Man who started petition to recall Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek to have meeting with her Friday
A man who says he started a recall petition targeting Calgary’s mayor because he was so frustrated with her performance at city hall is scheduled to meet with the politician on Friday.
Landon Johnston has been trying to collect over 500,000 signatures from Calgarians to invoke a section of the Municipal Government Act that would allow for Jyoti Gondek’s removal.
In an interview with Global News on Friday morning, he said he has tens of thousands of signatures already, and that while “obviously we’re never going to get 500,000,” he believes a message is being sent by his actions and that Calgarians are showing support for them.
“People have a voice out there and this is an opportunity for them to let their voice be heard,” he said. “Why have the legislation if you don’t use it?”
Johnston said while he believes Gondek “has good aspects to what she does in office,” he believes citizens are frustrated by municipal taxes and what he suggested was a lack of accomplishments from Gondek in her first two years as mayor.
“She’s had two years in office and it’s very hard to find people to defend any positive thing regarding people’s money,” he said, adding that he believes many Calgarians “are upset because people are running out of money.”
Johnston said he went through official channels to set up a meeting with Gondek after a chance encounter with her a few weeks ago in which he did not recognize her when he met her.
“I ran into her at council after I asked her to sign the petition — not on purpose, (it happened) because I never met the mayor,” he recalled. “And she said, ‘Oh I wish you would have talked to me before.’”
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Global News also interviewed Gondek on Friday morning, ahead of the meeting, and spoke about why she accepted a meeting with Johnston.
“If Mr. Johnston and I can actually sit down and have a conversation and a proper dialogue, that’s really setting the way for having proper discussions and good civil discourse,” she said. “And I think that’s something that’s missing a little bit right now.
“I think we’ve become even more polarized than we were. I remember when I ran in 2021, that was one of the commitments I made, that I would try to prevent the amount of polarization that we’ve been seeing.”
When asked if Gondek would consider resigning if the petition gathers a large amount of signatures but not enough to trigger a recall, the mayor said she has “been put here by Calgarians to do a job and that’s what I’m very focused on.”
“I was elected,” she noted, adding that she realizes there are many Calgarians feeling frustrated as they grapple with difficult economic situations. “They’re worried about making ends meet.”
Gondek said she and city council have such concerns top of mind and are continuously looking at how to improve the lives of Calgarians, whether that is by looking at affordability concerns or public safety concerns.
“You can’t do that without some sense of optimism,” she said. “And you certainly can’t do that without talking to people.”
The mayor noted that political participation is taking many new forms in current day politics, and that a recall petition is “just another tool that’s available to people to accomplish an end.”
“I think Landon Johnston is an individual who was frustrated and used something that’s available to him to deliver a message,” Gondek explained. “And I think it’s going to be important (at our meeting today) … for us to be very open with each other about what the concerns are and what we can do to make life better for Calgarians.
“That was ultimately his goal, is to make sure that we understood as a council, through me, that things are tough out there and people want to see different forms of action to make their lives better.”
When asked by Global News what he planned to ask Gondek, Johnston said he did not want to disclose that before the meeting.
The City of Calgary has said under the legislation, Johnston has until Apr. 4 to collect signatures, based on when the City Clerk’s Office first received notice of it.
The City Clerk’s Office will be responsible for verifying and counting the signatures, a process Gondek noted she plays no role in.
To be successful in triggering a recall, the petition requires signatures from at least 40 per cent of Calgary’s population.
The city said the petition would be measured against a population total of 1,285,711, which means it needs more than 514,000 signatures to meet the requirements.
About 393,000 of 847,556 enumerated electors voted in the last municipal election in 2021.
Documents obtained by Global News earlier this month show a group named Project YYC is helping Johnston with petition efforts.
According to the document, the group aims to create a “big tent coalition” to elect “common-sense conservative” mayors and councillors in next year’s municipal election.
A corporate search reveals Project YYC has been a registered trade name since Feb. 16, by Roy Beyer.
Beyer is named as one of the group’s directors and a core member of the recall campaign team, according to the document obtained by Global News.
Johnston recently told Global News that he has spoken with a couple of people who are named in the documents but did not specify who.
On Tuesday, Gondek said in light of the information about Project YYC, she has questions about whether the recall petition is something “that’s being launched by a single individual because they’re unhappy with my performance? … Or is this something that will have more nefarious results?”
Gondek said she has questions about whether the recall signatures could be used to create a new local political party.
According to the documents obtained by Global News, the group is in the process of being incorporated as a not-for-profit under the Alberta Incorporation Act.
“From what I’ve seen, this seems to be a very organized effort,” Gondek said on Tuesday. “I believe that person (Johnston) may have been co-opted.
“There are too many ties to ignore the fact that this is being driven by people who want conservatives in municipally-elected positions and trying to remove me is the first step in that.”
While appearing in Edmonton last week at a gathering comprised of municipal leaders, Premier Danielle Smith spoke about how party politics may soon be coming to city halls in Alberta.
Currently, party affiliation is not allowed under the Local Authorities Election Act but Smith noted her UCP caucus has had discussions about potentially amending the legislation.
–with files from Global News’ Adam MacVicar, Paula Tran, Adam Toy and Jasmine King and from The Canadian Press’ Colette Derworiz
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