Elections Alberta says second legislature member, Angela Pitt, facing recall petition

EDMONTON — A second member of the Alberta legislature is facing a citizen-led petition to recall her from her job.

Chief electoral officer Gordon McClure, speaking Monday to a legislature committee, said a recall campaign has been approved for United Conservative member Angela Pitt.

McClure didn’t say what reasoning was given by the applicant, but the person can start collecting signatures Wednesday. He said the applicant has until early February to gather just under 15,000 signatures from residents in the riding.

If the petition drive is successful and signatures are validated, a vote would be held within four months in the Calgary-area riding. If more than half of voters cast a ballot to remove Pitt, she would be unseated as a member of the legislature.

Pitt, who represents Airdrie-East, also serves as deputy Speaker of the legislature.

Pitt said in a statement she takes her role seriously and recalls shouldn’t be approved just because people disagree with government policy.

“Recalls are meant to address breaches of trust, serious misconduct or a sustained failure to represent constituents, not political disagreements,” she said.

It comes weeks after another recall petition was approved for Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides. The applicant has alleged the minister is failing as the MLA for Calgary-Bow by undermining the public education system.

Nicolaides has also said recalls shouldn’t be used for political disagreements. He told reporters Monday that he’s always accountable to his constituents.

“I always want to make sure that I’m meeting their standards and their expectations, and I look forward to them being able to participate in the democratic process,” he said.

There have been rumblings that other members of the United Conservative Party caucus are targets for recall petitions. Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally told reporters last week he was aware of more than a dozen campaigns.

Another potential target is Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney, who faced an angry crowd at a recent constituency event. Some dressed in red, a colour that has come to symbolize support for teachers.

At one point, attendees broke into chants of “Recall! Recall!”

The government invoked the notwithstanding clause in back-to-work legislation last week to end a provincewide teachers strike.

Videos circulating online show Sawhney addressing the crowd, noting that many identified themselves as educators.

Facing heckles and shouts from the audience, Sawhney responded, “I would ask for respect for my staff.” That plea resulted in a renewed round of shouts.

“Respect the teachers!” yelled one person in response.

Opposition NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi said she thinks the recall efforts show how frustrated some Albertans are with the government.

“This is a government that brought in recall legislation, and so Albertans are taking advantage of it,” she said, referring to how the process was brought in under former UCP premier Jason Kenney in 2021.

The application against Nicolaides was the first to be approved since the process was put in place.

“I guess it’s come home to roost for them,” said Pancholi.

McClure didn’t say if other recall applications had been filed. He asked the committee for an additional $13.5 million in budget funding, as verifying these petitions and other potential referendum initiatives requires additional staff and resources.

“It is worth mentioning the recall process and verification activity coincides with the two citizen initiative verification processes,” McClure said.

Former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk has filed a petition and wants a policy stating Alberta will never separate from Canada. A second policy initiative that wants the province to cease funding private schools is in the signature collection stage.

“To say this is straining our organization from both a staffing and space perspective is an understatement,” said McClure.

McClure’s total funding request was ultimately shut down by the UCP majority-held committee, which approved additional support of $1.45 million. McClure said the $13.5 million requested was “crucial for my office to maintain a state of functionality and readiness.”

He told the committee his current budget hadn’t accounted for recall petitions being approved and that seeing each application from start to finish would cost roughly $1 million per application.

Nolan Dyck, the United Conservative legislature member who put forward the reduced funding amount, said he didn’t think the government should provide more money to help McClure’s office handle the recalls, as there are no guarantees that either will get enough signatures.

Another UCP committee member, Scott Cyr, said the government is ultimately accountable to taxpayers.

NDP members said the government was dodging responsibility, as McClure has no choice but to spend resources on each application under the law.

“They claim that they want these processes to be available there for Albertans. But when it comes down to the actual practice, the actual rub, they don’t want to cut the cheque,” said NDP legislature member David Shepherd.

McClure’s office later said the committee’s decision was “unexpected and puts us in a challenging position.”

In a letter to the committee following the decision, McClure wrote without the additional funding, it’s likely Elections Alberta will be “unable to execute our mandate and duties prescribed in legislation.”

He asked the committee to reconvene to reconsider his request.

Committee chair Brandon Lunty, a United Conservative member of the legislature, wasn’t immediately able to comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2025.

Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press