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Originally Posted by calgarygeologist
Someone can correct me if I am wrong but these list of signatures does not becomes something that is available to parties or candidates for election purposes so who is going to have this list of numbers and will be making calls? The list becomes available for public inspection but personal information such as address and contact info is supposed to be blacked out. There are rules and penalties around what can be done with the list of names.
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You are thinking about how the UCP likes to mine and redistribute lists that they shouldn't have access to and should not be sharing.
In that way, the lists from the petitions will be turned over to elections Alberta and any copies or blank forms will be destroyed, as per the rules.
However, the point being made in the interview is that these petitions are getting people out into the community and talking to each other. It is creating community groups and personal connections that did not exist before. The Recall Nicolaides website is building volunteer lists and people are subscribing to their newsletter.
These people are activating in a way to raise awareness and work toward removing Nicolaides from office. They are calling to the community to say that they need more help to gather the required numbers by the deadline. At the same time, it builds a grassroots movement that can and will carry into the next election and potentially future elections beyond that. In a riding that was won by only a few hundred votes, it will probably be flipped by a landslide.
It is a powerful thing in a democracy to have a large group of likeminded people who do not like the current direction of the government and it seems that the further the UCP go, the more people they offend and activate against them.
This kind of movement is unlike the last time where the population turned against the PCs over the growing grifts and incompetence of Stelmach and Redford. This time people are organizing and working together in a way that will have more longevity than a single term.