Calgary mayor recall petition: 72,271 signatures submitted to city
Exactly 60 days after he launched a campaign to recall Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, Landon Johnston rolled a stack of six boxes in to the Elections Calgary office ahead of the deadline for the petition.
"The mayor should be afraid of the people. All elected officials should be afraid of us, because the power is with us," Johnston said Thursday afternoon, moments after the petition was submitted.
The unofficial total number of signatures handed in was 72,271, Johnston said.
In order for the petition to be deemed sufficient, it needed to exceed 514,284 signatures. The requirement is set out in provincial legislation and the number is based on 40 per cent of the city's 2019 population of 1,285,711.
"It has been a battle from all angles: Weather, legislation, people back stabbing people. It's been a whirlwind," Johnston added.
The petition is now in the city's hands for an official count. The city clerk will lead a team of up to 10 staffers to tally up the numbers over the next 45 days.
The petition is now in the city's hands for an official count. The city clerk will lead a team of up to ten staffers to tally up the numbers over the next 45 days.
Because the threshold will not be met, the city won't need to verify the signatures.
"We will be releasing the number of signatures that were gathered as part of the recall petition, and that count will be provided during a special meeting of council," said city clerk Kate Martin.
Gondek, who met with Johnston last month, said the last 60 days have been no different than any other time during her term.
"You cannot be distracted by something that's going on along the sidelines," Gondek told reporters Thursday morning.
"You have to remain committed to why you ran and I ran to make sure that Calgary would have a prosperous future for everyone."
Despite falling well short of the official threshold, Johnston said he hopes all elected officials are taking notice.
He also hinted at future efforts and campaigns against municipal politicians.
"The fight has just started," he said. "We're gonna push for (Gondek) to resign still.
"She can resign at any time."
According to provincial legislation, a municipal politician may only face one recall effort per term.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.
What's causing the catastrophic rainfall in Kenya?
The torrential rains and deadly floods that have hit Kenya since March have been some of the worst in the country in recent years. Here's how factors combined to create the deadly deluge.