Local MLA Peter Guthrie and Mayor Jeff Genung both see value in the proposed Recall Act tabled on Mar. 15 by the Kenney Government.

In the case of Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Guthrie, it was something he supported when he first sought the United Conservative Party nomination.

"It's definitely something that I'm happy we're bringing forward," says MLA Guthrie. "I think many people here in Alberta want to see it, and I campaigned on it myself. I think it's important."

"Residents should have the democratic ability to hold elected leaders accountable between elections, and I don't disagree with the legislation at all," says Mayor Genung.

The act's proposed rules are considered reasonable by both. They believe the regulations will help prevent outside special interest groups from tampering with its intended purpose.

"One of my initial concerns was you would get a special interest group, perhaps, that could dictate the outcome of a politician's career," says Genung. "So some of those proposed rules are a bit of a safeguard from that. Nobody can just knee-jerk react to something and have someone removed from office."

Both believe it's fair to disallow a petition in the first 18 months of a politician's term to provide an opportunity for the elected official to prove themself to their constituents. Disallowing one in the last six months of a term would prevent the launch of a costly petition that would hold no true value.

Guthrie says the proposed regulation will also prevent people from being paid to collect signatures.

He also believes requiring the collection of signatures from 40 per cent of electors for a petition to succeed is a fair threshold.

"You don't want to make legislation like this too easy, because, in a lot of respects, you can have organizations that want to interfere with your democratic process."

If passed, Alberta will become the second only province to currently have recall legislation in place. British Columbia residents agreed to the legislation by an overwhelming 80 per cent in a referendum. It's been in place since 1991 and came close to removing MLA Paul Reitsma in 1998. Electors in the Parksville-Qualicum riding turned in a petition with 25,000 signatures, enough to have him removed. Reitsma chose to resign before the signatures were verified by election officials.

Alberta has had recall legislation in the past. It nearly forced the removal of Social Credit Premier William Aberhart.

In 1937, Aberhart was threatened with recall by constituents in his Okotoks-High River riding. The government that created the legislation chose to toss it instead of forcing Aberhart to resign.

Aberhart ran in another riding after the controversy.

Today, Bill 51 was introduced that further expands upon the idea of providing more avenues for Albertans to have a bigger say in their government.

Called the Citizen Initiative Act, it will allow Albertans to bring their concerns and proposals forward to the government for discussion or referendum.