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By Liam Verster
Concerns with Recall on the local level

Local elected officials have some concerns with tabled Recall Act

Mar 17, 2021 | 1:07 PM

The Alberta Government introduced Bill 52: The Recall Act in the legislature on Monday, and while generally in favour of recall legislation, some local elected officials have some concerns with the specifics.

While there are some positives in the act, including the fact that it should hold those in elected positions more accountable and force more transparency, Reeve for the County of Grande Prairie Leanne Beaupre says the threshold for petition signatures should be more flexible and meet the needs of the community where it’s being filed.

One of her concerns is that not all municipalities have the same sort of elected divisions or wards.

“If you look for example at the City of Grande Prairie and the County of Grande Prairie, our (the County’s) elected officials are elected to wards, or divisions, so they’re served by nine different areas in the County, whereas in the City of Grande Prairie, their elected officials are elected by a slate of individuals with an independent mayor,” explained Beaupre.

“For the County of Grande Prairie, for example 40 per cent of my area (Division 3) would be 40 per cent of approximately 4,000 people would have to sign a petition to be successful and have a recall or a removal of my position. Whereas in the City of Grande Prairie it would be 40 per cent of the 68,000 eligible voters.”

Beaupre adds that if that 40 per cent threshold is met in a petition, then it does show a problem with that official, and it’s good that that individual is removed.

Dylan Bressey, a Councillor for the City of Grande Prairie, says while he’s very much in support of recall legislation, the signature threshold is too high and will likely never be reached in certain situations, such as recalling MLAs or officials in larger municipalities.

Bressey also says he has concerns with financial backers possibly getting involved in local recalls.

“[The Alberta Government] has taken steps to allow corporations and unions to spend more on third party advertising campaigns and they’ve also allowed wealthy donors to make bigger and anonymous donations to municipal campaigns. If that becomes part of recall actions, I really worry about the increased role that money might start playing in municipal politics” says Bressey.

He adds municipalities play the biggest role out of any level of government regarding people’s day to day lives.

“Municipalities are responsible for the majority of public infrastructure and we are responsible for the services that people interact with the most,” said Bressey. “At the same time we’re also the order of government that people have the least information about, so if money starts becoming a big part of municipal politics, it really can give a lot of outside power to large donors whether they’re private, secretive individuals, or corporations or unions.”

Bressey was also concerned with the fact that the bill was tabled without any consultations with municipalities or school boards, but Beaupre says it wasn’t really a surprise, as recall legislation was part of the UCP’s 2019 election campaign.

The bill still needs to be debated in the Legislature, and Beaupre says she hopes these concerns are addressed in the process.

by Liam Verster