Alberta’s Smith only has herself to blame for recall petitions: Labour leader

The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour says Premier Danielle Smith only has herself to blame for her United Conservative Party caucus facing more than a dozen recall petitions.

While Smith has credited Gil McGowan and other labour leaders for the recent outburst of campaigns and accused them of abusing the process in an attempt to overthrow her government, McGowan says his involvement to date has been minimal.

McGowan told reporters Monday that while he had previously promised to get involved after the government invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to end a provincewide teacher’s strike, he quickly learned the law largely prevents organizations like his from engaging in the recall process.

He said claims made by the premier and some of her ministers in recent weeks that the federation has been organizing, funding and even busing people into ridings to aid what are now 14 active petitions, are false. McGowan said his involvement to date has been limited to spreading the word about where people can sign and how they can get involved.

“Union members in this province do support recall campaigns, but we also follow the letter of the law, and the letter of law makes it very clear that the recall campaigns have to be organized independently,” McGowan said.

He added the premier’s accusations, especially busing people in, also “didn’t make sense” as the law prohibits those who don’t live in a riding from signing a petition or canvassing for signatures.

If either was happening, he agreed that it would be caught by Elections Alberta when it comes time to verify signatures and that petitions would likely be invalidated.

McGowan said he thinks Smith is trying to paint him and the labour movement as the reason changes need to be made to the Recall Act.

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“She knows that it’s pretty indefensible, so she’s looking for a fig leaf. We in the labour movement are the fig leaf,” McGowan said.

“This is not about protecting Albertans. This is not about protecting democracy. This is simply about the UCP protecting themselves and everyone should see it for what it really is.”

Smith has recently said they are consulting on making changes to the Recall Act. She brought it up with grassroots party members at the UCP’s annual convention over the weekend.

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Smith undertook a straw poll with those in attendance Friday, judging the crowd’s support for tightened recall rules or support for leaving the process alone and betting that petitioners would fail.

The second option received “a little bit less clapping,” as Smith assessed.

“I think people are a bit frustrated that it’s being used this way.”

A spokesperson for Smith didn’t immediately respond to questions about McGowan’s comments, but the premier told reporters Monday that there will be changes tabled to “election legislation” later this week.

Heather Jenkins, a spokesperson for Justice Minister Mickey Amery said those changes won’t include any amendments to the recall process.

“Cabinet and caucus discussed this further and are not planning any changes to the Recall Act at this time,” Jenkins said in an email.

Many petitioners behind the ongoing signature campaigns to remove members of Smith’s caucus have cited the use of the notwithstanding clause as a driving factor, while 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.

Those behind the 14 campaigns 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.

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