Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolven
That is a great question.
The Lieutenant Governor in Council is in charge of the recall vote an executing the results of the vote. Since the LG does not answer to the UCP and is in fact appointed by the Federal government (PM), I see no reason why the LG would not follow through with stripping an MLA of their title and position.
Once the MLA is officially stripped of their title and position, they would no longer have access to be in the legislature. If they tried to pretend they were still an MLA then they can be arrested and charged.
I am not sure how the UCP could really ignore these rules, especially since they created them.
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Hate to break it to you but the Lieutenant Governor in Council means the LG acting on the advice of Executive Council (otherwise known as the Provincial Cabinet). And generally as a matter of constitutional convention the LG does not have authority to do anything without first receiving said advice.
The way the Recall Act is written it makes it mandatory for Cabinet (by way of LG in Council) to order a recall vote be conducted within 4 months of a successful recall petition. But if they just didn't do it, you would have to take them to court and have a judge order them to comply with the legislation. It would not be solved by the LG stepping up to do anything.
Interestingly enough, if the recall vote results are in favour of the MLA being recalled, then section 20(1) of the Act indicates by the publication of the result on the Chief Electoral Officer's Website, the statute declares the MLA recalled and the seat vacant.
https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/laws/st...1-c-r-5.7.html
Without that website publication, it appears, nothing happens.
So in the world of possible shenanigans...taking the Chief Electoral Officer's Website offline would block the outcome of a recall vote from having legal effect and the MLA could carry on in the meantime.