LETHBRIDGE – Amendments to Alberta’s legislation on citizen-initiated referendums mean Corb Lund’s recently approved application for a petition drive to stop new coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is cancelled and the singer has to re-apply.
Elections Alberta had posted the official OK on its website Monday for Lund to soon start collecting signatures for his petition.
But the agency says in a Friday news release that amendments to electoral legislation that took effect this week mean petition applications made before Thursday, for which an initiative petition has not been issued, are “deemed to have never been made.”
The release says it applies to Lund’s No New Coal Mining in Alberta’s Rockies application because even though it was approved, a petition was not issued.
A bill passed this week removes a number of requirements that future referendum proposals must meet before petitioners can start collecting signatures, including that the proposal must be constitutional, factually accurate or have clear subject matter statements.
Lund says in a statement he’s disappointed but will continue his efforts.
“As frustrating as this is, we will continue in this fight, reapply for a new petition and fill out as many forms as we have to if it stops coal mining in the headwaters of our rivers,” said the singer, who has received multiple Juno and Canadian Country Music Association nominations and awards.
Lund, who lives in southern Alberta, has been a vocal opponent of coal mining and has argued mines could threaten land and water in the area.
An application by Mitch Sylvestre on Alberta independence must also be re-submitted, the Elections Alberta release said, but former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk’s application seeking to make remaining in Canada official policy will stand after being approved in late June.
Chief electoral officer Gordon McClure said in the release fact sheets will be developed to help people understand the revisions, and the information will be posted on the Elections Alberta website “as they are available.”
The agency said applicants may submit a notice of intent with the same subject matter within 30 days to have the required application fee waived.
An application approved in October about removing government funding from private schools will also stand and the applicant will not need to re-apply, Elections Alberta said.
The United Conservative government rescinded a decades-old coal policy in 2020 to reopen much of the eastern slopes to mining. They rolled back on that the following year due to public outcry.
However, the government reignited the debate in 2024 when it introduced rules banning new mines on the slopes but exempting advanced projects like Grassy Mountain near Crowsnest Pass.
Prior to being told to re-submit, Lund had four months to collect nearly 178,000 signatures — equal to 10 per cent of votes cast in the last general election.
If successful, the legislature would consider passing a law to ban coal mining or send it to a provincewide vote.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2025.
