The recall legislation created by the Kenney government is unworkable
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
198.41428
Summary
Calgary Mayor Jody Gondek is the worst mayor in living memory. She's only halfway through her first term in office, and she's that bad? She's a prime candidate for recall, as voters have realized that she wasn't who she purported to be when she ran for the job.
Transcript
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I've always been a strong supporter of direct democracy through citizens-initiated referenda
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and accountability through citizen-led recall initiatives.
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Calgary Mayor Jody Gondek is the worst mayor in living memory.
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She's only halfway through her first term in office, and she's that bad.
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As voters have realized, Gondek wasn't who she purported to be when she ran for the job.
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And we're seeing massive buyer's remorse as Gondek lurches from one disaster to another,
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offending people left and right while taxes continue to rise.
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Polls are reflecting a very strong majority of Calgarians want the chance to fire Gondek as soon as possible.
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But with all that said, the current recall initiative launched against Jody Gondek is doomed to fail
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and may actually, unintentionally, even help her.
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I mean, to begin with, the bar to recall a civic politician is impossibly high.
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You need over 514,000 signatures from eligible Calgarian voters,
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and they need to be collected in 60 days to invoke the recall.
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Anybody who actually thinks this is possible has never actually done real petitioning.
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To garner half a million signatures in two months would take a massive organizational machine
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You've got to remember, these signatures required aren't digital.
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They have to be handwritten and witnessed on an official petition sheet
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with a name, address, and phone number of the person signing
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A lot of people aren't going to be comfortable sharing that information with a petitioner,
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Many signatures garnered as well are going to be rejected later
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because the name or the address might not be legible
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or the person's residency couldn't be confirmed with the electors' lists.
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The petitions you see are checked when they're submitted.
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That means the real number required, if you were going to be realistic,
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would actually be more like 550,000, 560,000 signatures.
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Now, a hardworking, effective petitioner going door-to-door, a really good one,
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It would take nearly 100 people working full-time hours,
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assuming all those 500 and some thousand are existing out there,
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Coordinating that many workers would require management personnel,
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transportation, some kind of office to ensure they aren't overlapping territory.
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They'd need to track where they've been to do second and third rounds
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in neighborhoods to catch the people who weren't home the first time.
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I mean, petitioning in public places like malls, events, transit stations,
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only 390,000 people even bothered to vote in the last mayoral race.
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Even if 100% of those people were now opposed to Gondek,
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you'd still need more than 100,000 on top of all that to sign the petition,
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and you've got to find them to make the recall work.
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The legislation guiding citizen-initiated referenda isn't much better.
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The creation of the Recall Act was the final straw, actually, for me,
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when it came to supporting former Premier Jason Kenney.
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but that was a cynical nod to those who voted for him
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based on his campaign of accountability and citizen empowerment.
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Kenney promised recall and referendum legislation to Albertans,
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and he purposely crafted the legislation to make it useless
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and impossible to invoke, as we're seeing today.
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He misled people when he promised that legislation.
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He had no interest in letting citizens hold their elected officials to account,
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but he didn't hesitate to promise that to win the votes in the first place.
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I despise that kind of bait-and-switch type of politics.
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but to give this garbage legislation to us was a slap in the face of the supporters.
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So the people behind the petition to recall Gondek,
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and I don't doubt I agree with them on almost everything, probably.
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But the efforts would be better spent putting pressure on UCP MLAs
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Once that's done, then they can get to work on a recall.
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Gondek and her few supporters are going to claim
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It'll be actually a public relations win for the mayor
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who really hasn't earned a win in her entire time in office.
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Also, those who signed or worked on gathering the signatures for the petition,
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they're going to have built up cynicism and apathy,
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They're going to feel like it was a wasted effort,
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and they're going to be less inclined to participate
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Look, I hate crapping on good grassroots efforts made by citizens.
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who have gotten the petition to recall Gondek going.
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and it's an initiative that won't lead to a productive outcome.
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I hope the folks involved redirect their efforts
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to helping Albertans get the legislation they need.
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against those politicians that have earned those efforts.
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Until then, though, they're just wasting good shoe leather
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going out there getting signatures for something
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So either way, sorry to poop on the parade, guys,