Nearly 52 per cent of Albertans would have voted in favour of a question banning new coal mining operations in the Eastern Slopes, according to a new poll by ThinkHQ. The poll, conducted online between July 16 and 21, asked Albertans: “Should the Government of Alberta prohibit by law any and all new coal mining activities, including approvals and permits, within the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains?” According to ThinkHQ, nearly 52 per cent of respondents said yes to the question, while 25 per cent said no and 23 per cent were unsure. The Water Not Coal petition, organized by Corb Lund, sought to stop coal mining in the Eastern Slopes. It submitted about 207,000 signatures to Elections Alberta for verification in June. Elections Alberta denied the petition, ruling that 172,088 signatures were valid — falling short of the legal threshold by roughly 5,600. If deemed successful, the petition could have resulted in the addition of a question about coal mining to the Oct. 19 referendum. Divide between urban and rural areas The poll suggested there is support for a ban in most parts of Alberta, with opposition to coal mining strongest in major centres. According to ThinkHQ, six in 10 Calgarians said they would vote in favour of a ban, while nearly 55 per cent of Edmontonians indicated the same. Support declined in northern and southern Alberta, where 46 per cent and 47 per cent of respondents respectively said they would vote for a ban. The poll suggests residents in central Alberta were the most divided, with 29 per cent supporting a ban and nearly 40 per cent opposing it. NDP versus UCP voters Views on coal mining also differed along political lines, the poll found, with nearly 85 per cent of Alberta NDP supporters saying they would vote to prohibit new coal activity. Among UCP supporters, 24 per cent said they would vote in favour of a ban, while 41 per cent said they would vote against it, according to ThinkHQ. “These results suggest that many Albertans remain concerned about future mining activity in the region and would welcome stronger legislative protections,” said ThinkHQ President Marc Henry. “While opinions vary across geography and political affiliation, the overall balance of public opinion currently favours halting new coal development in the Eastern Slopes.” ‘Nothing in it for the people of Alberta’ For Lund, the results of the poll come largely as no surprise. “It reflects a bunch of polling that’s been done in the province,” he told CTV News in an interview from Edmonton on Tuesday. “There’s nothing in it (mining) for the people of Alberta and all the money’s going to the Australian companies and all the coal’s going to Communist China.” While environmental issues usually get picked up by people who vote further to the left, Lund says some conservative voters also oppose new coal mining because they rely on clean water from the Oldman River to grow and process food. “There are quite a few conservative voters in the rural areas who don’t want these mines, people who are ranchers,” Lund said, adding he was brought into anti-mining advocacy by ranching families west of Nanton, Alta., who didn’t want to have generational land “turned into a strip mine.” Coal petition proponent files for legal review Lund has filed a court application in the Alberta Court of King’s Bench, arguing the decision by Elections Alberta was unreasonable, procedurally unfair and inconsistent with the purpose of Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act. The application for judicial review asks the court to set aside the decision and declare the Water Not Coal initiative successful or, alternatively, return the matter to Elections Alberta for reconsideration. Methodology: ThinkHQ Public Affairs Inc. conducted an online survey of adult Albertans between July 16 and 21, 2026 (n=1,100). The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
