Skip to content

Petition fails to collect enough signatures

PetitionFails
Despite not collecting the required amount of signatures, a petition requesting an inspection of Rocky View County by Alberta Municipal Affairs was delivered to Minister Kaycee Madu Nov. 15. Photo Submitted/For Rocky View Publishing

A petition requesting Alberta Municipal Affairs (MA) conduct an inspection of Rocky View County (RVC) has failed to gather the requisite number of signatures.

According to a press release issued Nov. 18 by the petition’s organizers, the document was delivered to Kaycee Madu, Minister of Municipal Affairs, on Nov. 15 with a total of 4,595 signatures.

“While this number falls short of the 20 per cent of the population that would mandate the minister to perform an inspection, the Minister can still use his discretion to step in,” the press release said.

The bar to trigger a ministerial inspection through a petition is quite high. According to an MA information handbook, at least 20 per cent of a municipality’s population must sign a petition for an inspection, and all signatories must be electors – defined as “a person who is eligible to vote in an election.” In RVC, that equates to approximately 8,000 people.

The Municipal Government Act (MGA) requires every signature to be witnessed by an adult – the petitioner’s signature must be accompanied by that of a witness, and the witness must also take an affidavit that, to the best of their knowledge, the signatures they’ve witnessed belong to people entitled to sign the petition.

Additionally, all signatures must be collected within a 60-day window before the petition is filed with the ministry. Organizers began to collect signatures mid-September, around the time Coun. Crystal Kissel, Kevin Hanson and Samanntha Wright held open houses to discuss the sanctions imposed on them.

“We are really proud of the number of signatures we received and of the volunteers who made it happen,” said organizer Janet Ballantyne. “Collecting 4,595 signatures in a county as large as RVC is a significant undertaking.”

Throughout the process, Ballantyne has maintained, while the sanctioning of the three councillors sparked the petition, its focus was broader. The petition sought an inspection of the management, administration and operation of the County, its council and its Chief Administrative Officer. According to the press release, residents have been questioning RVC processes and council decision-making for more than a decade.

“We went door to door and heard repeatedly residents felt strongly that an independent review of how the County is being run is long overdue,” Ballantyne said. “Over 90 per cent of the residents we reached signed the petition. If that doesn’t illustrate a high level of dissatisfaction in RVC, I don’t know what does.”

Ballantyne said organizers are now waiting to hear back from the Minister. While a timeline for a response has not been communicated to them, Ballantyne said they plan to follow up if they haven't heard back in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, they are also evaluating possible next steps, although Ballantyne said at this point, nothing definite has been decided.

"We really still are very hopeful that the Minister will come back positively," she said. "In our minds, the [amount] of people who signed our petition – it clearly isn't the 20 per cent, but it is a very, very strong signal.... People are trying hard to remain very optimistic."

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks