Four more Alberta MLAs face recall petitions, bringing total to 19

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said four more UCP MLAs were facing recall, when it is three UCP and one NDP MLA

Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer has approved four new recall petitions, including three more targeting United Conservative Party (UCP) members, bringing the total number of MLAs facing potential removal to 19 — including Premier Danielle Smith.

Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure confirmed that applications to recall NDP Calgary-Beddington MLA Amanda Chapman, Calgary-East MLA Peter Singh, Calgary-Peigan MLA Tanya Fir, and Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange have met the legal requirements to proceed. LaGrange also serves as Alberta’s Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services.

Chapman is the first non-UCP member to face recall amid this latest surge. Petitioner Laurie McCormack says Chapman needs to go because she is putting strident, divisive, partisan attacks above “common-sense representation,” and backs public-sector unions at the expense of residents.

Under provincial legislation, petition applicants and registered canvassers now have 90 days to collect signatures from eligible voters in each constituency. To succeed, campaigns must secure signatures equal to 60 per cent of the ballots cast in the last provincial election.

If that threshold is met, a vote is held to determine whether the MLA remains in office. A loss would trigger a byelection.

The four MLAs join 15 others already facing recall efforts, including Premier Smith, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, Speaker of the House Ric McIver, and several cabinet ministers such as Rajan Sawhney, Myles McDougall, Muhammad Yaseen, RJ Sigurdson, Dale Nally, Searle Turton, and Nathan Neudorf. Other UCP members under petition include Angela Pitt, Jason Stephan, Jackie Lovely, Nolan Dyck, and Glenn van Dijken.

The legislation also allows MLAs subject to recall petitions to submit a formal statement in response.

The surge in petitions marks a significant escalation in political pressure on the governing UCP, with nearly half of its caucus of 47 MLAs now facing organized campaigns to remove them from office.

With files from The Canadian Press