RJ Sigurdson, Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation, was one of 26 members of the provincial legislative assembly facing recall petitions in recent months.
On Feb. 27, it was announced the recall petition on Sigurdson was unsuccessful.
Elections Alberta said that day it had completed verification on seven petitions; it was confirmed there were insufficient signatures to meet the required thresholds, and the verification count ended.
Sigurdson is the MLA for the constituency of Highwood, which is just south of Calgary and includes the communities of Okotoks and Turner Valley, among others.
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For his recall petition to pass, canvassers were required to gather 15,788 signatures.
A successful recall petition must meet or exceed at least 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent election. In the 2023 provincial election, 26,314 votes were cast in Highwood.
Molly Metcalf, a constituent in Highwood, started the recall petition. She and her canvassers began collecting signatures Nov. 25, 2025, and had to stop collecting them Feb. 22, 2026.
Metcalf, a teacher, was frustrated because Sigurdson had supported the use of the notwithstanding clause to order striking teachers back to work.
She and her husband tried contacting Sigurdson in 2023 but received no response. They tried to contact him several times in 2025.
When she saw others expressing frustration about him on Facebook, she was able to run a GoFundMe to raise the $500 needed for the recall petition application fee. Metcalf completed the application for recall petition and notice of recall petition and submitted everything on Nov. 3, 2025.
Acording to Elections Alberta, the total preliminary number of signatures counted on the Highwood petition reached just 1,383.
Sigurdson, in a statement filed with Gordon McClure, the chief electoral officer of Elections Alberta, wrote he supported action to balance children’s rights to education and wanted to ensure students returned to school as quickly as possible. He wrote he was committed to constituents and attended meetings, events and public forums, and responded to emails.
“My priority continues to be the well-being and future of our children, community and my ministerial duty to farmers,” he wrote.
Since the recall petition on Sigurdson has not passed, all copies of the petition and canvasser identification documents must be returned to Elections Alberta, and other steps will be taken to finish the failed recall petition.
As of March 2, 10 recall petitions for MLAs across the province have not gathered adequate signatures, two recall petitions have been withdrawn and two others were not received by their respective deadlines and were declared invalid.
