Government documents confirm coal lobbying on Rockies mining, show months of planning
Documents released under Alberta Freedom of Information laws confirm the United Conservative Party government was talking with the coal industry about relaxing a policy that protected the Rocky Mountains from open-pit mines long before making those plans public.
The documents also show the province was talking about opening those landscapes to the potential of more coal development for at least seven months before letting Albertans in on its plans.
The Canadian Press has seen material released to a group of southern Alberta ranchers, who have waged a four-year battle against Alberta Energy to understand why the province rescinded a decades-old policy protecting the Rockies from coal mines.
That decision sparked a rush of coal exploration interest on thousands of hectares. It was eventually rescinded after a huge public outcry from citizens who didn't want open-pit coal mines on some of the province's most beloved landscapes.
A judge last week stymied government attempts to block further document releases concerning the decision, and the ranchers are now waiting for thousands more pages.
During question period Tuesday, Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley called for an apology from the UCP for forcing the ranchers to go to court to get the documents.
Premier Danielle Smith said the government will make sure everyone gets the required documents, which were generated under former premier Jason Kenney.
"We will abide by the decision of the court," Smith said. "We obviously have had a change in leadership in this file, and we will make whatever documents available that the court requires."
Energy Minister Brian Jean said the government has already released much information on the coal policy.
"The (judge's) decision is under review to determine if an appeal should be filed," he said Tuesday in a statement. "We recognize that there is public interest related to coal production in Alberta."
The records already obtained refer repeatedly to meetings and communications with industry over the policy well before it was rescinded in May 2020.
A note to the assistant deputy minister of energy on Jan. 20, 2020, which is partially redacted, reads: "The coal sector has requested (redacted) removal of the coal policy for a number of years."
A note three days later from another Alberta Energy official says, "We're aware of the coal industry's concerns."
On March 5, 2020, deputy ministers from both Alberta Energy and Alberta Environmental Protection met with the Coal Association of Canada.
A March 9 planning document states: "The coal industry has communicated to Alberta that it would like the coal categories rescinded or significantly updated so that it may have access to a modern regulatory system like every other resource industry."
By that time, planning for major changes to the policy that had protected the eastern slopes of the Rockies since 1976 was well underway. A document, titled "Coal Policy — Coal Categories Review Project Charter," was signed off on by officials from Energy, Environment and the Alberta Energy Regulator on Oct. 29, 2019 — six months after the UCP first took office.
Among the charter's objectives was reducing "regulatory uncertainty leading to underinvestment by the coal industry," it says.
No municipalities, environmental groups, First Nations or other organizations have said they were contacted for input before the decision was announced on May 15, 2020 — the Friday before the long weekend.
The documents were released to the ranchers in five separate packages between 2021 and 2023. They are heavily redacted under exemptions allowed by law. Of the documents received, 605 pages are partly erased and 748 are completely blank.
The province's Information and Privacy Commissioner has said many of those exemptions were misused and ordered Alberta Energy to produce the requested records. The government asked for a judicial review of that decision, but a Court of King's Bench judge on Friday refused the request.
"Democracy dies in darkness," wrote Justice Kent Teskey.
Richard Harrison, a lawyer for the ranchers, said somewhere between 5,191 and 5,939 further documents are expected. He said the government has conceded on a number of the redactions but hasn't provided the information.
"Despite having abandoned those arguments for nearly one year, the ranchers haven’t received the records," he wrote in an email. "The (conceded) redactions haven’t been removed and are still being asserted."
Laura Laing, one of the ranchers who wants the documents, said she and her colleagues just want to know why.
"We were trying to best understand how these decisions were made in the first place," she said in an interview Monday.
The delays and redactions didn't seem right, said Laing.
"We didn't feel that this was transparent, and we didn't feel this was fair to us or Albertans."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III returned to public duties on Tuesday, visiting a cancer treatment charity and beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch's own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.
U.K. police arrest man wielding a sword in east London, 5 people are taken to the hospital
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and two police officers on Tuesday in the east London community of Hainault before being arrested, police said.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.