The Alberta NDP is hurling plenty of mud at the United Conservative Party (UCP) and Premier Danielle Smith — it’s their job, after all.
The Alberta Health Services controversy and issues surrounding a proposed rural police service are two targets, but the attacks aren’t gaining traction. To regain momentum, the NDP has pivoted back to criticizing the UCP over potential coal mining on the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The party is doing its best to stir up anger and consternation among Albertans. NDP MLA Janice Irwin recently posted on X: “Grateful to all those who’ve spoken out against the UCP’s plans to ravage the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains for coal mining. The UCP isn’t listening to Albertans. They’re listening to coal billionaires. Stay loud, Alberta. For us and for future generations.”
Irwin’s statement is hyperbolic and misleading. No mine application is currently on the table for the disputed Grassy Mountain project near Crowsnest Pass. There is no plan to ravage the Eastern Slopes, nor is there a tsunami of selenium and pollutants flowing into creeks and rivers.
Northback Holdings, an Australian company, has applied to the Alberta Energy Regulator to drill several exploratory holes to test the Grassy Mountain coal deposit at depth. No decision has been made, despite support from the local community for a mine at Grassy Mountain.
To be clear, the company is interested in a mine — it isn’t throwing money away.
What the NDP isn’t telling residents is that Grassy Mountain is the site of defunct open-pit and underground coal mines. It’s a brownfield site, not untouched wilderness. A potential mine is years away — and may never materialize.
While the province appears to be opening the door to coal mining, it has a policy prohibiting “mountaintop removal mining,” presumably ruling out open-pit mining. This leaves the possibility of underground mining, which is less destructive than mountaintop removal.
Despite this, the NDP is sounding the alarm over a non-existent crisis. The party avoids mentioning British Columbia’s Elk Valley, which hosts multiple open-pit coal mines — and a world-class trout fishery — not far from Grassy Mountain.
B.C. handles approximately 29 to 33 million tonnes of coal annually.
B.C.’s coal exports are an inconvenient truth for the Alberta NDP, aligned with their B.C. NDP counterparts.
