Commentary
Implementing a system of direct democracy, where citizens can impose or repeal government policies and recall elected officials through popular initiatives, has been more of an academic discussion in Canada than a reality. Canadians tend not to be interested in heading to the polls for general elections any more than they must, and they certainly haven’t been clamouring for regular referendums to be held. The concept is popular among populists, but it hasn’t taken hold among the general public.
That changed in Alberta when Premier Jason Kenney enshrined legislation in 2019 allowing for citizen-initiated referendums and recall. Kenney set the petitioning bar so high, however, that initiating a referendum or recall was nearly impossible. For example, in Calgary, a recall petition was initiated against Mayor Jyoti Gondek in 2024. While only 390,000 people voted in the 2021 mayoral election that elected Gondek, the recall legislation demanded 514,000 signatures to be gathered on a petition to initiate the recall. It was an absurd requirement, and the initiative fell well short of the target….