Elections Alberta deems ‘Water Not Coal’ petition unsuccessful

Jul 3, 2026 | 12:07 PM

Elections Alberta announced that Alberta musician Corb Lund’s “Water Not Coal” citizen initiative petition has been deemed unsuccessful.

Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, determined the requirements of section six under the Citizen Initiative Act were not met.

The petition needed to reach the 177,732-signature threshold to force government action or a provincial referendum, and 196,088 signatures were counted; however, Elections Alberta reported that only 172,088 were verified after a random statistical sampling method was applied at a 95 per cent confidence level.

“The primary reasons signatures were rejected during the validation phase included incomplete elector information, invalid dates, electors signing the petition more than once, and incomplete or improperly completed canvasser signature witnessing declarations. No seeded names were found on the petition,” the province wrote in a media release.

“The primary reasons signatures were rejected during the verification phase included electors being unable or unwilling to verify the information on the petition sheet, and not providing valid contact information to reach them for verification.”

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As a result, the government said Lund and his team have until Monday, July 6, to return the citizen initiative petition and all canvasser identification documents to Elections Alberta. They must also destroy all additional copies of the signature sheets and submit a signed affidavit confirming that.

They must also file their required financial reports with Elections Alberta no later than August 10.

The main goal of the petition was to call on the provincial government to protect the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and their waters that supply drinking water across Alberta from proposed coal mining projects, which Lund said could impact water quality.

The provincial government received the petition from Lund on July 10 to begin the verification process. Elections Alberta had 21 days to complete the process.

Lund explained in a previous interview with rdnewsNOW that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told him that his petition would be on the referendum this October if they gained enough signatures.

Lund and his team have yet to release a statement on the government’s ruling, but it will be added to the story when it becomes available.

by Ian Gustafson

Elections Alberta deems ‘Water Not Coal’ petition unsuccessful

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