Premier Smith says potential “Coal Not Water” referendum not until 2027
“The petition can still proceed, but the earliest it could go to a provincial referendum is October 2027,” she told reporters at an unrelated press conference. Alex Dhaliwal
Author: Alex Dhaliwal
On Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith said Corb Lund’s Water Not Coal petition won’t appear on the Oct. 19 ballot because Elections Alberta required all referendum questions by June 1.
“The petition can still proceed, but the earliest it could go to a provincial referendum is October 2027,” she told reporters at an unrelated press conference.
Water Not Coal organizers say they’ve collected more than 200,000 signatures for a petition opposing new coal mines in Alberta’s eastern slopes, as reported by Global News.
The petition specifically targets two proposed coal projects: Northback’s Grassy Mountain and Valory Resources’ Blackstone mine.
Corb Lund, who started the petition, says coal mining in Alberta’s foothills threatens the Eastern Slopes and the headwaters that feed much of the province’s river system.
“I’m deeply disappointed and shocked by the premier’s decision today,” Lund told CTV News Wednesday upon learning of Smith’s remarks.
“After more than 200,000 Albertans added their names to the Water Not Coal petition, and after months of canvassing by thousands of volunteers, to be told that the petition won’t make the ballot because it allegedly missed a June 1 deadline is unacceptable,” he said.
Lund submitted the petitions to Elections Alberta last week, which now has 21 days to verify them, with a Jul. 1 deadline.
However, the agency says petitioners had a Jun. 1 deadline to submit their questions for technical reasons, meaning any referendum question submitted after would be pushed to Oct. 2027.
“We need enough time to source paper and print an additional 4.9 million ballot sheets per question added, as well as additional ballot boxes, referendum forms, envelopes, and other supplies,” Elections Alberta said.
There are also staffing implications, according to the agency. “The closer to the referendum date, the higher the risk of not being able to recruit and train sufficient staff in time,” reads the statement.
Smith confirmed Jun. 1 is a hard deadline for questions to appear on the Oct. 19 ballot. It is unclear if Lund and other organizers had prior knowledge of the deadline.
Asked about the Water Not Coal petition Wednesday, Smith first outlined the petition approval process by citing Forever Canada, a petition on remaining in Canada.
“The Forever Canada petition went before a committee of MLAs [from] both parties, and then they took hearings, got legal advice, and made a determination about how to proceed with that,” she told reporters Wednesday.
The premier, who had previously said all verified citizen-led petitions would be voted on in a referendum, clarified the Water Not Coal proposal will follow the same process as Forever Canada, with a decision deferred until the fall session.
Should Elections Alberta verify the required 178,000 signatures on any citizen-led petition, the government would have to either consider legislation banning new coal mines or hold a provincewide referendum.
On separation, Smith advanced a referendum question on an independence vote after a 301,000-signature petition was struck down over inadequate Indigenous consultation. She could theoretically take a similar approach to banning future coal leases.
Last month, Lund said he expected Water Not Coal to make the referendum if its signatures were verified, and expected the question to appear verbatim on the ballot.
“She knows that she can put whatever she wants on a referendum—because she’s done it 10 times in a row,” he said.
Alberta’s coal policy has been contentious since 2020, when the UCP lifted eastern slopes mining protections before reversing course after widespread public backlash.
Cancelling leases and halting coal projects led to major legal fallout, including a $142.8M loss to Atrum Coal and roughly $15B in other mining claims against the province.