Alberta to appeal ruling ordering release of documents on coal mining in Rockies
BLAIRMORE, AB – Alberta is appealing a judge’s ruling that ordered the release of internal documents on coal mining in the province’s Rocky Mountains, says the lawyer for ranchers seeking the information.
“I was told by (government) counsel,” said Richard Harrison, who represents a group of southern Alberta ranchers that filed a freedom of information request in 2020 to understand why the United Conservative government rescinded a policy that had for decades protected the eastern slopes of the Rockies.
Earlier this month, King’s Bench Justice Kent Teskey refused to grant a judicial review of an order from the province’s information commissioner that told the government to produce without redactions more than 6,500 documents pertaining to the coal decision.
Teskey ruled the request for review was a delay tactic to avoid providing information the public is entitled to see. He also warned the government that the courts would resist granting future requests for such reviews if they were seen as ways to frustrate the public’s right to know.