Premier Danielle Smith, cabinet ministers to 'address concerns' about coal industry, policies at Fort Macleod meeting
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, three United Conservative Party cabinet ministers and the local MLA are hosting a coal town hall Wednesday evening in Fort Macleod to engage with Albertans and 'address concerns' about the Alberta coal industry and government policies.
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Smith is being joined at the meeting, to be held at the Fort Macleod and District Community Hall, by Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean, Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson, Environment and Protected Areas Minister Rebecca Schulz and Livingstone-Macleod MLA Chelsae Petrovic. The town hall is scheduled to last two hours, starting at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m.
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On social media, Petrovic and the UCP have been criticized by a southern Alberta group for holding the town hall months after a request was made to host such a meeting with elected government officials.
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'At this point, months later, you and your cohorts are kind of a day late and a dollar short . . . but thanks anyway,' said Claresholm resident Jacqueline Chalmers, founding member of the Chinook Water*shed Crew.
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'We are absolutely fatigued by the rhetoric of the august team (Premier Smith, Ministers Jean, Sigurdson and Schulz), you've put together for this Coal Town Hall on Wednesday, June 11, 2025.'
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Chalmers questioned why the province did not ask government scientists to attend the meeting so they could provide data on the 'myriads of questions regarding the frightening long-term effects of coal detritus in our water, in our air and on our lands.'
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'We don't want to hear anymore half-truths, fabrications and downright misinformation from you or them; the messaging is tired and redundant,' said Chalmers, commenting after the town hall poster was posted on Petrovic's Facebook page.
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'In fairness if they're coming with hat in hand to announce 'no to coal' we will welcome all and shake their hands in thanks.'
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Another southern Alberta group, Water For Food, said it hoped the format of the town hall allows for unlimited questions 'with fulsome honest answers' from Smith and the UCP cabinet ministers. The group's spokesperson, former Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman, said the group has written several times without answer to Smith, Jean and Schulz, seeking answers about a contentious proposed coal mine along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains as well as coal mining in Alberta.
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