Premier Danielle Smith speaks to the media at the Legislature in Edmonton on Wednesday.--CP PHOTO AMBER BRACKEN
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Premier Danielle Smith is slated to make a series of visits to the riding in coming days, but recall petitioners say they are seeking more meaningful engagement.
Since responding to questions regarding to the recall petition earlier in the week, Smith has has booked several appearances, including time in Calgary on Thursday with the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, a Christmas market appearance in Brooks on Friday evening and an abbreviated town hall in Bassano, to mixed reactions.
While some welcome the increased presence, others are frustrated with the controlled format of some of these engagements, such as the fact that questions for the Bassano town hall must be submitted in advance and approved before being asked.
“A weekend visit and increased visibility don’t erase longstanding concerns about accessibility, representation and meaningful engagement,” said recall campaign co-organizer Brittany Doctor.
“People here want more than three sightings a year, and not just for the big stuff, but also for the smaller, everyday connections,” said petition applicant Heather VanSnick. “You can’t represent a community you don’t show up for. Constituents deserve timely communication, regular engagement and an MLA who takes their concerns seriously.”
With the recall petition officially posted on Wednesday, the committee is now able to begin recruiting canvassers and collecting signatures. Supporters of the petition say the campaign is not about political parties, but about accountability and ensuring elected officials remain responsive to the communities they represent.
This is one of 21 recall petitions issued since the end of October, prompting chief electoral officer Gordon McClure to advise that more money was required to manage an “unprecedented spike.”
Each petition is estimated to cost a little more than $300,000, $1.5 million for shipping and postage of documents and $2.4 million in staffing costs. As a result, Alberta election officials are set to receive $6.7 million in additional funding.
Smith’s government left the Recall Act as is through the fall legislature sitting but the premier has repeatedly said her MLAs are looking at it and that they don’t believe it is being used as intended. In response to her own petition, Smith listed the current criteria as being too easy to meet, criteria her government imposed in July.
When the UCP passed the Recall Act they said it was for serious breeches of trust, gross misconduct, and for breaking the faith of the people. The UCP’s authoritarian use of the Notwithstanding Clause is gross misconduct that literally harms and degrades our democracy, same for the UCP partnering with separatists taking funds from Trump. The UCP is actively working to steal our CPP just like Trump stole the 401k retirement funds of Americans. Also like Trump, the UCP is actively attacking public education and giving the money to private education. Because of the UCP, teachers don’t want to work in Alberta anymore. Again, in lockstep with Trump who is bankrupting American families by multiplying health insurance costs, the UCP are also attacking public healthcare, in favour of private healthcare that most Albertans won’t be able to afford (veternarians are private healthcare). Because of the UCP attacks on healthcare, doctors and nurses don’t want to work in Alberta anymore. All of these are serious breeches of trust that have broken the trust of the people. And I haven’t even got to the endless corruption like the Turkish tylenol scandal, the coal mining debacle, the disasterous changes to the public service, or the utter disregard for the majority of Albertans for the extreme fringe. Trump is destroying the USA, and the UCP are doing the exact same to Alberta. MAGA wants to destroy Canada, so to do their Maple MAGA cousins in Alberta. I lived in Smith’s riding for a decade and wish I still did so I could help gather signatures for her recall.
Hawkeye
18 days ago
It’s been a day and you are still censoring my polite and factual comment. I was going to be renewing my subscription, but won’t anymore. Instead I have posted snips of my comment on social media showing how Medicine Hat News is a right wing propaganda corp, and not a sources for unbiased news. Are you owned by American Postmedia also?
RTaylor
18 days ago
You have to be kidding?? The MH News is far from Conservative.
RTaylor
18 days ago
Smith is Pro Alberta. Nenshi is Pro Ottawa. Remember the 4 yrs under the NDP (when they accidentally won with 63% of voters not voting for them), and AB’s debt went from 11 Billion to 86 Billion?
When the UCP passed the Recall Act they said it was for serious breeches of trust, gross misconduct, and for breaking the faith of the people. The UCP’s authoritarian use of the Notwithstanding Clause is gross misconduct that literally harms and degrades our democracy, same for the UCP partnering with separatists taking funds from Trump. The UCP is actively working to steal our CPP just like Trump stole the 401k retirement funds of Americans. Also like Trump, the UCP is actively attacking public education and giving the money to private education. Because of the UCP, teachers don’t want to work in Alberta anymore. Again, in lockstep with Trump who is bankrupting American families by multiplying health insurance costs, the UCP are also attacking public healthcare, in favour of private healthcare that most Albertans won’t be able to afford (veternarians are private healthcare). Because of the UCP attacks on healthcare, doctors and nurses don’t want to work in Alberta anymore. All of these are serious breeches of trust that have broken the trust of the people. And I haven’t even got to the endless corruption like the Turkish tylenol scandal, the coal mining debacle, the disasterous changes to the public service, or the utter disregard for the majority of Albertans for the extreme fringe. Trump is destroying the USA, and the UCP are doing the exact same to Alberta. MAGA wants to destroy Canada, so to do their Maple MAGA cousins in Alberta. I lived in Smith’s riding for a decade and wish I still did so I could help gather signatures for her recall.
It’s been a day and you are still censoring my polite and factual comment. I was going to be renewing my subscription, but won’t anymore. Instead I have posted snips of my comment on social media showing how Medicine Hat News is a right wing propaganda corp, and not a sources for unbiased news. Are you owned by American Postmedia also?
You have to be kidding?? The MH News is far from Conservative.
Smith is Pro Alberta. Nenshi is Pro Ottawa. Remember the 4 yrs under the NDP (when they accidentally won with 63% of voters not voting for them), and AB’s debt went from 11 Billion to 86 Billion?