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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 and Innovation 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.”
Heather VanSnick says Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Danielle Smith, who also serves as premier, is an absentee representative. (Eli Ridder/CBC)
Smith pushed back against those claims during an unrelated news conference Wednesday.
“I can tell you that Brooks-Medicine Hat, they used to call themselves the ‘forgotten corner,’ and they’re not forgotten anymore,” Smith said.
Smith highlighted projects that have moved forward in the region, including the JBS-Highway 873 connection road, modernized schools and health facility upgrades.
She also said she regularly gets feedback from her constituents during quarterly town halls in the region, including one she is hosting in Bassano this weekend.
Smith said the slew of recall petitions shows “the process is being abused.” She likened it to the longest ballot protest as an example of groups trying to undermine democratic systems.
The premier did not commit to whether the government would update the legislation, but said her government is watching closely to see if changes need to be made.
WATCH | Danielle Smith on why so many recall petitions have been launched against the UCP:
Danielle Smith asked why her government faces so many recall petitions
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says recall petitions have been ‘weaponized’ against the ruling UCP government, saying she’s ‘hearing a lot of frustration from Albertans that they’re making a mockery of what should be a very important mechanism to address elected officials who genuinely aren’t doing their job.’
In a statement to CBC News, United Conservative Party spokesperson Mackenzie Blyth said the recall process was not intended to overturn democratic elections “just because an individual disagrees with government policy.”
“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. For Brooks-Medicine Hat, that works out to 12,070 signatures, according to Elections Alberta.
If the signature drive is successful, a vote is held on whether the representative gets to keep their seat. If the member loses, a byelection is held.
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 still brings some advertising and a little bit of notoriety,” Groom told CBC News.
“It displays the discontent to some people in the constituency field. So I think it’s [a] pretty, pretty effective idea.”
Jim Groom, a former political science professor at Medicine Hat College, says the recall petition signals some unhappiness with Danielle Smith as MLA. (Eli Ridder/CBC)
Smith made her return to the legislature after nearly a decade when she first won her southeast Alberta riding in a November 2022 byelection called after she became 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.
Since 2023, Smith has 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 said any MLA who is a 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 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 claims they are not listening while listing the local projects and initiatives accomplished on their watch.
