CALGARY — As Corb Lund’s citizen-led petition opposing coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains continues to collect signatures before its June deadline, questions are being raised about political neutrality after digital advertising records and campaign materials revealed links to a professional media agency with deep ties to labour-backed third-party campaigns.
The country singer’s Water Not Coal campaign and citizen initiative petition calls for legislation to ban all new coal exploration and coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, with the exception of mines actively in production as of January 1, 2026.
Lund has continually framed it as non-partisan, saying that it focused solely on protecting water sources on the eastern slopes of the Rockies where he owns a ranch.
“The thing I try to emphasize, especially with rural people, is this has nothing to do with politics,” Lund said on the April 21 episode of The Cowboy Shit Podcast.
“I don’t care about parties. It has nothing to do with it. It has to do with land and water and not ruining those spots.”
However, records reviewed by the Western Standard have shown the Water Not Coal campaign’s advertising and organizing apparatus is linked to Point Blank Creative, a left-leaning political media agency headquartered in Vancouver, that has previously received large payments from unions and third-party political advertisers to run campaigns.
The company’s website states the agency “is the progressive digital media agency for Canada. Proudly values-first, purpose-driven, women-led, and unionized.”
“As a progressive media agency, we hire thinkers and doers who know how to take calculated risks to get results.”
Nat Wilson, the company’s CEO, is described as “an award-winning political campaigner, trainer, and speaker specializing in data-driven campaign strategies for labour and progressive candidates.”
Her biography goes on to state she has worked on “some of the largest and most impactful campaigns” in Canada, such as the Ontario NDP’s 2025 election campaign, Olivia Chow’s Toronto mayoral campaign, and campaigns for the Alberta NDP.
Meta’s public Ad Library shows that Water Not Coal has been running paid Facebook advertisements urging Albertans to sign the petition opposing new coal mining in the Rockies.
The advertisements began running on April 28 and have reached an estimated audience of roughly 100,000 to 500,000.
While the agent name for the ad was not provided, a Point Blank staff email address was listed: andrew.thomas@pointblankcreative.ca.
Andrew Thomas is identified on Point Blank’s website as an organizer for the agency.
Also, in a March 24 Facebook post to the group Protect Alberta’s Rockies and Headwaters, there is a link to Water Not Coal canvasser training.
In the post, group administrator Laura Myers thanks Becky Best-Bertwistle for “heading this up.”
Best-Bertwistle, who uses the pronouns she/her in her bio, is listed on Point Blank’s website as a senior strategist.
Federal Elections Canada filings reviewed by the Western Standard have also shown Point Blank has previously been paid substantial sums by third-party political advertisers and labour organizations for election advertising campaigns.
A 2021 third-party return filed by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) shows a $200,000 payment to Point Blank for “election advertising” and “social media.”
The PSAC — one of the country’s largest public-sector unions — has longstanding historical ties to Canada’s federal NDP, with the party itself having been founded in partnership with organized labour through the Canadian Labour Congress in 1961.
Additional Elections Alberta filings also showed Point Blank had received payments from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) ($67,800 in 2021) and Unifor ($566,774.50 in 2021).
Again, both of these organizations have closely aligned politically and ideologically with the NDP.
In 2020, the CFNU publicly endorsed the NDP’s proposed Canada Pharmacare Act, with CFNU president Linda Silasstating nurses “applaud the NDP and leader Jagmeet Singh” for introducing national pharmacare legislation.
In January 2025, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh joined Unifor workers on the picket line at Best Theratronics in Ontario in a public show of solidarity during a labour dispute.
Lund has repeatedly rejected any suggestions of his anti-coal campaign being political in nature.
In a February episode of The Rob Breckenridge Show, the singer said that he had “steadfastly stayed away from any political issue” for the past six years and “continues to do so.”
He did say in the same interview that his campaign had assembled an extensive internal operation.
“I’ve got some real crack people with this thing,” he told Rob Breakenridge.
“We’ve got our media team, we’ve got a really deep bench to draw on.”
Breckenridge said to Lund that the petition process was a political one, but that he thought the Water Not Coal campaign was a “non-political issue” and that he didn’t think this was a case of “an entertainer getting political.”
“All I care about is the water,” Lund replied.
“The only thing that’s really worked ... we’ve tried all the political angles ... Sorry, what I meant to say is we tried all the legal angles and all the media, and the only thing that’s really actually worked is people just screaming [at the government].”
However, on the Water Not Coal official website, many petition signings and other campaign events appear alongside multiple Alberta NDP events.
An NDP Lunar New Year celebration hosted by NDP MLAs Amanda Chapman (Calgary-Beddington) and Nathan Ip (Edmonton-South West) on March 1 in northwest Calgary appears on the site.
So does a Calgary-Varsity town hall with NDP MLA Luanne Metz (Calgary-Varsity) from March 3, as well as an NDP Glenora nomination meeting that took place in Edmonton on the same day.
Three events connected to NDP MP Heather McPherson also appear on the website.
Responding to the Western Standard’s request for comment, Heather Wilson, Executive Director of the Alberta NDP, denied any crossover between the party and Lund’s campaign.
“Alberta’s New Democrats have not coordinated with the Water Not Coal campaign,” Wilson stated.
“While we do share a number of priorities, namely ending coal mining in the Eastern Slopes, no Alberta NDP resources or data have been shared with this campaign.”
The site has also previously listed multiple events related to the Alberta recall movement, which targeted multiple UCP MLAs and Premier Danielle Smith.
The Western Standard’s own Will Vasseur previously documented how organized anti-UCP groups such as AB Resistance — a political third-party advertiser involved in the recall campaigns — coordinated volunteer recruitment, canvasser training, social media mobilization, town halls, and centralized campaign support to pressure the UCP government and place public scrutiny on its decisions.
That raises broader questions about the overlap between organized anti-UCP campaigns and Water Not Coal, as it appears Lund’s campaign has more political players hovering around it than its public image might suggest.
Previously, Premier Smith has said that if Lund's petition is successful, it would be included among the questions on Alberta's scheduled October 19 referendum.
The petition needs 177,732 signatures by June 10 to proceed to a vote.
The Western Standard has reached out to Corb Lund's press contacts and Point Blank for comment but had not heard back at the time of publishing.