Hallelujah, and pass that pen: it seems you can fight city hall. Just don’t expect to win.

Landon Johnston, the Calgarian pushing to have Mayor Jyoti Gondek recalled by voters, could have picked an easier task — perhaps climbing Everest in a gorilla suit, with a curling rock in each paw.

Still, where virtue signalling at no personal cost is now an addiction at the civic level, it’s refreshing to see an ordinary citizen step up and use his own time and money fighting for what he believes in. Especially knowing the game’s rigged to fail.

Did you think any politician would introduce legislation making it remotely possible to successfully recall an elected official because someone’s mad as hell and doesn’t want to take it anymore? Not a chance.

Which is why Gondek owes Jason Kenney a high-five. The former Alberta premier pushed through the recall legislation, but set the bar so high it makes the Everest challenge a breeze in comparison.

Kenney, a lifelong politician, billed the legislation as an achievable way for citizens to bring wayward politicians to heel by collecting enough signatures for a recall plebiscite. But it was another example of political virtue signalling — the Tories can do it just as well as the progressive bunch when suiting their agenda.

So, when........

© Calgary Herald