100 people take part in 'march' to recall Calgary mayor: police – Calgary

About 100 people took part in a “march” calling for Calgary's mayor to resign Saturday afternoon.

The City of Calgary said it received a recall petition against the incumbent mayor on Jan. 30 and confirmed he meets the criteria for recall set out in the Municipal Government Act.

The petition, organized by Landon Johnston, must collect 514,284 signatures from Calgarians eligible to vote between February 5 and April 4.

That's about 64,000 signatures per week, or signatures from every household. As of the 2021 census, Calgary has 502,300 households. That means Johnston needs to sign more than one per house.

Johnston organized a rally in front of Calgary City Hall on Saturday in hopes of gathering more signatures. A spokesperson for the Calgary Police Service told Global News that “no more than 100 people showed up” to sign the petition throughout the day, adding that most people left immediately after signing.

“I'm here to make my voice heard, and a lot of people want their voices heard,” Johnston told Global News on Saturday. “There's been a lot of support.”

Johnston said his decisions would affect his personal bank account and said he resented Gondek “from the beginning.” He added that the one-time law was the last straw, though the City Council voted to begin the repeal process two weeks after it took effect.

“That's a pretty scary number (to have a successful petition),” Johnston said. “It will be next to impossible. We hope to get everyone in town to sign the petition. Until our 60 days are up and we only get 5,000 signatures, that's still a win because I wanted my voice to be heard.”

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Global News reached out to Mayor Gondek's office for comment. Gondek previously said at a public hearing scheduled for earlier this month that the petition came out of nowhere.

“There are times when we have to think about the city's future and make decisions that are in the best interest of future opportunity and prosperity.” There are people who are concerned why you don't do something sooner,” Gondek said at the Feb. 6 public hearing.

“I think the work is complex, the decisions we make are very complex. We're happy to engage with the public at any time and that's what we're focusing on.”

Councilmen Dan McLean and Andre Chabot said at the public hearing that they did not support the petition.

– With files from Adam Toy and Adam McVicar, Global News.

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