Petition deadline approaching for ‘Recall Gondek’ organizers

The organizers collecting signatures in hopes of recalling Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek appear to be running out of time.

The petition must be turned in to the Elections Calgary office by this Thursday. More than 500,000 signatures are needed to officially recall the mayor under provincial legislation.

Petition organizer Landon Johnston tells CityNews the petition has over 51,000 signatures at last count. He says volunteers have remained busy canvassing the city for more names.

“It’s been a pretty big push on getting signature petitions back in through our commissioners and into my hands,” he says. “That’s always been the biggest hurdle for us.”

Johnston says he’s been taken aback at how divisive the petition has become.

“Either I’ll get somebody who is excited or thrilled….dying to sign it,” he says. “Or, we get people that are just vile and evil.”

“They’ll spit on you, they’ll scream at you, they’ll throw stuff at you. That’s been happening more and more.”

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He says if anyone has any petitions laying around, it is best to contact a commissioner through their website so that they can get picked up before Thursday’s deadline.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would consider changes to the province’s recall legislation while on a call with Johnston over the weekend.

Johnston met with Gondek last month in a 15 minute face-to-face meeting that he described as cordial.

The mayor said of the meeting, while Johnston and herself may disagree on politics, they share a “desire to do good things for Calgary.”