Alberta introduces citizen petition ‘blackout period’ alongside Recall Act changes

Alberta’s government is changing the rules around citizen initiative petitions, recall petitions, public and service salary disclosures, while also banning election deepfakes.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery announced the blanket legislation Monday.

Citizen Initiative Act

As two citizen initiative petitions conclude and two more continue to collect signatures, the government is making changes to the process.

Proposed changes would prohibit citizen initiative petitions from starting or continuing within 12 months before to 12 months after a general election and repeal deadlines for holding a referendum spurred by a successful policy or constitutional referendum proposal.

The province says getting rid of fixed deadlines will allow referendums to be scheduled appropriately.

“It’s creating a consistent window for those that are bringing in those citizen-led initiatives to bring them forward knowing full well when they can’,” Amery explained. “What we’re also trying to do is find that balance between not having these citizen-led initiatives right near an election time period.

“We want voters to be able to weigh in on election matters during elections without having citizen-led initiatives stand in the way of that.”

The minister of justice and the petition organizer would be able to appoint scrutineers to oversee the verification of petition signatures and require the Chief Electoral Officer to keep signatures from a successful petition for two years instead of one.

Amery says these rules won’t apply retroactively, so current efforts underway will not be impacted should the amendments pass.

There are currently four active citizen-initiated petitions underway in Alberta.

Alberta Forever Canada, launched by Thomas Lukaszuk, successfully gathered the required number of signatures by the deadline. Government officials haven’t said if his question “Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?” will appear on the Oct. 9 referendum.

An effort that aimed to prohibit public funding for private schooling failed.

Stay Free Alberta’s provincial independence effort is still collecting signatures, and has until May 2.

Musician Corb Lund is currently driving an effort to ban coal mining in the Rocky Mountains. The collection period for that petition ends June 10.

Recall Act

This piece of legislation has been the source of much conversation in recent months due to two-dozen efforts launched against United Conservative Party (UCP) MLAs. Elections Alberta officially announced last week that all petitions had failed.

New rules would allow the MLA named in the petition and the organizer to appoint scrutineers to oversee the verification process, and outline that the Chief Electoral Officer must keep signature sheets from a successful recall petition until the vote is finished.

Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act

Alberta is taking aim at a concerning trend emerging on the Internet and its potential impact on elections.

The province is proposing changes to the Act that would make the creation of deepfakes aimed at misleading voters about the conduct or statements of a party leader, minister, MLA, candidate, leadership or nomination contestant, the Chief Electoral Officer, the election commissioner, Elections Alberta employees or election officers, illegal.

“Public confidence is essential to a healthy democracy,” Amery said. “The emergence of deepfakes presents a threat to this confidence.”

Deepfakes are pieces of media that seem realistic and appear to depict a real person, but are digitally created or manipulated.

Individuals could faces fines up to $10,000 and groups $100,000 if found in breach of this law.

Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act

Amendments proposed by Amery would lower the disclosure threshold for compensation and severance from $133,813 to $130,000 in base salary for government employees, and $159,676 to $130,000 in total compensation for broader public sector bodies.

Severance disclosure would also be reduced to once a year rather than twice a year.

The province says this set of amendments refines election, recall, and citizens initiatives processes to enhance trust.

“Our democracy is better when all Albertans from all walks of life and with diverse voices participate and as the government will always ensure that our democracy is one of trust and openness,” the justice minister added.