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There is a simple reason for this: B.C. has usually had two or more political parties which contend for power in a meaningful way, and Alberta hardly ever has. During Alberta’s four decades of Progressive Conservative ultra-dominance, PC premiers could always keep a boot planted firmly on various sprouts and buddings of direct democracy, however keen Reform Party-type backbenchers might be.

You can see how this might end up: the day the Alberta general election ends, the preparation for a formal recall campaign begins — in 10 or 20 different ridings

Alberta has actually had voter-recall legislation, though most people do not remember the details, which are obscure even in the history books. Recall was part of the revolutionary election platform of the Social Credit movement in 1935, when monetary crankery swept the province and brought the millenarian radio star William Aberhart to power. Aberhart, whose bible college and radio station were in Calgary, had not run for a seat in the general election; when it became obvious that no one else would do the trick as a Social Credit premier, Aberhart had to persuade a rural member, William Morrison of Okotoks-High River, to step aside for him.

Unfortunately, Aberhart may have been terrific on the radio (though his appeal as a performer makes no more sense to present-day ears than Hitler’s does), but he was as bad as you could imagine as a constituency MLA. After giving brusque, almost abusive treatment to visitors and delegations from his riding, he became the target of Alberta’s first and only recall campaign. Needless to say, the legislature was barely able to meet in time to repeal the Recall Act, retroactive to the date of royal assent.