The first of many citizen recall petitions against nearly 30 sitting members of the Alberta legislature has failed to get enough signatures to oust the education minister.
The petition was filed on Oct. 14 by Jennifer Yeremiy against Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides. She was given the past three months to collect about 16,000 signatures in an attempt to force a constituency-wide vote to determine whether the minister should lose his legislature seat.
Recall legislation was brought in by former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in 2021 and went into force in 2022, and was later amended in 2025 to allow petitioners more time to collect the required number of signatures. Petitions must be approved by Elections Alberta, and are required to have signatures from a minimum of 60 percent of the total votes cast in the 2023 election for the riding of the MLA.
The more than two dozen MLAs who are facing recall petitions have all denied the accusations, saying they are doing their best for their constituents and Albertans.
Accusations levied against the MLAs in the various recall motions include allegedly overlooking constituents; attempting to privatize education, health care, and other services; putting party loyalty over the needs and priorities of constituents; as well as not responding to phone calls and emails.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she believes the recall process is being weaponized, adding that it was intended to be used for ethical breaches rather than policy disputes and that political differences of opinion are solved at the ballot box.
“I think that this is sadly undermining confidence in our democratic processes, in our democratic system,” she told reporters in December 2025.
