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Canada’s 100 Best restaurants list has dropped, and it includes four Calgary eateries.

The annual list was released Monday night, with the number one spot going to Mon Lapin in Montreal for the second year in a row.

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Calgary’s top-scoring restaurant is River Café, ranking 23rd. This is followed by Eight (25th), D.O.P. (46th) and Major Tom (52nd). All four restaurants made the 2023 top 100 list as well.

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The 2024 judging panel featured an all-time high of 150 voting judges – 20 more than 2023. Competing restaurants are judged by a panel of informed culinary enthusiasts, food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs and other food-service professionals.

Judges are spread throughout Canada, proportional to regional population size, and are required to visit and vote on a minimum of three restaurants outside of their home region. Restaurants are judged on the complete dining experience, including service, décor and food quality.

Calgary’s cocktail scene is also celebrating a win this year, with four bars featured on Canada’s 100 Best list of the country’s top 50 bars.

Proof landed the number 10 spot, a move forward from last year’s position at 11th. The other local bars on the list are Missy’s This That (13th), Rain Dog Bar (30th) and Paper Lantern (44th).

Global News Hour at 6 Calgary

Official Calgary recall petition results prompt calls to change rules

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Global News Hour at 6 Calgary: May 13

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A petition aimed at ousting Calgary’s mayor has officially fallen short, and was deemed insufficient following the verification process.

The results were presented to city councillors and Mayor Jyoti Gondek at a special meeting of council Monday morning.

City clerk Kate Martin said the petition garnered 69,344 unverified signatures, or 5.39 per cent of the city’s population.

The threshold to recall Gondek, according to provincial legislation, was 514,284 signatures from Calgarians who are eligible to vote, or 40 per cent of the city’s population.

“We have a lot of work to do as a council, we have really important decisions to make on behalf of Calgarians and I’m glad we don’t have this distraction anymore,” Gondek told reporters following the meeting.

The development came as no surprise as Landon Johnston, the man who launched the recall petition, said he didn’t meet the threshold to recall Gondek when he handed in the signatures last month.

“Even with the lack of sufficiency on our petition, we have accomplished a lot and I’m proud of that,” Johnston told Global News on Monday. However, a randomized sample of 369 signatures found none of the signatures collected met the verification requirements as laid out in the provincial legislation.

Martin said all were missing a notice of recall petition, 27 had an insufficient or blank address, 12 had insufficient affidavits, and six didn’t include a witness signature.

Two were missing the petitioner’s signature, another two were missing dates or had illegible handwriting and there was one instance of a petitioner witnessing their own signature.

Another signature in the sample was a duplication, according to the city’s verification process.

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“The number of invalid signatures in the sample was 369, and therefore 100 per cent of signatures were invalid and the total number of verified signatures is zero,” Martin told council. David Duckworth, the city’s chief administrative officer, said he asked for the signatures to go through the verification process even though that was not required in the legislation.

“I believed that it was important to provide additional transparency to the public and parties involved in the process about the recall petition that was submitted,” he told city council. “It was a learning opportunity.

“I wanted to test the parameters of the Municipal Government Act and share our learnings with the minister of Municipal Affairs, who is accountable to the legislation guiding the recall petition process.” Johnston expressed frustration with the petition process, and lack of guidance from city and provincial officials when he inquired.

“The process itself was very difficult,” Johnston said in an interview. “The lack of help from the city and the provincial government, everyone just kept blaming each other for the legislation.”

Johnston said, despite lobbying for changes to the legislation, he won’t be holding his breath that amendments are coming that would “make it easier for them to get out of office.”

He added he realized he was missing the notice of recall petition halfway through the process. Although there are continued costs related to the recall petition moving forward, to date the city said the recall process has cost $30,500.

“The provincial government needs to think about what it just cost us to verify that none of those signatures are valid,” Gondek said. In a statement to Global News, Heather Jenkins, a press secretary for the Minister of Municipal Affairs, said the recall petition form on the government’s website has been updated “to be more clear.”

“If passed, Bill 20 will transfer the responsibility for validating recall petitions from the chief administrative officer to the ministry of Municipal Affairs to make the process less onerous on municipalities,” Jenkins said.

“Municipal Affairs is better suited to administer and report the results of these petitions.”

The City of Calgary received notice of a recall petition targeting Gondek at the end of January, which was made public on Feb. 5 after it was verified and found to be in compliance with the recall criteria laid out in the Municipal Government Act.

Johnston had 60 days to collect the signatures, which were handed in to Elections Calgary on April 4.

That kickstarted a 45-day process to count the signatures.

According to Martin, the petitioner has two days to destroy copies of the recall petition and the city has until June 24 to destroy the information in the petition.

The legislation states that an elected official can only face one recall petition per term, meaning no more recall petitions can be filed against Gondek with more than a year left in her current term.

An effort to remove Calgary's mayor through a recall campaign has been officially deemed insufficient, Calgary's city clerk declared Monday.

To make matters worse for organizers, city staff believe all the signatures collected were invalid for the purposes of the motion.

The petition to recall Jyoti Gondek started in February and, under legislation set out in the Municipal Government Act (MGA), requires the petitioner to collect more than 514,000 valid signatures within 60 days.

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City clerk Kate Martin said staff counted 69,344 unverified signatures since the petition was dropped off at Elections Calgary last month.

"I, Katarzyna Martin, city clerk at the City of Calgary, hereby declare the recall petition to recall Mayor Jyoti Gondek received April 4, 2024, to be insufficient," Martin told council.

The cost to verify the petition has been $30,559 so far, which includes salaries for the six limited-term staff hired for the process.

The campaign was started by Landon Johnston, who said he wanted to send a message to the mayor and council that many Calgarians are upset with spending and tax increases. The effort was also launched to highlight the nearly impossible bar set under provincial recall legislation, Johnston told CTV News.

Because the signature tally fell well short of its goal, the city did not need to move forward with a proper verification process.

However, Calgary's chief administrative officer David Duckworth, said he ordered staff to go through a verification process in the interest of "transparency to the public and parties involved."

A randomized sample of 369 signatures collected found none of them to be valid because they were not compliant with rules set out in the MGA that require the notice of recall petition to be included on the page.

"Therefore, 100 per cent of the signatures were invalid," Martin said.

Gondek said the official results of the process allow council to now focus on other issues at city hall, including the continuation of a lengthy rezoning debate.

"There are really important decisions to make on behalf of Calgarians and I'm glad we don't have this distraction anymore," the mayor told journalists Monday.

The rules for municipal recall petitions were established by the Alberta Government and, given the number of invalid signatures found, the mayor said the province should take another look at the legislation surrounding recall campaigns.

"I think it's important for the provincial government to reflect on this," she said. "It is up to them -- to the provincial government -- to understand how to make this process a little bit more user friendly for folks."

Under the MGA, Gondek cannot face another recall effort this term.

Quarterback meetings were crowded to start Calgary Stampeders' training camp.

Seven quarterbacks, including last year's starter Jake Maier, were on McMahon Stadium's turf Sunday. One of them, local product Danny Skelton, was a CFL quarterback internship participant.

But Maier and last season's backups Tommy Stevens and Logan Bonner were joined by CFL veteran Matt Shiltz, Kyle Vantrease and Chris Reynolds to start main camp.

"That's part of the business right?" Maier said. "It is a healthy competition. Everyone gets along well. You're either producing or you're not. I plan on producing and doing what I need to do."

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Calgary (6-12-0) won the turtle derby for the West Division's third and final playoff spot in 2023 before falling 41-30 to the B.C. Lions in the division semifinal.

The Stampeders ranked last in the league in touchdowns (36) and average offensive yards per game (335.5). Calgary topped the CFL in field goals with kicker Rene Paredes going 52 for 60.

In his first full season as a starter, Maier led the league in completions (363) and passing attempts (578), but his completion percentage (62.8) and efficiency (85) ranked outside the top CFL starters.

"He's pushed himself," said Stampeders head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. "As a whole unit, we've got to up our game. That starts with the front, the o-line. We've watched the tape from last year. We didn't give him any comfort early on. We made more mental errors than we can afford to make.

"We did improve as the year went on limiting our three-and-outs. If we're going to really win games, we can't keep giving Rene career stats. That can be getting more opportunities, but that's also taking advantage when we're down inside that 20-yard line."

Schiltz, 31, played six CFL seasons with the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Calgary's backup Stevens scored six short-yardage rushing touchdowns in 2023.

Bonner was the Stampeders' third-stringer and Reynolds a practice roster QB. Vantrease, 25, is a University of Buffalo alum attempting a football comeback after spending a year as a broadcaster.

"I was happy with the guys here last year, but I did want to bring in a veteran guy and Matt's done that," Dickenson said. "We've had Kyle on our (negotiation) list for quite awhile."

Maier, who took the starting job from Bo Levi Mitchell midway through the 2022 season, wasn't uncomfortable with five other men at camp trying to take his job.

"I'm not. I came into this league in a situation where I was battling with a guy who is a Hall of Famer and I understood the role that came with that," said the 27-year-old from Fullerton, Calif. "When you break it down, how can I keep my life simple, how can I focus on my fundamentals and how do I clear my mind every day?

"None of that has to do with any external factors or who's here? Who's not? What's the outside world saying? Should I be here? Should I not? If I think too much about that stuff, I'm just wasting my time, wasting my thoughts."

Maier altered his diet in the off-season to drop weight, and ran more.

"That's not just hopping on a treadmill or running miles," he said. "That's speed work, change of direction and short bursts. I'm down a few pounds and I'm quicker than I have (been) since I've been in this league."

Dickenson admitted it's difficult to give all quarterbacks enough work in the Stampeders' lighter camp schedule to preserve bodies. Two-a-days are gone and the players were off the field Sunday after an hour 45 minutes.

"It is the right move at this point. Health is important," Dickenson said. "Just got to make sure we give them enough reps. That's going to be the challenge."

Forest fire smoke from northern B.C. that sent the Edmonton Eskimos indoors Sunday cleared enough in southern Alberta for the Stampeders to practice outside in the morning.

Receivers Jalen Philpot, Malik Henry and Clark Barnes were present and accounted for.

University of Calgary product Philpot sat out the 2023 season rehabbing a hamstring injury, Henry suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon rupture July 15 and Guelph alum Barnes underwent season-ending knee surgery in August.

The Stampeders play two pre-season games starting May 25 at home against the Lions, followed by a May 31 road game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Calgary's season-opener June 7 against the Tiger-Cats could feature Mitchell's first game at McMahon since the two-time winner of the CFL's Most Outstanding Player award was traded in 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2024.

Canada’s 100 Best (C100B) is out with the country’s top culinary experiences of the year, and while a Montreal restaurant claimed the top spot, four Calgary eateries also made the cut.

Restaurants were ranked by judges on service, décor, ‘the depth of the cellar,’ and food quality.

River Cafe, #23

The highest ranking of the Calgary establishments included on the list is River Cafe at #23.

Located at Prince’s Island Park, critics praised the restaurant for its appraoch to dining.

“Here, a reverence for the environment and the commitment to exclusive use of Canadian and Albertan ingredients — from Highwood Crossing’s grains and canola oil to vegetables from Poplar Bluff Organics — are evident on every plate,” C100B writes.

Props were also given for Scott MacKenzie’s menus, sommelier Bruce Soley’s wine list, and of course, the unique location and décor.

Eight, #25

You may not have even heard of this Calgary restaurant, and if you have, it’s likely been very challenging to get a reservation.

Eight, on Confluence Way SE, has been ranked #25 on the C100B restaurants list.

Owned by chef Darren MacLean, Eight is fairly hidden, located behind a doorway inside another restaurant of his — Nupo — inside the Alt Hotel Calgary East Village.

With just eight stools and one sitting three nights a week, C100B judges say dining at this Calgary restaurant is a hot commodity.

MacLean is praised for his polycultural cooking, which comnines Japanese, Korean, Chinese, South Asian, French, and Indigenous elements.

C100B says, “MacLean is an estimable chef, and of his three restaurants, Eight is the most personal.”

D.O.P, #46

Want to give your compliments to the chef?

The tiramisu at Calgary’s D.O.P. comes with the cellphone number of the owner’s mom, from which most of the classic dishes originated, so patrons can tell her thanks.

In a narrow building on 1 Street SW, critics say the restaurant “squeezes patrons together like they’re family.”

Diners can also look forward to traditional dishes served with contemporary touches like flavours and ingredients that change with the seasons.

“Noisy, crowded, and joyous,” judge Elizabeth Carson said.

Major Tom, #52

Known for its spectacular view, the last of Calgary’s establishments on the 2024 list is Major Tom at #52.

Located on the 40th floor of Stephen Avenue Place, the Concorde Group restaurant is also appreciated for its classic steak-house fare, ambitious wine list, and classic-with-a-twist cocktails.

The restaurant says its goal is to make patrons feel like they’re “on top of the world” curating an “elevated experience without the pretension.”