#corblund — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #corblund, aggregated by home.social.
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Corb Lund seeks court review after rejection of anti-coal petition
Michael Ranger brings us the latest of Corb Lund’s Citizen Initiative.
Country musician Corb Lund and his advocacy group Water Not Coal have launched a legal challenge against Elections Alberta, asking the courts to review the decision to reject a citizen-led initiative aimed at banning new coal mining projects on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The court application follows Elections Alberta’s early July ruling that the petition failed to meet the threshold required under the province’s Citizen Initiative Act, despite organizers submitting more than 207,000 signatures in support of the proposal.
Water Not Coal is arguing the decision was unfair and runs counter to the intent of the legislation designed to encourage public participation in democracy. The group alleges Elections Alberta applied overly strict standards when validating signatures, required voters to accurately recall details months after signing, and relied on a flawed statistical sampling process to determine whether enough signatures were valid.
While the Citizen Initiative Act is used to bring dangerous and unconstitutional petitions forward, like those in favour of Alberta Separation, the UCP arguably have conflicts of interest that can lead to “issue fixing” surrounding the Act due to how much power it holds over Elections Alberta. The UCP controls the selection for the very same offices that manage the Citizen Initiative Act, and other critical pieces of legislation intended to regulate the Politician. The UCP controls the resources available to Elections Alberta to investigate offences.
As noted by the CBC’s Michelle Bellefontaine, in “Alberta government ignores AG’s offer to stay on 2 more years, starts search for replacement”,
The motion to begin a search for an auditor general was passed by the five UCP MLAs who make up the majority on the standing committee on legislative offices that overseas the office of the auditor general, the chief electoral officer, the ombudsman and public interest commissioner, the ethics commissioner and the information and privacy commissioner.
Committee member Scott Cyr, who is the MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul, introduced the motion to set up an auditor general search committee near the end of a contentious meeting.
Cyr, and four of his UCP MLA colleagues — Nolan Dyck from Grande Prairie, Chelsae Petrovic from Livingstone-Macleod, Jackie Lovely from Camrose and Chantelle de Jonge from Chestermere-Strathmore — voted in favour of the motion.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/auditor-general-wylie-alberta-9.6965562
The UCP has also moved goal posts concerning Elections Alberta’s ability to investigate offences and the time limits. According to the Globe’s “A watchdog curtailed”, by Tom Cardoso and Carrie Tait:
Marc Mayrand, a retired public servant and Elections Canada’s chief electoral officer from 2007 to 2016, said the timelines established by the Alberta government are “not realistic.”
“I’ve never seen an investigation completed within a year of the commission of an offence,” he said. “It would be extremely difficult to imagine an acceptable rationale for such a short time period. Twelve months from the commission of an offence – it’s almost unimaginable to think that it can be done.”
The article also includes a table of other provinces and their time limits on Election offences, some of whom have no time limit.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-justice-minister-sam-mraiche-investigation/
When Canadians recall that the UCP also tightly controls the funding to this very same Watchdog, there’s a real fear that foxes are in the henhouse.
Global’s Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, in “Province denies Elections Alberta’s request for $13.5 million to handle recall petitions”, explored the issue of Elections Alberta requesting additional funding to properly carry out recall petitions and Citizen Initiatives. The UCP issued a chilling reminder to Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, who controls the purse strings, and who he answers to. I would suggest this does raise questions about the Chief Electoral Officer’s independence, and why would such an Officer not consider resigning from the appearance of political interference.
“To say this is straining our organization from both a staffing and space perspective is an understatement,” said McClure.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11511194/elections-albertas-recall-petition-funding/
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Recensie: Corb Lund – Dark Horses ★★★★
https://writteninmusic.com/albumrecensie/corb-lund-dark-horses/ -
Alberta anti-coal mining group looks into legal options after citizen petition fails
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Corb Lund expresses ‘grave concerns’ about how Elections Alberta rejected his ‘Water Not Coal’ petition
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Alberta’s Smith says it may be too late to put a question about coal to Oct. vote
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Corb Lund frustrated over uncertain fate of ‘Water Not Coal’ petition
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://globalnews.ca/news/11908862/water-not-coal-referendum-frustration/
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Corb Lund says ‘Water Not Coal’ petition drive has collected enough signatures
http://web.brid.gy/r/https://globalnews.ca/news/11895064/water-not-coal-signatures/
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Check out the #CTV interview with #CorbLund
#CorbLundPetition #waternotCoal @waternotcoalab.bsky.social
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrnXJocv0Uc -
RE: https://mstdn.ca/@josephsimons/116568183119669561
#CorbLund is in #yeg this coming Monday! Expect musical performances, community energy, and plenty of opportunities to add your name to the #CorbLundPetition.
Be part of something historic.
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From #CorbLund: “I’m on the road in Alberta most of May — either with the #petition or with my band. Come see me, bring your driver’s licence, and tell your friends.” (#YEG, Monday May 18th 1pm at Whitemud Equestrian Centre)
#WaterNotCoal #CorbLundPetition
https://www.waternotcoal.ca/corbevents -
📍ST. ALBERT | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Plaza outside of St. Albert Place, 5 St Anne St📍EDMONTON
🕜 1:30 – 2:00 PM | Element Outfitters, 1441 99 St NW
🕜 2:30 – 3:00 PM | Earth's Refillery Coop, 10831 95 St
🕜 3:30 – 4:30 PM | Strathcona Dr. Wilbert Mcintyre Park, 8331 104 Street NW
🕜 5:00 – 5:30 PM | Replenish Zero Waste, 9912 77 Ave NW
🕜 6:00 – 8:00 PM | Southbound Brewing, 9943 69 Ave
#CorbLund #WaterNotCoal #SaveOurEasternSlopesAB -
Your friendly reminder that Corb Lund’s petition is still going, and check to see if there’s a petition station near you.
Lund said opponents of the Grassy Mountain and Blackstone projects worry they would affect the quality of drinking water from the Oldman and North Saskatchewan rivers due to their respective locations.
A peer-reviewed study published last year found contamination from old coal mines in Alberta had been polluting nearby bodies of water, negatively impacting water quality and aquatic ecosystems.
“It’s already in the sensitive area,” Lund said, referring specifically to the Grassy Mountain project. “There’s already been legacy mining up there decades ago, and there’s already an overwhelming amount of selenium in some of the lakes up there, so the economics of the thing don’t make sense and the conservation elements of it certainly don’t make sense.”
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Country music star plans petition calling for ban on Alberta coal mining
Lund, who still lives and ranches in Taber area, near the banks of the Old Man River, downstream from the coal mines would be located, says he’s been fighting against coal mining for more than five years, but the campaign took on new urgency with news the government is developing a new coal mining policy.
“It’s called CIMI, it’s called the Coal Industry Modernization Initiative, which so far has only been consulting industry and not conservation groups, not the public,” said Lund.
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Danielle Smith dared Eastern Slopes coal mine opponents to start a citizen initiative petition – so Corb Lund did
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"This is my prairie and this is my home and I'll make my stand here and I'll die alone They can drill and they can mine over my smouldering bones because this is my prairie and this is my home." - #CorbLund, @officialterriclark.bsky.social, #BrentKissel and friends #abpoli youtu.be/X_h354W4d2M?...
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2jfr7qhenekca6f6qtjgwdr4/post/3lh5j5w2luk2g
Corb Lund x Terri Clark x Bret... -
Corb Lund hosts benefit concert to protest #coalmining | CTV News https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/corb-lund-turns-up-volume-over-proposed-coal-mining-in-crowsnest-pass-area-1.7116362 “On Tuesday night, Alberta country music star #CorbLund used his platform to turn the volume up on the issue, just ahead of when #CrowsnestPass residents are set to vote on whether they want coal mining in their backyard.
Lund played a sold-out benefit concert in Coleman, with money going to Crowsnest Headwaters, a local group committed to protecting the area.”