XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, edm.general   
   From: puela@nyet.ca   
      
   CTVNews.ca Staff - Sunday, December 28, 2014   
      
     A movement calling on Danielle Smith, former leader of Alberta's Wildrose   
   party, to step down after she crossed the floor and joined the governing   
   Progressive Conservatives is ramping up.   
      
   An online recall petition was launched after Smith and eight other Wildrose   
   MLAs officially joined Alberta's Progressive Conservatives earlier this month.   
      
   The Wildrose party was reduced to only five MLAs after Smith and the others   
   crossed the floor to join the PCs, who hold a majority in the provincial   
   legislature.   
      
   The petition is calling on Smith to resign her seat and run in a byelection to   
   win it back.   
      
   On Saturday, about 20 "Recall Danielle" volunteers canvassed the streets in   
   Okotoks and Highwood to gather more signatures.  Many residents expressed anger   
   at the floor crossing.   
      
   "This whole crossing over has just broke everything apart," resident Jack   
   Sluice said.   
      
   Chris Derrick and Malcolm Achtman were among the volunteers circulating the   
   petition in Smith's riding of Highwood.   
      
   Derrick said the entire affair doesn't respect voters' wishes. "That it's maybe   
   20,000 to 25,000 votes that have more or less been chucked in the trash …   
   that   
   doesn't sit well with me," he said.   
      
   Achtman said the floor crossing is also damaging to the official opposition.   
      
   "It's important to have some kind of opposition," he said.  "It seems to me,   
   right now, that the Liberals would become the official opposition, but they're   
   so low on the totem pole… that it wouldn't really be an opposition as such."   
      
   The online petition to recall Smith was started just before the Christmas   
   holidays by two University of Calgary students.  It has gained more than 7,500   
   signatures as of Sunday, representing more than 20 per cent of the votes Smith   
   received during the last election.   
      
   Those calling for her to step down come from all parts of the political   
   spectrum.   
      
   In response to the campaign, Smith released the following statement Saturday   
   afternoon:   
      
   "I am continuing to gauge the reaction from my constituents and will be doing   
   more consultation in the New Year.  At the moment I am focused on two of the   
   biggest issues in my constituency: helping to resolve outstanding DRP claims in   
   High River and the need for a water pipeline for Okotoks.   I'll continue to do   
   the job I was elected to do, which is to represent the residents of Highwood to   
   the best of my ability."   
      
   Meanwhile, the petition organizers said they are planning to present the   
   petition to Smith at her constituency office.   
      
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