Calgary city council briefed on recall petition process
Global News
The petitioner would have 60 days to gather signatures from eligible voters that represent 40 per cent of the population of the municipality or ward.
Calgarians will have access to a mechanism to recall municipal officials as soon as next week, city councillors heard from administrators on Tuesday evening.
It’s part of the UCP government’s legislation that would give citizens the power to initiate a process that could lead to removing and replacing elected officials, including members of the legislature, municipal politicians and school board trustees.
“A municipality may not pass a bylaw that modifies the requirements of a recall petition process,” Calgary’s returning officer Kate Martin told council. “This means that members of council do not have that regulatory role with respect to that recall petition process under the current provincial legislative framework.”
According to an overview of the recall process presented to city council on Tuesday, a petitioner must submit a notice of recall petition to Elections Calgary, and will have 60 days to gather signatures of eligible electors in the ward or municipality.
For a petition to be successful, it must have signatures from at least 40 per cent of the population of the ward, or municipality for the recall of the mayor, but all must be eligible electors.
Each signature must be witnessed by a person 18 years of age or older, and must include a signed affidavit to be reviewed by elections officials.
A recall petition can’t be signed in digital form, according to city officials.
If a petition meets the requirements and is successful, the mayor would be requested to call a special meeting of council at which the elected official in question would be recalled from their position.