Medicine Hat mayor to face recall petition

The clock is ticking for a Medicine Hat resident who wants to recall Mayor Linnsie Clark.

On Thursday, the City of Medicine Hat posted a partially-redacted notice of a recall petition on its website.

Nicole Frey was identified as the representative of the petitioners. Frey’s recall petition was signed Oct. 4.

Under the province’s Recall Act, which came into force on April 7, 2022, Frey has 60 days to collect signatures of 40 per cent of Medicine Hat’s 65,949 residents.

If Frey is unable to collect the 26,380 signatures in two months, Clark will remain mayor.

1:47 Village of Ryley becomes first Alberta municipality to use provincial Recall Act

If the recall petition is deemed sufficient, the mayor’s seat would become vacant and a by-election would have to be held.

As part of a Change.org petition launched in early August, Frey wrote that the southeastern Alberta city was “in trouble” and had an “inexperienced, ill-equipped mayor and city council.”

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Frey outlined concerns about utility costs, increased homelessness and problems in the downtown core, among other grievances around communication with the mayor and council.

Frey also suggested council members could be made full-time positions.

On Friday, the Change.org petition had 2,923 digital signatures.

Digital signatures are not valid for the recall petition.

Clark, the first woman mayor of Medicine Hat, was elected to the office on Oct. 18, 2021.

In June, the village of Ryley became the first Alberta municipality to undergo the recall petition process.