The recall legislation created by the Kenney government is unworkable
Episode Stats
Words per minute
198.41428
Harmful content
Misogyny
4
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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,