Who opposes the province’s decision to allow open-pit coal mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains? Basically everyone.

So suggests Edmonton-based writer and political watcher, Dave Cournoyer (daveberta.ca). Cournoyer lists ranchers, farmers, environmental organizations and recreational groups among those who have spoken out against the UCP’s plans to sell off Alberta headwaters to foreign mining interests. More telling, however, are the cities, towns, First Nations and counties who have all penned letters to Premier Jason Kenney, urging him to reinstate the 1976 Coal Development Policy that was rescinded last year (update: he reinstated it, but not before granting a large number of leases and related exploration activities on Category 2 lands). 

Considering the alignment of so many communities across Alberta, it was with heightened interest residents noted that Jasper councillor Jenna McGrath’s February 2 motion, to register council’s opposition to coal exploration on the Eastern Slopes, was defeated.

That the motion was struck down disappointed some of us who had hoped that our local officials would take a position on such a critical environmental issue. However, the view that the motion’s imprecise wording (which was based off of similar letters from other Alberta municipalities), and the argument that the matter is not within Jasper’s purview, ultimately compelled council to refrain from wading in—even though they seemed to agree that Jasperites are opposed to this kind of resource extraction.

Well, not all Jasperites.

Robin Campbell is our former MLA who ultimately occupied cabinet positions in successive PC governments. Campbell is a fourth-generation coal miner and the president of the Coal Association of Canada. He was also one of Jasper’s most sought-after fishing guides for 37 years.  

How Campbell can promote an industry that makes its living altering landscapes which contain sensitive headwaters and fish habitat, while at the same time knowing intimately that Alberta’s spectacular environments are only unspoiled because they are protected, is puzzling to me. I said as much in a recent email to Mr. Campbell, but just like when I asked him for an interview in May, right after the Coal Policy was nixed, my request for comment was ignored.  

Although local officials were persuaded that municipal council isn’t an appropriate forum for debating Alberta’s resource development and Mr. Campbell seems happy to pretend his two worlds—fish guiding and coal mining— exist exclusively from one another, I would contend that when it comes to matters that involve our province’s headwaters, we should be approaching them holistically. 

For no matter what watershed we live in, as Albertans, we are all connected. 

Bob Covey// thejasperlocal@gmail.com