A petition to put pressure on former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith to resign was circulated in her riding over the weekend.
Organizers are angry that the MLA for Highwood crossed the floor earlier this month to join the governing Progressive Conservatives.
Smith and eight members of her caucus made the move a week before Christmas.
Two of her constituents are behind the petition, which is also being made available online.
Amanda Achtman said the hope is to convince Smith to resign her seat and run in a byelection.
She said 40 volunteers were out in High River and Okotoks over the weekend knocking on doors to gather signatures.
“Her legacy now will be that she betrayed Albertans. She alienated friends, she took bad advice, and she has departed from all of the principles for which she once stood. It’s shocking. It’s saddening.”
Achtman said the physical petition had about 450 signatures by Monday morning, while the online version had roughly 7,500.
Organizers are hoping to get 6,000 people in Smith’s riding to sign the petition, which would represent about 20 per cent of the electorate — a proportion Smith said should be the threshold to trigger a byelection in recall legislation she proposed as head of the Wildrose Party.
