Campaign to recall Alberta education minister enters final days

The deadline for the first of 26 citizen-led recall petitions against Alberta MLAs is Wednesday, marking 90 days since petitioners began collecting signatures in an effort to recall provincial Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides last October.

Organizer Jenny Yeremiy said the petition currently has "somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000" signatures — which is significantly short of the required 16,006 signatures, representing 60 per cent of voters who cast a ballot in the riding during the last provincial election.

Speaking at a gathering of volunteers and supporters Sunday, she said she still considers the campaign a success due to the support that's been generated.

"I feel really good," she said. "I feel way more hopeful than I did at the beginning of this campaign."

Yeremiy said she'll be submitting the petition to Elections Alberta regardless of whether it gets the required number of signatures, and that even if it doesn't, the campaign has provided an opportunity for countless people to come together and voice their concerns.

"I think this is a really good example of the opportunity to provide more leaders in this space of politics," Yeremiy said. "This is unfortunately about learning how to govern ourselves ... we don't really see a solid alternative."

The conclusion of the Nicolaides recall campaign won't be the end of Yeremiy's efforts, as she plans to support as many of the active recall petitions as she can.

In a statement sent to CBC News, Nicolaides said he awaits the final results of the petition.

"The fact that the petition is on track to fail is clear proof that it is meritless, as has been my position all along," he said.

Calgary-Bow UCP constituency association president Deryck Greer echoed that sentiment in his own statement.

"Recall legislation exists to address substantiated misconduct or serious failures in public duty. It is not intended to resolve policy disagreements," he said.

"In that context, this recall effort against Minister Nicolaides does not align with the intent of the legislation, and we do not believe it has been brought forward in good faith."

Nicolaides has been the MLA for the provincial electoral district of Calgary-Bow since 2019. He won re-election in 2023 with 49.7 per cent of the vote, finishing 623 votes ahead of NDP challenger Druh Farrell.

The slim margin of victory there may have appeared to be a promising sign for the Nicolaides recall campaign, Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams said.