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Part of New and proposed legislation

Improving democratic processes and protections

Legislative changes strengthen citizen initiative and recall processes and prohibit deepfakes that could mislead voters.

Bill 23 received royal assent on April 16, 2026. 
Ministry responsible: Justice

Overview

The Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, improves citizen initiative and recall legislation after having seen these processes at work for the first time in the last year. 

Deepfakes

Deepfakes are seemingly realistic media, appearing to depict a real person, that are digitally created or manipulated. These have the potential to undermine democracy by making it more difficult for people to decide whether online content is authentic.
The amendments prohibit individuals and entities from creating, publishing and distributing deepfakes that are likely to mislead people about the conduct or statements of a party leader, minister, MLA, candidate, leadership or nomination contestant, or Elections Alberta officers or staff.

For more information, see the Justice Statutes Amendment Act fact sheet.

Key changes

The Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 amends the following legislation: 

  • Citizen Initiative Act

    Changes to the Citizen Initiative Act:

    • prohibit citizen initiative petitions from starting or continuing from 12 months before to 12 months after a general election
    • repeal deadlines for holding a referendum resulting from a successful policy or constitutional referendum proposal
    • allow the justice minister and the petition proponent to appoint scrutineers to oversee the verification of petition signatures
    • require the Chief Electoral Officer to keep successful initiative petitions’ signature sheets for 2 years

  • Recall Act

    Changes to the Recall Act:

    • allow the MLA named in the petition and the petition applicant to appoint scrutineers to oversee the verification of petition signatures
    • clarify that the Chief Electoral Officer must keep successful recall petitions’ signature sheets until a recall vote is complete

  • Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act

    Changes to the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act prohibit individuals and entities from creating a deepfake that if they publish or distribute is likely to mislead electors about the conduct or statements of: 

    • a party leader
    • a leadership or nomination contestant
    • a candidate
    • a Minister
    • an MLA
    • the Chief Electoral Officer
    • the Election Commissioner
    • Elections Alberta employees
    • election officers

    Individuals and entities are also prohibited from publishing or distributing deepfakes they did not create that are likely to mislead voters about the conduct or statements of any one of the individuals listed above and there is an intent to mislead.

  • Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act

    Changes to the Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act:

    • lower the threshold for disclosure of public sector compensation to be consistent with the original intent of the act, to demonstrate value for Alberta taxpayer dollars
    • reduce the frequency of disclosure of severance from twice to once per year to save time and effort without losing any transparency of compensation data

Next steps

  • Changes to the Recall Act and Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act took effect upon royal assent 
  • Changes to the Citizen Initiative Act took effect upon proclamation on May 1
  • Changes to the frequency of disclosure in the Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act took effect upon royal assent and changes to the threshold for disclosure will take effect January 1, 2027
     

Background

News