Recall campaign escalates as 14 UCP MLAs enter petition phase

The recall threat against the UCP just spiked, with 11 new petitions targeting MLAs issued this week. A staggering 14 United Conservative MLAs are now facing signature-collection campaigns.

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The recall threat against the UCP just spiked, with 11 new petitions targeting MLAs issued this week. A staggering 14 United Conservative MLAs are now facing signature-collection campaigns. If these recalls succeed, the UCP majority is at risk, potentially handing power to the NDP.

Elections Alberta’s Monday approvals target MLAs Myles McDougall, Ric McIver, Muhammad Yaseen, Rajan Sawhney, RJ Sigurdson, and Dale Nally. Each petition requires between roughly 9,500 and 16,000 signatures within 90 days.

These six MLAs join three others already in the signature-collection stage: Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, Airdrie-East MLA Angela Pitt, and Grande Prairie MLA Nolan Dyck.

More recently, Elections Alberta issued another five petitions on Tuesday, against MLAs Glenn Van Dijken, Jackie Lovely, Nathan Neudorf, Jason Stephan, and Searle Turton

Operation Total Recall currently lists nine MLAs in the “Gathering Signatures” phase. An additional four are listed as “Initial Paperwork Approved,” five as “Initial Paperwork Submitted,” and five—including the premier—are “Targeted.” However, this list is not updated to include the five newest petitions issued.

The group describes itself as a hub for information and tools rather than a campaign organizer, stating on its homepage that it supports citizen-led efforts.

However, the group says it is specifically targeting the 44 Alberta United Conservative Party (UCP) MLAs who supported using the notwithstanding clause to send teachers back to work.

Senior United Conservative ministers responded to the petitions at an unrelated press conference on Tuesday, stating that the legislation is already being stretched beyond its intended purpose.

Finance Minister Nate Horner said the original legislation was a campaign commitment from former premier Jason Kenney. He said the intent was to deal with elected officials outside of the regular election cycles who had shown egregious behaviour.

“You can judge for yourself if that’s how it’s being used,” he said.

Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services Jason Nixon reiterated Horner’s comments, adding that any joint effort from third-party groups going into individual constituencies and bringing in people from elsewhere in the province is illegal.

“I’m very confident my constituents won’t recall me. And if somebody wants to spend a lot of time trying to get those signatures, I wish them the very best. And they have every right to do that,” he said. “But it needs to be a conversation between an MLA and their constituents, not on an organized group that is trying to dismantle the government. That’s not what the recall legislation was ever designed to do.”

Operation Total Recall is organizing various events in different constituencies to collect signatures.

One X user suggested that each recall campaign costs $5 million to administer.

True North reached out to Elections Alberta and the finance ministry to confirm the cost but received no reply in time for publication.

Under Alberta’s Recall Act, once a petition is approved, the applicant has 90 days to collect signatures from eligible electors using official forms witnessed by registered canvassers. Each petition must gather signatures equal to 60 per cent of the votes cast in that constituency during the most recent provincial election. Elections Alberta verifies the signatures within 21 days of submission. If a petition meets the threshold and passes verification, the Lieutenant Governor in Council must order a recall vote within four months. If more than 50 per cent of voters choose to recall their MLA in that vote, the member loses their seat and a byelection is held.