Alberta Premier Danielle Smith doubled down on her commitment to fix the province’s recall legislation. Smith made this commitment because of the high bar for signatures people need to meet for recall petitions in cities such as Calgary, which would be more than 500,000 signatures. “And so we know that we need to make some modifications,” said Smith in a Saturday interview on Your Province. Your Premier. on Corus Radio. “But what I’ve said is I can’t modify the legislation while there’s an active petition going on.” Recall Gondek organizer Landon Johnston started off by saying he has been left out to dry for the past 55 days. “There’s so many holes, loopholes, gaps in this legislation,” said Johnston. “And I’ve been left to fend for myself against so many groups using this as an opportunity for their own gain.” Over the last 55 days, Johnston said he has been trying to speak with Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver and other government officials to obtain direction and navigation with the recall legislation. However, not one person has contacted him. When it comes to Johnston, Smith said she thinks he is not a partisan. She called him “a good civic-minded Calgarian whose really concerned as he mentioned.” News outlets have reported a number of different groups have been involved with the Recall Gondek campaign. Many of them have said they are uninvolved with it when asked about it. She acknowledged she does not want to interfere until the signature date is over. Once that is over, she said she “really would look forward to getting some input from someone whose gone through the process of what we need to do to change the legislation.” Smith concluded by saying Johnston has her commitment. “Happy to talk to you once that 60 days is up,” she said. The City of Calgary received a formal petition to recall Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek under Alberta’s recall legislation on February 5. READ MORE: UPDATED: City of Calgary gets Alberta’s first recall petition against GondekIt is the first since the Alberta government introduced recall provisions under the Municipal Government Act in 2022.“This is the first notice of recall petition that has been received by the City Clerk’s Office since the legislation took effect,” said City of Calgary City Clerk Kate Martin.
