Sign our petitions for a better Medicine Hat
On August 3, 2023 we launched a change.org petition in an attempt to gain the attention of the Mayor and Council. During an interview with Chat News on September 11th, the Mayor stated she had not and would not look at the change.org petition because it was not official, stating instead that there is a “certain process that people have to follow to do petitions and so once that process has been followed then it will get more attention”. The Mayor has made it clear she will only look at a recall petition, and has made it clear that the only way she will listen to us is if we have her recalled. So here we are.
During that interview, the Mayor also stated she did not notice the impact of the high cost of utilities because she lives alone and is not a high energy consumer. If we cannot trust our Mayor and Council to notice and empathize with anything other than their own personal experience, from the impact of their actions or inactions, how can we trust them to run our City? On their watch, over $607,000 in bonuses were paid out to COMCO employees in 2022 for achieving record profits and what is likely more than ten times the goal for a rate on return on equity. How did this slip past them?
The Mayor’s position was chosen as the subject for the petition as she is the only full-time council member. While other council members are part-time and most have day jobs, our Mayor’s only job is to oversee the operation of our City. We do not discount that collectively, this council is dysfunctional and ineffective. We do not discount the shortcomings of other council members and their contribution to the mess we are in. It is impractical for us to attempt to recall them all.
And so, on October 12, 2023 a Recall Petition Notice was process and posted by the City Of Medicine Hat’s website advising the public of the petition to recall the Mayor. This was not a decision taken lightly. It came after repeated failed attempts to engage and have our Mayor and Council listen to our concerns.
Our hope is that you will join us in sending a clear and strong message to all of our elected officials, current and future, through this recall petition. We will not stand for inaction that causes our citizens to live in poverty, that causes crime rates, homeless, addiction and mental health crisis to increase, and we will not stand to allow you to destroy the Medicine Hat advantage. A city not growing, is a city dying. Join us in our fight to provide our city, and our citizens, a chance to flourish and prosper.
Please help us advocate for a better Medicine Hat. Sign our petitions today!
Letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs
In addition to the recall and inspection petitions we have no the go, on November 14th, 2023 we sent a letter to to the Minister of Municipal Affairs requesting that he order an inspection into the operations of the City of Medicine Hat, COMCO, our Council and our Mayor.
This letter, signed by over 280 individuals in 24 hours, consist of twenty-nine pages of concerns, events, and examples of what we would like the Minister to inspect, namely:
Leadership turnover, the operation of COMCO, transparency, Mayors Office hiring and termination of Chief of Staff, Mayors Office hiring of Mayor Clarks campaign manager into the new Public Relations Advisor role, City Manager turnover, City Clerk turnover, Invest Medicine Hat turnover, other Managing Directors resignations, and the Mayor and Councils governance and conduct.
If you would like to read a copy of the letter, click here.
If you would like to also request an inspection, please email the Minister at minister.municipalaffairs@gov.ab.ca and let him know! If you would like to include a copy of the letter with your email, you can download it here.
1. Signing Stations
We have a team of volunteers who will be going door to door over the next weeks to offer residents an opportunity to sign the petitions. We also have signing stations, where Medicine Hat residents can go to sign the petitions. These include residential address and businesses. A map of these signing station locations is below and will be updated as more signing stations become available.
2. Have a Volunteer Bring The Petitions To You
Submit the form below to have one of our volunteers bring the petitions to you for signature. This process is private and will only be handled by lead volunteers.
3. Sign at an Event
Volunteers will be (wo)manning tables at various events throughout Medicine Hat where you can stop by to sign the petitions.
1. Volunteer
If you are interested in volunteering to help collect signatures, we absolutely welcome the help!
We need volunteers for the following roles:
- canvassing – door to door with the petitions asking for signatures
- (wo)manning events – sitting at a table collecting signatures at various events throughout the City of Medicine Hat
- being a signing station – offering your home or business as a spot people can sign the petition
If you would like to learn more, please email us at ourmedicinehat@gmail.com.
2. Spread The World
Share this site and information with your friends, families and colleagues and ask them to sign the petitions too!
3. Donate
We are all volunteers fighting to bring back the Medicine Hat Advantage. Costs for photocopies, FOIP’s, petition applications, signage etc are coming out of pocket. If you would like to donate to help us administer these petitions, we would be forever grateful! We will update donors with expenditures and receipts for full transparency. If there is any money left over at the end of the campaign, we will donate it to the local human food bank, to help them feed those affected by the rising cost of living here in the Hat.