The man behind an effort to prevent open-pit coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains is seeking a legal review of an Elections Alberta decision to quash his petition. Corb Lund, an Alberta musician and landowner who launched the Water Not Coal citizens’ initiative, is challenging Alberta’s chief electoral officer decision to deem the petition unsuccessful. According to the application filed in the Alberta Court of King’s Bench, the group said, “the decision was unreasonable, procedurally unfair, and inconsistent with the purpose of Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act (CIA).” “More than 200,000 Albertans signed this petition in good faith, and they deserve a fair and reasonable process,” said Lund in a Thursday news release. “We believe Elections Alberta applied standards that were stricter than the law requires, and that thousands of Albertans were effectively by shut out by verification processes that don’t make sense. This judicial review is about ensuring that citizens’ voices weren’t lost in technicalities.” Water Not Coal claims Elections Alberta misinterpreted the CIA by applying stricter standards that what it required, modified its verification process – a move that rejected many valid signatures and overcounted invalid signatures while undercounting valid ones. It also claims that verification calls were not conducted properly and challenged Elections Alberta’s sampling method. The judicial review is asking the court to set aside the decision and declare the Water Not Coal initiative successful or, alternatively, return the matter to Elections Alberta for reconsideration. None of the above claims have been proven in court.
