Alberta musician continues fight against coal policy

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Alberta’s coal policy remains at the forefront of many in the province since the government removed the 1976 Coal Policy Act and then reinstated it after public backlash.

So now, the government has released an online survey on what the next steps should be and Alberta musician Corb Lund is making sure everyone has their voice heard.

Energy minister Sonya Savage says they are taking the time to listen.

“We heard very strongly from Albertans that they are very concerned with opening up areas of the Eastern Slope to coal-surface mining,” Savage said.

She says the survey will allow people to give their feedback on what they would like to see.

“That’s why we’re taking it back to Albertans to have their views and to hear their views to tell us what they’d like to see in a modern coal policy,” she added.

But Lund adds that many of the questions in the survey are tailored to what the government wants to hear in order to move ahead with its plan.

“I’m not super impressed with the multiple choice questions in it. I think they are skewed and I think they are probably designed to let the government arrive at the conclusion they want, which is to allow the foreign coal companies to go up there in to the Eastern Slopes and mine for coal,” Lund said on a video posted to Twitter.

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Although for those who want to voice their opinion, Lund says there is a bit of a loophole.

“The good news is, there is a number of sections of the survey which are fill-in-the-blank. So, you’ve got to tell the government what you think,” he said.

“If you don’t think that we should be exploring up there — which is happening at an alarming rate and it’s really destructive — if you don’t think they should be exploring tell them they should stop the exploration. If you think they shouldn’t be mining up there at all, tell them that. If you think water should’ve been included in this consultation and this survey, tell them that. I think water’s the biggest issue of all and it wasn’t even mentioned,” he added.

Lund has been vocal about the issue from the beginning and continues to bring awareness to the issue hoping the government will listen to Albertans but does continue to have his worries.

“In my opinion, the government has every intention on allowing the foreign coal companies to go up there and dig for coal and ruin the place and leave us with the bill,” Lund said.

The deadline for responding to the survey is April 19th and Albertans can fill out the survey on the government’s website.