EDMONTON — Country musician Corb Lund has delivered his anti-coal petition and says thousands of canvassers delivered more than enough to get it approved.
On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, cheered on by supporters, he hauled the papers from the back of a horse trailer to Elections Alberta’s Edmonton office.
“It’s been a very wide swath of the Alberta public who have said very clearly to the government that they don’t want irresponsible foreign coal mining inside the headwaters of our rivers in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains,” he said.
If Elections Alberta verifies the required 178,000 signatures, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government would be forced to consider passing a law banning new coal mining or send it to a provincewide referendum.
Lund said he expects Smith’s government to honour the wishes of those who signed, but he doesn’t trust them to address their demands with effective legislation right away.
Smith has said she supports direct democracy, and has invoked Lund’s petition as an example of her government giving voice to Albertans — akin to her decision to send to referendum in October a vote on whether the province should stay in Canada or kick-start a second referendum on whether to leave.
Smith has also said it was her government’s intention to put Lund’s question on the ballot on Oct. 19 should the petition get the requisite number of signatures.
The petition takes specific aim at two potential projects, calling for them to be stopped from getting any green light from provincial regulators.
The two are Northback Holdings’ Grassy Mountain project and Valory Resource’s Blackstone mine.
If a coal question is put to a referendum, Lund said he expects nothing less than Smith’s government to use the petition’s wording verbatim — including the project-specific development bans.
“They shouldn’t be changing our question.”
“We’re watching them like hawks,” he said.
In a statement Wednesday, Northback said there is strong support for Grassy Mountain, demonstrated by polling and a non-binding 2024 referendum in Crowsnest Pass that saw 72 per cent of municipality residents in favour.
“If approved, the Grassy Mountain Project will produce high-quality steelmaking coal for global markets, provide hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefits and hundreds of direct jobs while adhering to the highest environmental standards,” the company said.
Valory CEO Ian Slater said in a Wednesday statement the company is committed to responsible development under Alberta’s environmental and regulatory standards.
“The facts are simple: this project will create jobs, support local communities, protect our land and water, and help supply a resource the world continues to need,” Slater said.
Lund reiterated Wednesday that he doesn’t believe the coal companies’ lofty promises of jobs, especially given increasing automation, nor does he believe promises of strict environmental stewardship.
He added that his petition gathered support from across the province, but the Crowsnest Pass referendum was limited only to some residents who won’t be the most affected by mining.
“They cherry-picked a group of people who want the jobs who will not suffer the effects of the mine,” he said.
Elections Alberta has 21 days to verify Lund’s petition.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery’s office, when asked to comment about next steps earlier this week, said the government will wait to see how the process plays out and for the final signature count from Elections Alberta.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2026.
Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
