As Calgary-Bow MLA and Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides faces calls for his removal following teachers being ordered back to the classroom in late October, a second recall has been filed against another member of the UCP — leading the provincial government to deny Election Alberta’s funding request to handle these petitions.
With educators forced back into classrooms, and the growing number of Albertans outraged with the government’s handling of the teacher strike, one concerned Calgary woman has taken matters into her own hands by leading the charge on the Nicolaides recall petition.
Jenny Yeremiy, geophysicist and the recall leader for Calgary-Bow, says her initial problems with Nicolaides arose when she became aware of misinformation being spread in schools about the oil and gas industry.
When Yeremiy took her concerns to the minister, asking how they could correct these issues, she was met with deflection from Nicolaides.
During their meeting, Yeremiy says Nicolaides told her the issues were out of his control as his directions come from above — a message Yeremiy feels was written for him.
“So who’s running his decision-making? It’s very clearly the party. It’s not the people,” she said.
Yeremiy says the ideal results of the recall efforts would be to prompt an early election — a potential outcome Nicolaides is strongly opposed to.
Nicolaides declined an interview, but in a media statement said this is not an appropriate use of a recall petition.
“Recalls should be reserved for breaches of public trust, ethical violations, or sustained dereliction of local duty, not as a shortcut to trigger a new election over political differences,” he said in the statement.
Shortly after the campaign to recall Nicolaides was launched, another petition was filed to recall Angela Pitt, a member of the UCP and MLA for Airdrie-East.
Following the approval of these petitions, Elections Alberta, the organization responsible for the handling of these proceedings, asked the provincial government for a funding raise of $13.5 million to reduce both the strain on staff and increase their workspace as more petitions are filed.
This request was swiftly denied by the province and was countered with approved funding of $1.45 million.
Chief electoral officer Gordon McClure told The Canadian Press the additional funds are “crucial for my office to maintain a state of functionality and readiness.”
Although the Nicolaides recall petition outcome will remain unknown until Jan. 21, 2026, Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, says the results could lead to the successful removal of a minister — but also the weaponization of recall legislation.
“I’ve been under the belief, and I said this when I testified to the Alberta legislature on this matter, that it should be used for extraordinary ethical reasons, that there’s no other way of removing this person,” says Bratt.
“As a result, I am not in support of the recall towards Demetrios Nicolaides because it’s not about his own personal behaviour, it’s not about his role as an MLA. It is about his role as administrator of the Crown, the school strike, the book bans, etc.,” Bratt says.
While Bratt is unsure about the petition’s likelihood to succeed, he does say there may still be political benefits for Yeremiy.
Yeremiy, who previously ran for MLA of Calgary North-West in 2022, says if given the opportunity and support, she would run for Nicolaide’s position as an independent.
“So if that’s the case, if there’s enough people that want that for me, I’ll happily do it, but I’m not going to do it without a tremendous and obvious number of people behind me.”