Attempt to negate a riding is grounds for recall

By Lethbridge Herald on November 15, 2025.

Dan O’Donnell
For the Herald

Is it time for a recall petition against Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf?

Some might say it’s overdue.

Across Alberta, recall politics are gathering momentum after Premier Danielle Smith’s government invoked the notwithstanding clause to override the civil and human rights of more than 55,000 teachers.

Under its legislation, the government imposed a back-to-work settlement and suspended teachers’ access to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Alberta Bill of Rights, and the Alberta Human Rights Act. 

That means Alberta’s teachers have been placed outside the legal protections most Canadians take for granted—freedom of expression, religion, and association, and even basic guarantees of equality and personal security.

This sweeping use of constitutional power was not necessary to end the strike. It was a deliberate choice: an assertion that government power outweighs individual rights. The Smith government used section 33 of the Charter not as a last resort but as a political weapon—counting on most Albertans to be distracted by controversies such as changing the motto on our licence plates.

Fortunately, we were not distracted. A recent poll says about 50 percent of Albertans think the government went too far (versus 1/3 who supported their actions). And in Calgary-Bow and Airdrie-East, citizens have begun recall petitions against MLAs who voted for the anti-teacher legislation—Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides and UCP MLA Angela Pitt. There have also been reports of a third petition forming in Calgary-North East against Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney.

What about in Lethbridge East? Mr. Neudorf also voted to suspend teachers’ rights. And as an MLA and cabinet minister, he has supported many other policies that have harmed this region’s interests: threatening our drinking water by lifting restrictions on coal exploration in the eastern slopes, and imposing a province-wide moratorium on renewable-energy projects—an industry in which southern Alberta had become a national leader.

This past summer, he was also one of two people who submitted a proposal to the Electoral Boundaries Commission that would eliminate Lethbridge from the political map, dividing our two urban ridings across four large rural districts. This was done in his own capacity rather than as a member of cabinet. But the impact would have been far worse than anything else the Smith government has done, effectively disenfranchising urban voters.

It is this last act, more than anything else, that suggests it is time to discuss a recall. Elections are supposed to ensure accountability; when a government overreaches, voters can replace it. But if our MLA seeks to erase the very constituency that elected him, that normal check on power disappears.

I am not, and never have been, a supporter of the United Conservative Party. In fact, I began donating to the NDP after Jason Kenney’s government turned its fire on Alberta’s universities. But I have always believed that elections, not recalls, are the proper way to change governments.

What makes this situation different this time is the attempt to prevent Lethbridge from having that chance at all. If our two ridings were eliminated, we would lose our ability to hold any government accountable for decisions that affect our water, economy, schools — and, as the teachers are discovering, basic constitutional rights and freedoms.

Recalls are difficult by design. They require 40 percent of eligible voters in a constituency to sign within 60 days—roughly 13,000 signatures in Lethbridge East. Whether that can happen remains to be seen. But democracy depends on citizens drawing lines their representatives cannot cross.

For me, this is one of those lines.

Dan O’Donnell is a resident of Lethbridge East, a former union leader, and professor and Department Chair of English at the University of Lethbridge.