Douglas Williams:
great reporting and a hilarious, though serious introduction. Wish all reporters could be so blunt and entertaining
Me too! This article is one of Andrew’s best. It’s super funny, and tart. No bullshit in his reporting.
The Stink of BS at Premier Smith’s Coal Town Hall,The rowdy meeting’s air reeked of government deception. Locals were having none of it by Andrew Nikiforuk, 13 Jun 2025, The Tyee
Premier Danielle Smith and three cabinet ministers presided over a boisterous “coal town hall” in Fort Macleod Wednesday with the purported goal of having a “discussion” about the government’s unpopular support for Australian coal speculators and their plans to mine the hell out of the Rockies.
About 500 severely normal Albertans, many as pissed as summer hornets, filled the hall to the brim. Ranchers. Irrigators. Landowners. Hikers. Moms. Water drinkers. Conservationists. Musicians like Corb Lund and Sid Marty. Small-c conservatives. Former mayors. Water scientists. My neighbours.
They packed the seats and lined the walls. Some coal supporters from the Crowsnest Pass attended too, but they were clearly in the minority.
Members of the majority, much to the dismay of Smith and company, all had one basic question: Why is her government supporting Australian coal magnates and ignoring Albertans concerned about their water security in a drying land overcast with smoke from persistent wildfires?
The pathetic and disingenuous answer was this:
The government supports a wonderful thing called “responsible development” in the Rockies because what sensible person would support “irresponsible development”?
And the world needs metallurgical coal and Alberta will deliver, because the modern economy demands it.
And because Aussie coal speculators have filed (dubious) lawsuits for $15 billion, the government now must appease them with a modern coal policy that finds “middle ground.”
In other words, the United Conservative Party government ended a highly popular coal moratorium ostensibly to save taxpayers money by dodging lawsuits that the government’s coal bungling created in the first place.
Piling the manure
Although Smith will sue Ottawa at the drop of a hat, she apparently can’t lift a legal finger to defend the Rockies, Alberta’s iconic backbone.
So citizens who didn’t wear boots to the event went home with buckets of bullshit and bafflegab on their shoes. As a veteran reporter, I wore waders, but the stench of political bullshit, which psychologists say they can now measure, wafted all the way home in the car.
Political bullshit, by the way, is defined as “persuasive communication that has no regard for truth, knowledge or evidence.” And that’s what Smith and her deferential companions delivered shamelessly.
They behaved and talked like a government beholden to Australian coal speculators and wondered why no one trusts them. It was telling that not one minister spoke in defence of the majesty, let alone the critical water supply role, of the Rocky Mountains.
Now, reporting on political bullshit can be tedious so let me just give you a small sample of the night’s proceedings.
Energy Minister Brian Jean, who obnoxiously occupied the stage like a loud vaudevillian, started things off by hailing the premier as a visionary leader. (In Donald Trump style, every minister began by praising Smith, a premier who has expelled two MLAs, Peter Guthrie and Scott Sinclair, for questioning the integrity of her government.)
Jean then explained it was possible to dig coal without messing up local water supplies, even though Alberta’s historical record, the experience of Teck Resources in B.C. and several government-funded studies all challenged the veracity of his bullshit. The minister then promised “responsible development” and added that it would be the best in the world. He got booed. Big time. Then Smith took the microphone. She tried to reframe the whole issue and pretended she was just trying to solve an inherited problem. But that’s not true. Her United Conservative Party created the coal fiasco by catering to lobbyists, and her government has magnified the problem by repeating the same mistake.
The rutted road to the town hall
Here’s a brief recap of how we got here. Caution — it stinks.
At the behest of coal lobbyists, the previous UCP government of Jason Kenney secretly opened the Rockies to coal development in 2020. It justified the scheme as “modernization.” That’s political code for allowing coal mining in watersheds and mountains where it wasn’t allowed before. The UCP didn’t run on the issue or consult with the public about these changes.
As a consequence, Albertans, particularly ones in this region who have a low tolerance for bullshit, revolted en masse against the blatant giveaway to foreign companies. (Coal royalties are one per cent in Alberta.) A non-partisan movement of water users then forced Kenney’s UCP government to reverse course. It then declared a moratorium on coal development in 2022.
Rather than uphold that moratorium, Smith undermined it by supporting the coal speculators as soon as she became premier. She first repeated Aussie propaganda that more open-pit mining on Grassy Mountain would somehow help reclaim its old mining footprint, which occupies only 274 hectares of the mountain. The new project, of course, would excavate an area nearly six times greater — 1,521 hectares. You can’t reclaim a mountain by levelling it.
At the town hall Smith now offered a different excuse for mining the Rockies. She explained that the only way to avoid a $15-billion Aussie expropriation claim against the government was to end the coal moratorium and modernize policy with the help of coal lobbyists.
She got royally booed, and for good reason. The premier had many other options, but that would have required leadership.
She could have killed the claims by formally expropriating the leases the government granted under the Mines and Minerals Act. She also could have marshalled her best legal team to fight the claims the same way she fights Ottawa. Or she could have argued that a coal moratorium that protects the public interest and the province’s water resources does not constitute de facto expropriation. Piss off, speculators.
Instead, Smith caved to foreign interests and foreign lobbyists. In so doing she showed her true colours: another chaos maker who works for the rich.
Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, who mostly talks like another energy minister, explained that the government was doing the world’s best job at monitoring air and water quality in Alberta. Nobody believed her.
Tough questions, empty answers
Then came a slew of hard questions and a flurry of bullshit answers.
Why wasn’t the government protecting Alberta’s sovereignty in the Rockies or standing up for Albertans? asked several citizens.
Jean’s answer was that “we are protecting Albertans” and everyone booed. Schulz repeated that the government was standing up for Albertans every day. And there were more boos.
Another citizen asked what coal mining would do for the province’s $2-billion outdoor recreation economy other than mangle it.
The tone-deaf Jean replied that he had a trapping licence (that is not a recreational activity) and really enjoyed snowmobiling in Fort McMurray. Recreation and mining can go together, he claimed.
The premier added that new technologies would protect water and that “we are encouraging companies to look at underground coal mining techniques.” The boos grew louder and louder.
A retired geologist, Cornelis Kolijn, reminded Smith and company that one of the reasons the Alberta Energy Regulator, or AER, unequivocally rejected the Grassy Mountain project in 2021 was that it had grave doubts about its economics due to an abundance of “shit coal” at the site.
The ministers, who clearly had not read the AER’s 2021 decision to reject the mine in the public interest, all wanted a copy of Kolijn’s card for more discussion. That was the moment when Smith and her entourage really declared their singular ignorance about the realities of the coal issue. They hadn’t even read the AER’s 2021 no-go decision.
It got worse. Former Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman then asked Jean why he had not replied to 20 basic questions he had sent him weeks ago.
Here’s one of the questions: “Why is the Alberta government proceeding with coal mining when their own studies demonstrate that coal mines pollute river systems, emit excessive selenium, generate windblown coal dust and continue to pollute for decades after the mines cease operating?”
Jean apologized and said he would get back to Spearman. Eventually.
I left before the loud and raucous gathering ended to attend to my dog. But I sampled enough of the emotional evening to know it showed a captured and incompetent government in big trouble with its electorate. On this file, Smith and the UCP keep compounding a massive credibility problem.
I can only assume Smith’s government called the town hall with the cynical hope it would give citizens an outlet to blow off steam and thereby let the government continue on its merry way, writing policy with Big Coal and appeasing their legal interests.
But that strategy is not going to work in southern Alberta. Here citizens, who proudly consider themselves to be conservative, respect water and the rights of downstream users. And for seven years now they have consistently repeated a simple message: No more coal mining in the Rockies.
Until the government hears and acts on that message, this coal fight will just get bigger.
Alberta Premier grilled on province’s coal policy at rowdy, angry town hall by Matthew Scace, The Canadian Press, June 12, 2025
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful on Wednesday night from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province’s coal policy.Bravo Albertans! I’ve been waiting for intense fury to protect our water from corrupt politicians and industry for decades.
About 500 people, dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta., for an event marked by heckling, competing applause and placards.A+++++++++
“If we are not prepared to look and find middle-ground solutions to allow for industries to proceed while reducing our environmental footprint, you’re going to find that different industries become the next on the hit list,”Good! Let Evil Gina join that hit list, fast. What a sleazy triple douche fucker liar Smith is. It’s impossible to protect water from toxic selenium poisoning by those industries, enabled by filthy fucks like Brian Jean, Schultz, Smith and her UCP Smith said through a chorus of protesting voices and verbal jabs.
“Banning industries is just not something we are going to do.”Well, Smitty Poo, read the fucking room. Ethical moral Albertans are not going to let you not ban Rinehart and her thugs.
The premier and her ministers of energy, environment and agriculture took questions and were shouted down on several occasions by attendees as they defended changes to the province’s coal policy.
Many in the crowd held small placards reading “lie” and “false,” raising them each time they disagreed with a statement. There was a notable group that came in support of the province’s coal policy, frequently applauding the ministers and shooting back at other crowd members. Many attendees carried notebooks and pens, keenly taking notes throughout.
The town hall came weeks after the Alberta Energy Regulator, or AER, granted an Australia-based coal company permission to start a controversial coal exploration on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Northback Holding Corp.’s project at Grassy Mountain was initially rejected in 2021 when a panel ruled that the likely environmental effects on fish and water quality outweighed the potential economic benefits.
Alberta regulator approves controversial coal exploration applications at Grassy Mountain
Late last year, the project was exempted from the Alberta government’s decision to ban open-pit coal mines because Northback’s application was considered an “advanced” proposal.Dirty trickery by Brian Jean meddling where he had no business meddling, in true corrupt Nazi form.
The issue has been polarizing in southern Alberta, where the debate has primarily revolved around the economic implications of development against environmental effects. A non-binding referendum in Crowsnest Pass saw 70 per cent of voters saying they’d support the nearby coal project.Ya, a bogus referendum involving a tiny portion of the many people who will be harmed by the poisoning of Gina’s greed project
Despite frequent pushback over the two-and-a-half-hour event, Smith rarely chose to get into back-and-forth discussions with attendees. She defended the province’s approach to coal developments, pitching responsible development that prioritizes environmental standards.
Smith also frequently cited a lawsuit by five coal companies that say they’re owed $15 billion by the province in lost revenues and sunk costs.Ya, all the corrupt UCP’s fault She argued again on Wednesday that she had taxpayers in mind when the province lifted its moratorium on coal mining and development on the eastern slopes.
Smith lies like her hero, the orange Nazi
“If we do nothing, then we are told we’ll likely lose those cases and have to pay ($15 billion).”So what. Money is infinite and more of it can be made, water is not and more of it cannot be made.
An energetic Brian Jean, the province’s energy minister, frequently challenged the boisterous crowd and at times trotted offstage to hand his business card to those asking questions.
“I live in the oilsands. You can’t tell me what I’m concerned about and what I’m not concerned about. I’m very concerned about our earth and our planet,” he said.
Coal mines on Alberta’s eastern slopes are poisoning fish populations, study says
Several questions returned to a new study by Alberta government scientists, yet to be peer reviewed, which recently said old coal mines on the eastern slopes are poisoning fish and any further coal mining there would result in “population collapse” of fish species in a nearby lake.
Asked about the report, Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said the province is looking into the issue and is waiting for it to be confirmed by the peer-review process. She said further studies to be released later this year are being conducted.By Gina’s goons?
“We want to understand what is happening there so that we can prevent that from happening in the future.”The only way to prevent poisoning of water, communities, air, land by coal, is not to mine it.
The premier also jousted with protesters while speaking to reporters before the town hall. When a group gathered behind her and started yelling, she turned around and asked them to let her finish the interview.
“I’m looking for a little bit of courtesy,” she said.while refusing to give it to Albertans that will be harmed by your endless rude betrayals
The event was scheduled to last two hours, but Smith asked to take questions for an extra 30 minutes after the clock had run out.
Smith needs to change policies if she wants to regain support by Jeff Colwill, Lethbridge Herald on June 7, 2025.I will never understand how any sane person could vote UCP or especially how they could vote for Danielle Smith. She showed us her selfish, power greedy, lying, betraying, corrupt self when she crossed the floor, backstabbing the Wildrose Party.
Editor,
Danielle Smith, I never voted for your predecessor as he was a poor choice for me as an MLA. I decided to vote for you as you presented a ray of light in the party.????????? WTF??????? How could you? I bet, no matter how much evil Smith dishes out, you’ll vote for her next time too. Alberta’s voting habits are sick. It did not take long for my hopes to be dashed by you and your policies.
You seem to be entrenched in big oils back pocket with little or no regard to our future generations.
That may be due to the fact that you have no children or grandchildren of your own and cannot see what your policies are doing to destroy the environment and our children’s future. You put a moratorium on wind and solar energy exploration. An intelligent premier would understand that they can all coexist to the benefit of all Albertans.
A forward thinking premier would also put nuclear power in the forefront of any energy plans for Alberta. You on the other hand have no plan. Your decision to support the dismissal of an AHS whistle blower, who accused you and your govt of illegal contracts will become your downfall. The person you should have dismissed was LaGrange.
You are the one who stoked the fires about Alberta separating but have since said you do not support separation. Too little too late now that you have stoked those fires. When it comes to inviting far right MAGA individuals to Alberta or attending meetings with those same like minded persons, you show your true colours.
You will not get my vote again, unless you show me that you are deeply concerned about our children and their future environment; Start aggressively supporting nuclear, wind and solar energy; Keep your hands off our CPP and last but not least, let the federal government deal with other countries. Now, why the hell would you ever trust liar back stabber quisling Smith again? This is the idiocy of Albertans that to me can only be explained by too much sour gas inhalation
Jack Colwill
Coaldale
Kal Itea:
High hopes Jack, she only cares about being turfed.
BigBrit:
As with the other recent letter today, I could not have said it better. But wait , our local preacher man, HP will have something to say, alongside Alberta’s own MAGA -like acolytes.
SophieR:
Since she didn’t run on any of the massive shifts in policy the UCP has championed – coal mining, CPP, dismantling AHS (plus corruption), provincial police, education reform, renewable pause, MAGA flirting, and now sovereignty – perhaps a referendum on sovereignty should be part of a provincial election – a confidence vote.
biff:
and, now, we learn smitty is opening the shelves to usa alcohol again…a show of good faith lol
still hoping there is a way for the orange menace to see her as grab-able?
way to support the idiot president, and way to give the finger to canada, as we deal with bad faith 50% steel and aluminum tariffs among other ongoing economic issues coming from that lout.
buckwheat:
A recent CBC article indicates that Smith would win 61 seats if there was an election today. It would be good for Smith to basically ignore you and the other faithful naysayers (all six of them) who get their daily kicks bashing everything government in this comment section. lol. And you offer up Nenshi. Ha.
biff:
alberta is a gerrymandered province, and gerrymandering is yet another of the issues that make our system well undemocratic.
regarding the article you reference, was there a mention of the percent of popular support for the ucp? i figure a majority, but wondering how much.
BigBrit:
Very funny. She is basically doing what you suggested – driving full throttle with her decidedly David Parker and other libertarian acolytes ignoring the concerns of a good proportion of the province’s population. To hell with the environment, the nation of Canada , social programs et al!