Recall legislation on the agenda for Legislature’s spring session

Alberta government house leader Jason Nixon said recall legislation is on the agenda when the Legislature’s spring session is set to begin Thursday.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Nixon said recall legislation was a campaign promise during the 2019 provincial election, and that the bill would mean voters could remove MLAs, municipal representatives or school board trustees before the next provincial election.

Details and logistics of how the process of removing an elected official would work have not been released.

The spring session will begin with the tabling of the province’s 2021-22 budget with debate and review, and new legislation will not be introduced until that is passed, said Nixon.

“Our primary focus as a government in the legislature for the next several weeks will be to get that budget tabled,” Nixon said Wednesday.

Nixon also said that a referendum on equalization will happen on municipal election day, October 18, 2021.

“The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Justice will have more to say in due course on the process itself, but the question will be put on the ballot in municipal elections,” said Nixon at the press conference.

The sitting is expected to see 18 or 19 bills, said Nixon.