Alberta recall petitions grow to 23 with latest against justice minister
By Canadian Press on December 17, 2025.
EDMONTON — Alberta’s justice minister is the latest member of Premier Danielle Smith’s caucus to face a citizen recall petition.
Elections Alberta announced Wednesday petitions against Mickey Amery and fellow United Conservative Party legislator Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk.
That means 22 UCP legislature members are facing recall petitions – a number approaching half the 47-member caucus.
One member of the Opposition NDP, education critic Amanda Chapman, also faces a petition.
Sead Tokalic, who filed for the petition against Amery in Calgary-Cross, says the move was triggered by dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of public education and funding.
“It all started for me with the teachers’ strike and how that was handled. Since then there was a lot more things that came down,” Tokalic told The Canadian Press.
In October, the UCP used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to force striking teachers back to work and impose a collective agreement that they had overwhelmingly rejected. Smith has said her government was forced to act because of the toll the three-week strike was taking on more than 740,000 students.
Tokalic said he has heard from others who also don’t feel like their MLAs are responsive or representative.
“I emailed my MLA many times, not just this time around, previously as well, before this whole thing started. I never heard from him ever,” he said.
He added that he’s never been a member of any political party and isn’t backed by any activist group.
“I’m just a guy in (the neighbourhood of) Marlborough that’s not happy with what’s going on,” said Tokalic.
In his written reasons to Elections Alberta for a recall, he said Amery supports policies that harm vulnerable populations. Tokalic clarified there are a lot of newcomers attending schools in the constituency who would benefit from more supports.
In response to the petition, Amery told Elections Alberta that he’s committed to standing up for his constituency and, like other UCP members, argues the recall process is being abused.
“The Recall Act is in place to address serious misconduct or ethical violations – not to be misused by partisan activists trying to undermine democracy,” Amery wrote.
“My focus is on listening, responding and delivering results that reflect our shared priorities.”
Armstrong-Homeniuk represents the constituency of Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, east of Edmonton.
Petitioner Edwin Laarz said in his application to Elections Alberta that Armstrong-Homeniuk ignores constituents and was silent when the province recently used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause.
Smith’s government used the clause to override teachers’ rights to end the strike. It also recently used the clause to shield three laws affecting transgender citizens from court challenges.
Armstrong-Homeniuk, in response, said she works hard for her constituents and has a mandate to represent them based on winning her seat in the 2023 provincial election.
The recall campaigns target MLAs from across the province, including the premier in her Brooks-Medicine Hat constituency.
Many behind the petitions have said they’re campaigning because their representatives have failed to address concerns and viewpoints of constituents.
The recall process is lengthy and involves multiple steps.
Petitioners have three months to collect signatures equal to 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in their constituency in the 2023 election.
For the petition against Amery, that amounts to just over 9,000 signatures; for Armstrong-Homeniuk, the campaign would need to collect almost 15,000.
If successful, there would be a constituency-wide vote on whether the representative keeps their seat. If the member fails to gain a majority of votes, a byelection is held.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2025.
Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
30-29
This is an abuse of legislation that was meant for reasonable, law-abiding citizens to recall MLA’s when the completely fail in their duties.
I would note that this is not ‘citizens’ but a group of insurrectionists who have banded together to bring down a democratically elected government. This group includes the NDP, ATA, some elements of other unions and some special interest groups.
The Lethbridge East MLA, as do the others, never deserved to be recalled.
If that is the case, then ex Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips should have been recalled, since her office was closed to the public for over a year before she stepped down and they sent many of the Lethbridge West constituent’s concerns over to the Lethbridge East office, causing stress on their office in serving their constituents.
I have good reason to begin a recall for the current NDP West MLA but what is the point, since an election is going to be forced on us all in the spring due to the recalls by those who do have respect taxpayers or the high costs they pay for these kangaroo court actions!
When a union is able to use political parties to bring down elected governments, in a free society, then it is no longer free and the free and democratic elections are spit on by them! It is very dangerous to see such actions and some teachers have stated they didn’t get to vote on the ATA giving millions to the NDP for this insurrectionist act! The ATA is out of control and thinks it rules Alberta!
This is the cost to the taxpayer for the recalls, which doesn’t include the costs of an early election:
Elections Alberta’s chief electoral officer, Gordon McClure, first claimed in early November that processing the petition to remove an MLA from office would cost about $1 million a pop.
Elections Alberta confirmed the cost is estimated at around $1.1 million per petition. The agency also provided a breakdown of the major cost drivers:
-Canvasser badges and ID production
-Official petition signature sheets
-Fielding calls and inquiries
-Processing petition materials
-Hiring 106 temporary staff to meet the legislated 21-day verification deadline
So we now have 23 MLA’s recalled and the costs to the taxpayer will be over $23 million according to Elections Alberta.
“The 2023 Provincial Enumeration and General Election had a total cost of $39,128,547.”
How much will the early election now cost us? Add the $23 million and it is a waste of taxpayers hard earned dollars caused by the NDP and their socialist gangs!
These insurrectionists only had 1.5 years to wait until the next election, but instead are going to force an election on us at a time we are weary, tired of getting beat up with the strikes and the high costs of inflation, just so the NDP can govern and the ATA has a puppet government!
So, is MLA Neudorf recalling himself, or is it his staff who are leading the recall? Either way …
The ridiculous recall legislation reminds me of the UCP protecting infrastructure act designed to punish First Peoples and environmentalists. And who were the people who interfered with essential infrastructure? There own base! And what did they do about it? They served them coffee.
This is the problem of enacting ideology – eventually your throat is going to burn with the reflux.