Recall petition targeting Alberta Premier Danielle Smith approved

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is now one of 20 United Conservative MLAs subject to a recall petition amid a growing movement to try to remove members of her party from office.

Petitions approved by Elections Alberta were posted for Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Smith, environment minister Rebecca Schulz and technology minister Nate Glubish on Wednesday morning.

Those additions bring the total number of provincial representatives facing recall efforts to 21, including one Alberta New Democrat.

Petitioner Heather VanSnick claimed in her application that Smith doesn’t live in the community and hasn’t made an effort to understand her constituents.

“Our community and her riding is being ignored,” VanSnick told CBC News after filing her application to Elections Alberta.

“She isn’t serving us in the way that we need to be served. She isn’t an integral part of her own riding,” she added.

“She’s not here.”

Smith, in a written response to the petition, pushed back against VanSnick's claims in a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure, saying she was "proud of the results I've delivered for you."

She cited a connection road for a beef processing plant in Brooks, new and modernized schools and health facility upgrades in the riding as examples.

"I regularly make myself available to meet with constituents and I routinely host town halls across my riding," Smith wrote, in part.

Smith’s government has claimed the recalls are being inappropriately politicized.

“The recall process should not be used to overturn democratic elections just because an individual disagrees with government policy,” said United Conservative spokesperson Mackenzie Blyth, in response to a request for comment from CBC News.

“Recalls are meant to address breaches of trust, serious misconduct, or a sustained failure to represent constituents, not political disagreements,” she added.

“Our United Conservative Caucus remains focused on what we were elected to do, which is standing up for Albertans by growing our economy, lowering taxes, and creating opportunities.”

Petitioners have three months to collect signatures equal to 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the constituency in the 2023 election.

If successful, a vote is held on whether the representative gets to keep their seat. If the member loses, a byelection is held.

For Brooks-Medicine Hat, that works out to 12,070 signatures, according to Elections Alberta.

All of Smith's opponents in the 2023 provincial election received about half that many votes combined.

Jim Groom, a former political science professor at Medicine Hat College, said the petition could be effective in sending a signal, regardless of what happens.

"Whether they're successful or not, it's still it brings some advertising and a little bit of notoriety," Groom told CBC News.

"It displays the discontent to some people in the the constituency field. So I think it's [a] pretty, pretty effective idea."

Smith made a return to the legislature after nearly a decade when she first won her southeast Alberta riding in a November 2022 by-election called after becoming leader of the United Conservatives and premier.

Six months later, Smith's support in the riding grew by double digits when she claimed 66.5 per cent of the ballot in the 2023 general election.

Smith has since 2023 held at least four public town halls in conjunction with her United Conservative colleague Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright, while also attending the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede.

Groom, the former professor, said any MLA who is the party leader is forced to balance their time between Edmonton and their chosen riding.

"It is a catch-22 because if the premier's not busy doing the the business of the province then she's being criticized for that," he said.

"And if she isn't paying enough attention to her local constituency, then of course she's at fault for that as well."

Many petitioners behind the signature campaigns to remove members of Smith's caucus have cited her government’s use of the notwithstanding clause as a motivating factor.

Others have said it was their representative's lack of communication and advocacy for local issues that sparked their campaigns.

Most of the legislature members have answered back, rejecting the claims they are not listening while listing the local projects and initiatives accomplished on their watch.

Smith in recent weeks has said her government was considering changes to the provincial Recall Act to address other concerns, such as fundraising rules.

Her justice minister, however, said that after further discussion no changes were planned for now.