Four more recall petitions against Alberta politicians fail as 10 reach the deadline

EDMONTON – At least four more recall petitions against Alberta politicians have failed.

But that number may increase, as 10 petitions were due in to Elections Alberta on Monday.

The petitioner targeting Alberta’s Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney says the campaign gathered roughly 3,400 signatures, far fewer than the nearly 15,000 it needed.

Melissa Craig said Monday she was optimistic at first, but after the campaign got underway collecting signatures became a “slog.”

Craig said while she’s still proud of the result, she was disappointed in how little some Albertans are engaged politically.

“A lot of people didn’t even know what a (member of the legislative assembly or MLA) was,” she said. “It’s kind of scary, actually.”

“It’s really opened my eyes to what our government is looking like in this province and how people need to be educated about how things are supposed to work.”

The campaign against Advanced Education Minister Myles McDougall also says it fell short, collecting roughly 25 per cent of what was needed, or 4,000 signatures.

Petitioner Serenity Shalev said despite the petition falling short, she, too, was proud of the result.

Shalev said there were more than 80 volunteers working with her to collect signatures, and that the campaign managed to go to every house in McDougall’s Calgary riding.

“We probably needed two or three times that amount (of volunteers) in order to get more signatures,” she said.

The campaign against Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally also fell short.

Petitioner Josh Eberhart said Monday that he estimates about 2,600 signatures were gathered, a fraction of the required 15,700.

The two had publicly squared off after the petition was launched. Eberhart accused Nally of breaking election laws when the minister claimed in his response to the petition that Eberhart hadn’t voted in the last provincial election and therefore was abusing the recall process.

Eberhart said Monday he still planned to file a complaint with Elections Alberta.

Another petition to fall short on Monday was against United Conservative Party backbencher Jason Stephan of Red Deer.

Petitioner Nicole Green said in a statement that the campaign gathered over 4,000 signatures, well short of its goal of 14,500.

Green said a message was sent: “Gathering thousands of signatures during some of the coldest months of the year speaks volumes about the level of dissatisfaction people feel toward MLA Jason Stephan and the UCP government.”

More than 20 recall petitions against members of Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative caucus were launched late last year, including against the premier. Two petitions against Opposition NDP members were also launched.

No petition has succeeded to date, with at least eight confirmed to have come up short.

Many of those petitioning against Smith’s caucus have said they were motivated by the government’s use of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to force striking teachers back to work last fall. Others have said it’s because their representative was hard to reach or was dismissive of local concerns.

A spokesperson for the UCP caucus said Sawhney would have more to say after Elections Alberta posted the final results for the petition against her. 

McDougall, in a statement, said he remains focused on delivering results for his community.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides was the first of Smith’s caucus to face, and overcome, a petition campaign. He said last month that he took it to be a vote of confidence in the government and the direction he was taking public education policy in the province.

Petitioners have three months to collect signatures equal to 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in their constituency in the 2023 provincial election.

If successful, a constituency-wide vote would be held on whether the politician keeps their seat. If the member loses, a byelection would be held.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2026.