Country music artist expected to hand in anti-coal petition in Alberta

Singer Corb Lund, centre, speaks to the media on land proposed for coal mine development in the eastern slopes of the Livingstone range south west of Longview, Alta., Wednesday, June 16, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

EDMONTON — Country music artist Corb Lund is expected to deliver his anti-coal mining petition to Elections Alberta today.

Lund announced this week that his team had collected more than the 178,000 signatures it needed to get the province to take action, but he didn’t share a final tally.

He says the success of the petition goes to show how much Albertans care about headwaters and protecting the Rocky Mountains.

Lund’s petition asked signers to endorse prohibiting new coal mining in the Rockies on the grounds it needlessly risks harming the environment, particularly water.

If Elections Alberta verifies the signatures, Premier Danielle Smith’s government would be forced to consider passing a law banning coal mining or sending it to a provincewide referendum.

Lund had said that even if they got the required signatures, he doesn’t necessarily trust Smith’s government to act on it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2026.