Update on the Recall of Danielle Smith
This opinion piece is written by McBride’s Bakery. While The Owl does not contribute to this column, The Owl did adjust the formatting. This was originally published on social media.
The Owl does believe in free speech which includes hosting petition signing locations. We echo the sentiment to be respectful to the bakery employees, they have nothing to do with the petition.
The application to launch a petition to recall Danielle Smith
was received by Elections Alberta on Friday (nov 28)
Elections Alberta has one week to approve or reject the application. Of course, it will be approved. Think of how refs handle their jobs when important games go into OT: they put their whistles away and let the teams play. Same thing here: The UCP created the legal conditions for widespread use of recall, and now they have to be accountable for it: the application will certainly be approved this Friday or sooner.
At that the point the petitioners will have three months to gather 12,070 signatures from eligible voters that reside in the Brooks-Medicine Hat riding. For Hatters, that basically means drawing a line from the hospital to maple avenue, and everything north of that line is in her riding. If you live in Medicine Hat, you’re either in Smith’s riding, or Justin Wright’s riding. The map is here, if you need to check your location.
Voting Map Brooks-Medicine Hat City of Medicine
You cannot sign the petition online. Signatures must be gathered in person, and only an approved Canvasser can take your signature.
Canvassers must be approved by Elections Alberta, and they must live in Smith’s riding. I’m told that Canvasser applications have been submitted, but I cannot say how quickly Canvassers will be approved. I can say that more are needed.
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If you would like to be a Canvasser
Your volunteer time is much needed and very appreciated. You can contact the organizers through the Recall Danielle Smith website and they will get you started.
Like Danielle Smith, I do not live in her riding, and so I cannot sign the petition, nor can I be an eligible Canvasser. I can still go door-to-door with Canvassers, though, and assist the process in other ways, like providing free donuts and space. If you live south of the river, you can do that, too.
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It’s winter now, making it difficult to set up outdoor signing stations for the petition. I am not one of the petition organizers, but I am in contact with them, and I have offered the Bakery as a sheltered indoor space for collecting signatures. This could start as early as Friday.
I do not intend for this to affect anyone’s shopping experience at the Bakery
When you visit, there may be a little table set up near the door with one or two people sitting there with a petition.
You can sign if you like, or walk on by.
The Canvassers are only there to collect signatures from the willing - they will not solicit you and they will not engage in political debates or conversations.
Whatever your political opinions, you and every other decently-behaved person is welcome at the Bakery.
There aren’t enough bakeries in Medicine Hat & Redcliff, so we have to share the few we’ve got.
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None of the Bakery staff are Canvassers, and the Bakery will not have a petition available for signing at all times. The Bakery staff are employees, not activists, and they are not available for political discussions with the public. About half the Bakery’s staff are minors.
You will only be able to sign when the Canvassers have their table set up at the Bakery. The organizers will post signing locations and times elsewhere. I will share that information here when I have it. There will be other signing locations besides the Bakery.
You do not have to be a customer to come in and provide your signature: you are welcome to drop in, sign and leave without buying a thing. Breathe it in, though - that much is free, and it would be a shame to forego that simple pleasure.
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By (or before) the end of the 90 signature collection period, the sheets must be turned in to Elections Alberta. That will be around the end of February. EA then has 21 days to verify the petition; meaning they will go through the pages and randomly contact people to make sure they’re real. If the petition passes the verification, then a vote must be held within 4 months. The question will be a yes/no vote on whether Smith should be recalled.
If the vote passes (50%+), then Smith is no longer an MLA; no longer in government, and a byelection is held. This puts us into summertime, by which time a number of such byelections will be going on for other recalled UCP MLA’s around Alberta. By the time the kids are out of school, it is likely that the UCP will no longer have a majority in the legislature (they now have 47 of 87 seats).
So, it’s a bit of a long road, but it’s the right thing to do, it’s the democratic thing to do, and there are dozens of caring and motivated people who are about to give hundreds of hours of their time to move this recall forward. I am very grateful to them, and I hope you are too. If you can manage to be more than grateful, and give some of your time, that would be awesome. Please contact the organizers to find out how you can help.
The official process description is available here, and of course it supercedes anything I have written above.
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A final note on the time frame of the signature collection period:
When the Forever Canada petition was ongoing during the summer, it was impossible to get updates on the number of signatures. It was known that they needed about 300,000 signatures, but it wasn’t until the end that they revealed they got 450,000.
I assume that the secrecy was intentional. The organizers must have known well before the 90 days was up that they were going to meet the threshold, but (1) it was summertime, and easy to have outdoor signing locations, and (2) there were obvious political/PR reasons to go way overboard and demonstrate that support for staying in Canada was far higher than the needed threshold.
This petition is different. It’s not summer; and, there’s no need to demonstrate anything at the stage of signature collection. What really matters is getting to the stage of having the recall vote.
Therefore:
Don’t be thinking
“Whatever, no rush, I’ve got three months to sign the thing.”
Screw that.
Get your signature on as soon as you can, because once it reaches 12,070 plus a safety margin there’s nothing to be gained by continuing.
If we can submit this thing in a month then more win for Alberta, more win for Canada, more win for everyone.
Let’s just get it done.