Glacier FarmMedia — The number of approved recall petitions has risen to nine for Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party caucus after Monday’s confirmation to Alberta’s chief electoral officer.
Among the names received were four cabinet ministers, including RJ Sigurdson (agriculture and irrigation) in his Highwood riding. Also named were Rajan Sawhney (Indigenous relations), Myles McDougall (advanced education) and Dale Nally (Service Alberta and red tape reduction).
Upon approval of the recall petition, a three-month window is opened for those who submitted the petition to collect 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent election in the electoral division. For Sigurdson’s case, it would be 15, 788 signatures to trigger a vote on whether the MLA keeps his seat.
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Recall petitions have been concentrated in more urban areas overall, including five from the Calgary area, which also included speaker Ric McIver.
The petitioner against Sigurdson gave unresponsiveness to contact and difficulty to get ahold of as reasons for the recall. Not keeping regular posted office hours or responding to phone and email requests, and supporting the use of the notwithstanding clause, were also cited on the Current Recall Petitions Page here.
Elections Alberta also previously approved a petition to recall MLA Demetrios Nicolaides (education).
The UCP holds 47 members in the 87-member house with the opposition NDP at 38. If all nine MLAs were defeated in constituency votes, Smith’s government would lose its majority status, with two former UCP sitting as independents.
