Union boss denies wrongdoing in encouraging support for Alberta MLA recall campaigns

AFL President Gil McGowan is pushing back against Premier Danielle Smith's accusations that he, the organization or unions are behind recall petitions.

A union president is again denying any improper involvement in an effort to recall United Conservative MLAs who supported the Alberta government using the notwithstanding clause to force striking teachers back to work.

• Sign up for breaking news alerts from CTV News Edmonton, right at your fingertips

Speaking at the Alberta legislature in downtown Edmonton Monday morning, the Alberta Federation of Labour’s Gil McGowan detailed the union’s involvement in 14 and counting recall petitions.

“We actually spent a lot of time meeting with our lawyers, having internal conversations within the labour movement between our unions,” McGowan told reporters.

“We came up with a strategy. And that strategy involved simply communicating with people who are already on our lists and who happen to live in the ridings where recall campaigns had been initiated. So that’s what we did.”

The AFL represents 170,000 workers.

McGowan provided copies of an invitation to an information-sharing session between those members and recall campaign organizers, as well as a letter to AFL members in Calgary-Bow asking for “support” for the petition to remove Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides. The letter relays ways AFL members can volunteer their time or donate to the cause.

“(Premier Danielle Smith) is simply looking for a pretext to change the rules mid-stream and deny Albertans their right under the Recall Act to recall their MLAs," McGowan said.

“The premier talks about a left-wing conspiracy. She talks about these campaigns being organized by unions or some kind of foreign interference when, in reality, it’s something much simpler. Citizens are just really angry. They’ve had enough, and they’re using the tools at their disposal to show their anger at the government.”

Cabinet and caucus discussed the Recall Act further and decided not to make changes, the office of the justice minister told CTV News Edmonton Monday afternoon.

“Alberta’s government has been clear that the Recall Act should be used for breaches of public trust, ethical violations, or sustained dereliction of local duty, not weaponized to trigger a new election over political differences or government policies,” Heather Jenkins said in a statement.

The legislation was created in 2021 by that day’s United Conservative government as a way to hold elected representatives accountable between general elections.

“Operation Total Recall,” as the effort to organize recall campaigns calls itself, says Alberta using the notwithstanding clause to force a deal on striking teachers was an affront to all Alberta workers.

RELATED STORIES:

• Alberta’s Smith says recall petitions distracting from government’s ‘amazing’ work
• Alberta Elections workload ‘unprecedented’ as recall petitions move forward
• Alberta’s Smith says UCP caucus not afraid to defend record in face of recall efforts

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Klippenstein and The Canadian Press