Corb Lund’s campaign to halt new coal mining along Alberta’s Eastern Slopes has cleared its threshold, but Premier Danielle Smith says the question won’t appear on the Oct. 19 referendum ballot, despite earlier indications it would.

On June 10, Lund and a group of Water Not Coal supporters unloaded 18 bins of signature sheets from a horse trailer outside the Elections Alberta office in Edmonton. Lund says organizers used the trailer to make a point about who this fight belongs to.

“We got over 205,000,” Lund told Shootin’ the Breeze. “There’ll be a few bad addresses, but we only needed 178,000. That’s a really big buffer. So we’re quite confident.”

Organizers say the four-month signature drive drew support from across the province — from urban centres to rural communities, First Nations and remote areas near the Eastern Slopes.

“It shows that Albertans are very strongly against these coal mines at the headwaters of our rivers,” Lund says. “We got signatures from 84 out of 87 ridings in the province. It was a very wide group of Albertans voicing their opinion.”

For Water Not Coal spokesperson Laura Laing, a rancher and longtime advocate for protecting the Eastern Slopes, the delivery was a milestone.

“It was very heartwarming,” she says. “We kind of wrapped all those months of blood, sweat and tears. It was quite the moment in history, really. One of the biggest moments that I think our province has seen on a grassroots initiative.”

Smith says deadline had already passed

On her June 13 Your Province, Your Premier radio show, Smith said the proposal is a legislative initiative that must be reviewed by a committee before recommendations are made to government.

During an unrelated press conference four days later, Smith told reporters the coal question will not appear on the Oct. 19 ballot. She said Elections Alberta set a June 1 deadline for the final list of referendum questions and the Water Not Coal verification process could not be completed in time.

Elections Alberta later confirmed to media that the deadline was set to ensure technological readiness, staffing and materials in advance of the referendum, saying each additional question requires 4.9 million ballot sheets.

Smith said the petition will instead be referred to a legislative committee, which will not be assembled until the legislature reconvenes Oct. 27.

“They’ll decide what direction to take with it,” she said. “It could result in a recommendation for a provincewide vote, which would take place in October of 2027.”

Smith also pointed to complications the committee would need to consider: provincial legislation requiring compensation when private property rights are restricted and the 2024 Crowsnest Pass plebiscite.

The premier’s announcement marks a shift from her earlier public position. As recently as April, she told reporters she expected the deadline for adding referendum questions to align with the close of the Water Not Coal signature-collection period.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery‘s office said the government plans “to see this process play out” and wait for the final verified signature count.

Lund disputes the deadline

Lund criticized the decision, saying organizers were not informed of the deadline despite discussions with the premier while the petition campaign was underway.

“To be told that the petition won’t make the ballot because it allegedly missed a June 1 deadline is unacceptable,” Lund said in a statement following the premier’s comments.

“I personally met with the premier in her office on May 11. We were literally discussing the wording of my question as it should appear on the ballot, face-to-face. And at no point was any June 1 deadline mentioned.”

Smith repeatedly said publicly that if Water Not Coal collected enough signatures, the question would appear on the fall ballot, Lund said.

“My team, all the canvassers and Albertans in general deserve consistency, honesty and fair treatment around these petition and direct-democracy issues that the premier has professed to believe in so strongly, so many times.”

He also argued the government has the authority to add questions to the ballot if it chooses.

“If the premier wants to put something on the ballot, she easily can,” he said. “She has done so multiple times — first with her original nine referendum questions, and then with the current question on separatism. The authority and the choice are available to her. And Albertans deserve to know why that authority was not used in this case, despite more than 200,000 people calling for it.”

Lund also pointed to evidence beyond the petition itself.

“Independent findings from the coal policy review initiated by the former UCP government in 2021 showed more than 80 per cent of Albertans oppose new coal mining on the Eastern Slopes,” he said.

“Those facts, and the overwhelming public support reflected in more than 200,000 signatures, cannot be dismissed by a procedural excuse or an arbitrary deadline that was never communicated.”

On the Crowsnest Pass plebiscite Smith cited, Lund said the comparison was misleading.

“A turnout of roughly 1,700 people in a heavily lobbied local referendum in the Crowsnest Pass that voted in favour of the Grassy Mountain mining project (which is not even in the Crowsnest Pass municipality) does not represent the will of Albertans,” he said.

“More people canvassed for this petition than were even permitted to vote in the Crowsnest Pass plebiscite that the coal companies like to refer to so frequently. The scale of public concern is provincewide, and it cannot be minimized.”

What the petition asks

The petition calls on the provincial government to prohibit new coal mining and exploration anywhere along Alberta’s Eastern Slopes, exempting only mines already in active production as of Jan. 1, 2026.

It specifically names Northback Holdings‘ Grassy Mountain project near the headwaters of the Oldman River in the Crowsnest Pass area and Valory Resources’ Blackstone project in Clearwater County, near the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan River.

The Grassy Mountain proposal was rejected in 2021 by a joint federal-provincial review panel. Held at the time by Benga Mining, the project re-entered the approval process under Northback Holdings, and in May 2025 the Alberta Energy Regulator approved deep-drilling exploration permits.

Industry responds

Northback Holdings and Valory Resources both responded to the petition delivery with statements to CBC News on June 10. The Coal Association of Canada has also been a vocal industry voice during the campaign.

Northback’s strategic communications manager, James Robson, said there is strong support for the Grassy Mountain project “as demonstrated by provincewide external polling which determined that up to 74 per cent of Albertans support it.”

“Further, the 2024 referendum in Crowsnest Pass saw 72 per cent support for the Grassy Mountain project,” Robson wrote.

“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.”

Ian Black, CEO of Valory Resources, said in a written statement that his company is committed to developing its underground metallurgical coal mine responsibly.

“It is disappointing to see misinformation about this industry, especially in Alberta,” Black said.

Rina Blacklaws, vice-president of industry development for the Coal Association of Canada, told the Western Standard in early June that the petition would put project decisions in “the court of public opinion as opposed to the technical expert review panel at the Alberta Energy Regulator.”

“That can put our province at a disadvantage in attracting private sector investment and realizing the economic and community benefits that come with critical mineral development,” Blacklaws said.

Where things stand

Elections Alberta has until July 2 to complete signature verification.

Lund closed his statement with thanks to the campaign’s supporters:

“I want to thank every Albertan who signed, every volunteer who canvassed, and every community group that stood up to protect our water, mountains and ranchland. Your work matters. We will continue to organize, to demand accountability, transparency and to insist that promises made to the public are kept.”