” (whatever that is) or unions, teachers, doctors, parents, ranchers- their enemy-of-the-day- but at some point they have to consider maybe they got themselves in this pickle? Maybe a more elegant phrase from Shakespeare would be suitable- the “Rape of Lucreze”:
“O comfort-killing night, image of hell, Dim register and notary of shame, Black stage for tragedies and murders fell, Vast sin-concealing chaos, nurse of blame!”
Let it Be and Let Her Go
What did The Beetles and Hootie and the Blowfish have in common. They both wrote songs about allowing the “isness” of situations unfold. In another reference to a band of thief’s called “Marlaina and the UCP” ( not to be confused with “Martha and the Muffins”) eventually, most bands break up due to internal arguments, disagreements and conflict.
It is just a matter of time and inevitable that Marlaina and crew self- destruct. In reference to Freud’s theory on this subject:
Freud concluded that self-destructive behavior is influenced by one’s ego or superego and aggression. Depending on how strongly influenced one is, it will increase the intensity of one’s destructive behavior. Guilt is a leading factor for one’s superego. (Wiki, 2025)
This is an excellent explanation of the recall process.
https://substack.com/@orlaghokelly/note/c-180972037?r=53jz3s
Whatever happens in the end, it is clear that not all is well in the Land of Oz. The bold attempts by certain MLAs to smear and intimidate show that they are losing their grip.
Abs– Thanks for the link.
Informative read; and imho this not only justifies the reason for the original recall, but adds to why he definitely should be.
I like to see that praire morning rose hue, where just for once justice sways in favour of the electorate and offenders are hit with the maximum penalty for rule breaking instead of the proverbial ‘slap on the wrist ‘.
One can dream I guess. Sigh!
I sent my MLA a letter months ago and asked specific questions of her. No, I never received a response.
I wasn’t able to verify this but it’s believable: a neighbour told me that she had a packed community meeting of severely normal Albertans earlier this month but refused to speak publicly. Instead all who wanted to talk to her had to queue up and she talked with each one, quietly and privately so no one could hear her response.
She won the riding by 143 votes over the next contender, which was <0.6% of the 24 675 recorded votes.
She’s vulnerable and she’s running scared. I, for one, will be looking for the petition. I want an MLA who isn’t parachuted in from another riding, one who actually represents his or her constituents and one who doesn’t come from a party of separatists.
In BC where the Recall threshold is 40%, not 60% like in Alberta, there have been 30 Recall attempts, technically none successful except that one BC Liberal MLA did resign before the Recall signatures were counted so’s not to go down in history as the first. Most of these (except that one resignation) fell far short of the threshold, indicating purely partisan motives, most voters not being pure partisans. (BC’s Citizens’ Initiative legislation, whence Recall, did achieve one remarkable thing, though: the anti-HST Referendum —which resulted from a successful CI Petition where signatures numbering 10% of the number of votes in the previous election in all eighty-odd ridings— is the only time in eight centuries of Westminster parliamentary history when a legislated tax was rescinded by force of popular measure. I think that makes up for all those failed Recalls, don’t you?)
But the Alberta Recalls have a few things going for them which no BC Recall that I’m aware of had—but there was one big one that BC’s did share with today’s Alberta initiative: the motivation crosses party lines—that is, they are not purely partisan in nature.
The HST was defeated at Referendum in BC at a significantly (I would say ‘suspiciously’) smaller margin than all polling leading up to the big day indicated (the “Acting” Chief Electoral Officer, appointed by fiat instead of an all-party committee of the Assembly, had to be taken to court to force him to reveal the HST Petition results, appeared motivated to minimize the real margin of the HST’s defeat of which the ruling BC Liberal party ideologically disapproved; he was subsequently appointed parliamentary clerk and eventually convicted of fraud and breach of trust with regard his duties, and sentenced to house arrest). In any case, extensive pre-Referendum polling indicated that a remarkable exception to the usual, even, left/right split in BC had instead seen a decisive number of BC Liberal voters cast against their own party’s official position. That is, the exercise was not as partisan as the faded wallpaper portrayed.
I think this is probably the case in Alberta where partisanship, for all its intensity on the far-right, has plainly been in flux since the electorate turfed so many ruling ProgCon and Wildrose Opposition incumbents in 2015 that the NDP formed a majority in one of Canada’s most startling upsets. Doubtlessly a protest election at the time (to punish WR leader Danielle Smith’s floor-crossing to the PCs with much of her cabinet, and the PCs for taking them), but plainly tempering traditional partisanship as shown when: the NDP formed a strong Opposition after one term in power; the UCP bobbled Covid and its radical TBA faction ousted UCP founder and leader; Smith (who lost her nomination in 2015) won the UCP leadership, led the party to victory in 2o23 when the NDP won even more seats to form the largest Opposition in Alberta history (but for a few thousand votes in a handful of Calgary ridings, the NDP might have won the election); an independent conservative was a surprisingly strong runner-up during Poilievre’s by-election in the safest CPC seat in Canada (Battle River -Crowfoot in the province of “The Big Boned Gal”, as kd sang in her original hit song); the former ProgCon deputy premiere organized a petition against secession and, despite UCP fettering of CI rules, exceeded the threshold by an impressive number of signatures; two MLAs left the UCP caucus and formed a rival party of—so far—two seats; the UCP tried to impose parties into civic elections in hopes of squelching opposing voices from that quarter—and saw little electoral success. Et cetera.
The apparent trend looks like it might steepen as the UCP continues down the dark ladder of radicalization. Yes, Alberta is in a state of partisan and political flux which voters appear fain to flex.
Not only have issues like secession, trans~ and homophobia, coal mining in the Rockies, abuse of the “notwithstanding clause,” &c, crossed party lines already obscured by partisan fluidity, but Albertans’ Recalls are also advantaged because of Thomas Lukaszuk’s “Forever Canadian Petition” which has been, in effect, a training ground for organizing signature-canvassers, hundreds now enthused by the recent experience of surprising success and ‘feeling their oats’, as’t were. You couldn’t get better trained personnel at such a propitious time.
Indeed, Albertans are also psephologically primed by the federal election last April which PP kept fresh with his Alberta by-election in August. If Smith was granted an early election (as some speculate), I bet Albertans would jump at the chance—Christmas Day, even—just to let her know what they think of her government—like, for example, that it’s corrupt…maybe a little—dya think?
I’m feeling that voter morale is pretty high right now, likewise the appetite to tell the Smith government what’s on their minds. The Recall campaigns could hardly have found a better window.
While I don’t expect any to meet the 60% threshold, I would be tickled if any met 40%; but anything over 30% would be a signal accomplishment that would doubtlessly send a BIG message.
Yet not for a minute do I think Danielle would amend her agenda as a result. Rather I think she would double down, get in trouble, and do something unprecedented—like we know she can.
Good luck, my Alberta friends!
I’m looking forward to the first time a UCP MLA or supporter refers to these recall initiatives as an attempt at a “kudetah”.
Haven’t stopped laughing since I heard on the news. It looks so good on them. It falls under the category, be careful of what you wish for. They were so arrogant they didn’t think it would be used against them. They might be careful what ideas and practises they bring up from the U.S.A. Guess they didn’t think their legislation was going to just make the voters so happy. If they now go to repeal the legislation to avoid recall they’ll be admitting they’re afraid of their voters and that their legislation is not good. Ah, how lovely it is to see this. That is the problem with zealots they do not stop to think. Best political joke so far this year. Doesn’t get much better than this.
I think a lot of what’s happening here w/r/t the dismay of UCP MLAs can be chalked up to two things; number one being of course that these ridings aren’t just supposed to be “safe” ridings, they’re supposed to be ridings where there is NO alternative. These ridings always vote conservative and they always have so if there’s only one Conservative Party and you get the nomination, guess what? You now believe yourself to have a fifedom. You’re not supposed to be accountable to your constituents because they’re not supposed to disagree with a single thing you are doing. Carte Blanche, as it were, for whatever bit of nonsense you set your mind to.
I think that’s pretty obvious.
The other idea I have is more nebulous and has more to do with how this political project was created and less about individual MLAs, but I see Dani doing this ALL the TIME.
Without getting too far into specifics we have to remember that these folks live within their own communities, they go to their own schools, they go to their own churches, they listen to the same radio programs and they read the same books and they all think lately the SAME way about how a society should be organized and the reasons and justification for that. The most important thing to remember about them is they SINCERELY BELIEVE they are the only ones who are right.
Sure, are many of them corrupt as hell ? Absolutely, but that’s beside the point, the point is they have the same gut level beliefs that prevent them from seeing opposing viewpoints as having any validity at all.
To be honest I think this explains why they are so mad also, conservatives won a LONG time ago, and the problems inherent in our society have only gotten worse, a scapegoat must be found because, they’re RIGHT, damn in, and we are all wrong, as soon as they have complete control of EVERYTHING then they’ll show us how wrong we really were.
So yeah, speed limits going up because car crash statistics are woke nonsense, trans folks must be oppressed because they’re evil… etc etc etc.
The key thing here is they’re not going to listen to us, we must go to war with these people and defeat them, and I applaud AB resistance for doing just that.
A compromise is not in the offering, and we should stop pretending like it could be.
“[A] group of citizens who just had their constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights suspended by the use of the Constitution’s Notwithstanding Clause.” Apologists for, and defenders of, Section 33 argue that governments that use it inappropriately will ultimately be held to account by the electorate, which is why they put the 5 year sunset provision in it. (This ignores the reality that bills of rights are not needed to protect the rights of the majority in a democracy, but to protect the rights of the minority).
No doubt what the participants in the November 1981 “kitchen accord” had in mind was a government being defeated in a general election, if voters didn’t approve of their use of the “notwithstanding clause”. But grassroots organizing of a recall campaign also certainly meets that description.
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/patriation-of-the-constitution