Barnes, a proponent of recall laws, says they’re too hard to achieve

By COLLIN GALLANT on February 7, 2024.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Opponents of Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek will have to collect more than half a million signatures to force a new election, a requirement that local “recall” advocate Drew Barnes says is proof of the impractical hurdles in the legislation.

Another Hatter, Mayor Linnsie Clark, who faced an unsuccessful recall challenge last fall said she can see the relatively new law being reviewed.

Barnes, the former MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat, long called for recall legislation since he was fist elected in 2012, but has often criticized the particulars of the laws that were enacted in the last term while he was a member of the governing United Conservative Party.

“The Kenney government’s recall bills are totally unachievable – 60 days to get 40 per cent of the electorate to get out and sign (a petition) – that’s not realistic,” said Barnes on Tuesday. “It could only happen in very, very small municipalities.”

It has worked once, in the Hamlet of Ryley (population 460) near Camrose, while four other attempts launched by citizens haven’t met the hurdle to remove a specific elected official immediately before a byelection is held.

Attempts in Medicine Hat to force a new mayoral election fell two-thirds short of meeting requirements.

Clark told the News she would reserve comment on the effort to remove Gondek.

“That process will have to work itself out in accordance with the MGA,” said Clark on Monday. “I do think a Municipal Affairs review of the Municipal Government Act, they have sought some input on the issue.”

Changes in 2022 to the Local Authorities Elections Act and other relevant pieces of legislation allow an individual who could vote for an elected position to pay $500 and then designate canvassers to collect signatures. For local municipal councils and school boards, the requirement in 40 per cent of the adults in the voting area. If successful, the position is vacated and a byelection called.

In the case of an MLA, 40 per cent of eligible voters are required in petitioning, then a general recall vote is held where a majority vote is needed for a byelection to proceed. According to Elections Alberta, required signatures in Cypress-Medicine Hat and Brooks-Medicine Hat would be 14,639 and 13,703, respectively.

Media reports in Calgary state the recall initiator, Landon Johnston, filed the application to signal disapproval with Gondek’s and other council members’ handling of several issues.

Barnes said voters are discontent and seeking avenues to voice disapproval.

“We’re seeing more and more that Albertans are tired of the ineffectiveness of their political system and the lack of engagement that everyday Albertans have with it,” said Barnes, who stated he was not active in the recall petition against Clark.

In the fall, vocal utility and City Hall critic Nicole Frey launched the recall in Medicine Hat, paying $500 to begin the regulated process to collect physical signatures from about 25,000 residents.

The petition was not formally submitted for scrutiny after only about 8,600 were reportedly collected by deadline, at which time Frey said the process was too difficult considering only about 20,000 people cast votes in the 2021 municipal election.

In Calgary, which has a population of 1.3 million, the petition would require 514,000 scrutinized signatures to be considered valid. It must be submitted within 60 days, or by April 4.

About 393,000 ballots were cast in Calgary in the 2021 municipal election from about 850,000 enumerated voters, according to The Canadian Press.