Citizen Initiative Petition Verification Completed, Results Announced

July 03, 2026

EDMONTON – Elections Alberta has completed verification for the “No New Coal Mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains” citizen initiative petition. Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, has determined, as required under section 10 of the Citizen Initiative Act in effect on May 1, 2026, the requirements of section 6 have not been met and the petition is unsuccessful.

The primary reasons signatures were rejected during the validation phase included incomplete elector information, invalid dates, electors signing the petition more than once, and incomplete or improperly completed canvasser signature witnessing declarations. No seeded names were found on the petition.

The primary reasons signatures were rejected during the verification phase included electors being unable or unwilling to verify the information on the petition sheet, and not providing valid contact information to reach them for verification.

As required by section 11(1) of the Act, this notice has been published on the Elections Alberta website.

The Current Citizen Initiative Petitions page on the Elections Alberta website has been updated to reflect the results.

Next steps
Within two days of the publication of the results of the initiative petition (by July 6, 2026, as July 5 is a Sunday), as required by section 6(1.1) of the Act, the proponent must:

• Return the citizen initiative petition and all canvasser identification documents to Elections Alberta;
• Destroy all additional copies of signatures sheets made by the proponent or canvassers; and
• Submit to Elections Alberta a signed affidavit confirming all signature sheets have been returned and all copies destroyed.

The proponent must file their required financial reports with Elections Alberta no later than August 10, 2026.

Initiative Petition Background Information
The “No New Coal Mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains” citizen initiative application from the proponent was for a legislative proposal, requesting legislation prohibiting any new coal mining activity in the Eastern Slopes of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains.

The petition application was approved and the Notice of Initiative Petition issued on February 10, 2026. The petition signature collection period ended June 10, 2026, and the signature sheets delivered to Elections Alberta. The petition verification process began on June 11, 2026.

On May 1, 2026, the Chief Electoral Officer also directed that the Citizen Initiative petition verification process be amended. Verification now includes determining if any of the seeded names from the Republican Party of Alberta’s List of Electors are contained in any incoming petition. If any of the seeded names are included, further scrutiny of the petition will result.

Petition verification concluded on July 2, 2026 as required by section 10 of the Act. This was the first petition verification process that included scrutineers, as added to the Act by Bill 23: Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 on May 1, 2026.

More information on the citizen initiative process, including recent changes to legislation, the status of citizen initiative petitions, proponent financing rules, third party advertising rules, and answers to frequently asked questions may be found on Elections Alberta’s website.

Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referendums.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Maia-Lys Hanrahan
Media Relations
Email: [email protected]

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