Judicial Review Request Challenges Denial of Corb Lund's Anti-Coal Petition
Sylvestre says a flawed verification process could exclude thousands of valid signatures and urges clearer rules for future citizen initiatives.
- On Thursday, Mitch Sylvestre, CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, filed for a judicial review in Alberta's Court of King's Bench, challenging Elections Alberta's petition verification methodology as unreasonable and procedurally unfair.
- The "Water Not Coal" petition collapsed earlier this month after falling short of the 177,732 signature threshold when Elections Alberta estimated only 172,000 were verified via statistical sampling.
- Sylvestre stated the agency used overly stringent verification; because of statistical weighting, a single rejection affected the validity of more than 700 signatures, excluding genuine Albertans due to fading memories or minor technical details.
- "The Legislature created citizen initiatives so regular Albertans could bring important questions directly to their fellow citizens," Sylvestre said, arguing the judicial review aims to ensure voices are not lost in technicalities.
- Sylvestre is calling on the Alberta Legislature to enact clear regulations governing signature validation, as verification rejection rates varied from 7.8 per cent for Forever Canadian to 20.3 per cent for the independence petition.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
Judicial review request challenges denial of Corb Lund's anti-coal petition
EDMONTON - Organizers of a petition to ban new coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rockies have filed for a judicial review, challenging Elections Alberta’s decision that the petition failed.
Prominent Alberta separatist blasts verification process despite petition's success
One of Alberta’s prominent separatist leaders is decrying the way Elections Alberta verifies signatures for citizen-led petitions. Last week, the independence petition calling for a binding referendum to leave Canada was verified and deemed successful by Elections Alberta. About 222,000 signatures were verified, despite about 279,000 valid signatures counted. Elections Alberta needed to call 384 […]
The Hamilton Spectator
BC Freedom of Information and Privacy AssociationDid Elections Alberta call you? Water Not Coal wants to know
Water Not Coal is asking people contacted by Elections Alberta during petition signature verification to share their experiences, as the campaign weighs a legal challenge with a filing deadline of Aug. 2.
Mitch Sylvestre Calls for Legislative Review of Elections Alberta's Flawed Citizen Initiative Verification Process
/PRNewswire/ -- Mitch Sylvestre, proponent of the citizen initiative petition organized with Stay Free Alberta and CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, is...
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