Premier Danielle Smith addressed the rising wave of recall petitions against members of her party during a press conference in Calgary on Friday.Smith said the government is monitoring the process closely and is considering potential procedural changes.“There's some things that we're concerned about. We're concerned that some of the laws that are out there don’t allow you to trace every dollar that comes in from the political parties,” Smith said.“The rules say these campaigns are supposed to be driven by local concerns. There also doesn’t seem to be a fair process for those whose petitions are affirmed — they haven’t been contacted by Elections Alberta officials or given guidance on fundraising and campaigning. These are procedural issues we may need to modify.”The current legislation involving recalls has recently gained attention after Elections Alberta approved two petitions to unseat Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides and Angela Pitt, UCP MLA for Airdrie-East.The possibility of more petitions popping up is currently expected..ANOTHER ONE: Recall petition of Airdrie MLA announced by Chief Electoral Officer.In both cases, the petitioners emphasized that their actions are not intended to topple the provincial government, despite calls from Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan last week advocating for recalls as payback for the government’s use of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to end the province-wide teachers’ strike.The applicant behind Nicolaides’ petition cited the minister’s perceived lack of support for public education, while Angela Pitt’s petitioner, Derek Keenan, said that while he doesn’t want the NDP to take over his riding — citing the community’s conservative values — he is seeking a more responsive representative who will address local concerns.Smith also addressed the possibility of petitions being invalidated, noting that it would depend on the severity of any violations.“We're just hearing and watching the websites that have been launched, the GoFundMe pages that have been launched, and the bussing that has occurred. There’s a process we have to go through to make sure that there is procedural preparedness,” she stated.“I hope that the elections officials would contact candidates soon and give them some direction on how they can start raising money so that they can be authorized to do so, because we just established legislative frameworks so that candidates are able to raise money for their candidacy.“It seems absurd that those very basic procedural issues have not been resolved. So those are things that we're looking at. We're hoping that the election officials are able to provide some clarity, and if not, we may have to step in.”Petitioners have three months to collect signatures equal to at least 60% of the votes cast in the last election in each riding.If successful and validated, a vote would take place within four months. Should more than half of voters in the riding cast ballots to remove a sitting MLA, that member would be unseated.
