Elections Alberta has added a petition to recall Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Brooks–Medicine Hat riding) to its register of active recall petitions. The petition card states that the collection of signatures will begin on December 11, 2025, and will continue until March 10, 2026, with a minimum threshold of 12,070 signatures (60% of the votes cast in the district in the 2023 election).
With the new entries, the total number of active petitions against Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in the province has reached 21. According to The Canadian Press, 20 of them concern UCP MLAs and one concerns an NDP MLA.
What exactly has been filed against Danielle Smith
In the Notice of Recall Petition, the initiator of the petition states that the premier is not sufficiently connected to the community of the district and does not demonstrate adequate interaction with local residents and experts; the statement also mentions claims regarding the course of privatization/weakening of public services.
In her response (Member Statement), Danielle Smith highlights the projects she has completed for the district — infrastructure, schools, healthcare upgrades — and adds that she regularly holds meetings with residents and town halls.
How the recall mechanism works in Alberta
Elections Alberta describes the procedure as follows:
- The applicant must be a voter who has lived in the district for at least three months.
- A package of documents must be submitted and a $500 application fee must be paid.
- A statement of up to 100 words must be submitted in the Notice, which is published without editing by Elections Alberta.
- For the petition to be successful, signatures must be collected from at least 60% of the votes cast in the district in the last election.
Source: Elections Alberta (https://www.elections.ab.ca/recall-initiative/recall/current-recall-petitions/).