Updated recommendations on recall

After speaking with our members at last month’s Summer Municipal Leaders’ Caucus, ABmunis’ Board of Directors has expanded its recommendations on how the rules to recall a municipal elected official should be updated. 

We want members to be aware of these recommendations because the Government of Alberta sent an online survey about recall rules to municipalities just last week. 

The following additional recommendations have been made to the provincial government: 

• Change the signature threshold for a recall petition to be 40% of eligible voters (except for summer villages).  
• If the number of required signatures is greater than 15,000, then allow the organizer to collect signatures for 90 days. Otherwise, maintain the time period at 60 days.  
• Municipal governments should have no involvement in the management of a recall petition due to the power structure between council and municipal staff and the related challenges this would create in terms of public perception. All aspects of a recall petition should be managed by an independent body, just as the Chief Electoral Officer manages all aspects of MLA recall.  
• Require the petition organizer to provide a written statement outlining the reasons for recall and allow the elected official to provide a statement in response that is printed on the petition form. 
• Require petition canvassers to register and follow a code of conduct guideline (same as MLA recall). 
• Create a regulatory framework for advertising, fundraising, and financial disclosures.  
• Create a regulatory framework that prevents local political parties, slates, candidates, and third-party advertisers from launching a recall petition or fundraising from a recall petition. 

We have provide a total of 16 recommendations to Municipal Affairs. Many of our recommendations are designed to create greater consistency between the rules for recalling a municipal official and recalling an MLA.  

We encourage you to review our recommendations and complete the provincial government’s survey that was emailed to municipalities on July 18. We thank everyone who provided input to us through various meetings held in the last year. 

Any questions about our recommendations can be sent to our Advocacy team at advocacy [at] abmunis.ca (advocacy[at]abmunis[dot]ca).