Everyone seems to forget that it was the NDP that opened the door to these companies in 2016 when they verified in writing that "Category 2 land did not preclude open pit mining". That was the catalyst for the Australian companies to come into the Eastern Slopes. The AER, under the NDP approved multiple Coal Exploration Programs before they lost the election in 2019.
The NDP also supported the payment to fossil fuel companies for their own policy changes when they paid $1.4B to the thermal power generators for NO tangible benefit except feeling smug.
Of course you wouldn't expect the Tyee to be balanced in anyway.
A review of hundreds of pages of publicly available documents by Great West Media has also identified 14 former government insiders hired by coal companies and industry associations to lobby for favourable coal policy changes, including past energy and environment ministers, an Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) executive, policy advisors, and various senior staff from UCP, NDP, Wildrose, and Progressive Conservative caucuses.
Here is a timeline detailing the coal industry’s lobbying campaigns, lobbyist ties to Alberta politics, and key policy decisions.
March 22, 2017: Benga Mining Ltd. hires Alastair Sanderson to lobby the government on provincial coal policy, the Water Act and water licensing in southern Alberta, and approval of the Grassy Mountain coal mine.
Sanderson held the position of assistant deputy minister at Alberta’s Department of Energy until 2016.
May 1, 2017: Benga expands lobbying through a contract with Impact Consulting.
Alberta’s lobbyist registry lists two consultant lobbyists handling Benga’s file: Jason Ennis, former senior policy advisor to the deputy minister of Alberta agriculture and rural development, and Brookes Merritt, senior communications consultant serving various ministers until 2015.
Sept. 21, 2018: After acquiring Impact Consulting, Global Public Affairs assumes responsibility for Benga’s lobbying campaign.
Elan MacDonald, who served as acting chief of staff and advisor to Premier Alison Redford, joins Ennis and Merritt as a consultant lobbyist on the file.
June 18, 2019: The Coal Association of Canada’s (CAC) president, Robin Campbell, meets with Minister of Environment and Parks Jason Nixon to discuss proposed coal mining in the Eastern Slopes and related land-use planning and zoning.
Campbell was an MLA from 2008–2015 and served as the minister of environment, finance, and Aboriginal relations.
Reise O'Hara, who was chief of staff to the Alberta’s transportation minister until 2015, is also listed as a lobbyist for CAC in the provincial registry.
June 21, 2019: Campbell meets with deputy minister of Alberta Energy to discuss potential coal mining, primarily export coal in the Eastern Slopes, and making amendments to the 1976 Coal Policy to reflect updated land-use plans and attract investment to build coal mines.
A. These are publicly available documents, therefore, not "back room deals"
B. Lobbying is allowed and by your own work, transparent.
C. Plenty of NDP affiliated lobbyists are working today, and interestingly enough, some of them are working for oil companies now.
Brian Topp — former chief of staff to Premier Rachel Notley; now a founding partner at GT & Company.
Cheryl Oates — former Executive Director of Communication and Planning to Premier Notley; now a principal at GT & Company. 
Marg McCuaig-Boyd — former Alberta NDP Minister of Energy (2015–2019); now a senior advisor at Counsel Public Affairs. Wrote the 2016 memo confirming that "Category 2 does not preclude open pit mining" and working with Tourmaline.
Deron Bilous — former Alberta NDP Minister (Municipal Affairs; Economic Development & Trade); now Senior VP at Counsel Public Affairs (and active on lobbying files).
Leah Ward — former Director of Communications to Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP caucus; now a vice-president at Wellington Advocacy (a government-relations firm). 
And if you think CPAWS isn't lobbying, you'd be naive. They just aren't transparent about it.
Stop trying to blame the NDP for the UCP’s huge mistakes and errors in judgement.
the potential new mines identified in the court action were approved by the UCP after they came to power in May 2019.
From the Globe and Mail -
At the heart of the court action was a series of changes made to Alberta’s provincial coal policy by the United Conservative Party government. In 2020, it nixed land protection rules that dated back to 1976, prompting a furious public backlash that forced the government to reverse its decision the following year.
The province then cancelled leases earmarked for potential new mines and declared an indefinite moratorium on coal exploration.
This past January, the Alberta government scrapped the series of ministerial orders that banned coal development in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, returning to an older policy that in part relies on land categories to govern where mines are built.
The court action was indeed catalyzed by the UCP's decision making since 2019, but those companies were IN THE EASTERN SLOPES as a result of NDP support.
There were NO MINES APPROVED by the UCP after 2019. The AER under both the NDP and the UCP approved exploration programs in the Eastern Slopes.
The Alberta Government, both NDP and UCP, made commitments, the withdrew them, resulting in a liability.
The so called 'older policy' was in fact the much acclaimed 1976 Coal DEVELOPMENT Policy the rescinding of which caused the furor you refer to.
So in a nutshell, the UCP reinstate a policy you and your acolytes support, then berate them for doing so???
The back room deals with UCP politicians before they came to power is well documented.
It was the Kenney government that rolled back the 1976 Coal Policy, under the guise of red tape reduction, and then reversed their decision after massive public outcry and harsh criticism from UCP MLA Brian Jean.
It was the policy reversal that caused the lawsuits from coal companies.
The NDP verified that Category 2 did not preclude open pit mining.
Australian companies acquired projects in the Eastern Slopes while the NDP were in power.
The AER under the NDP approved four Coal Exploration permits.
The NDP paid $1.4B to coal fired power plants.
You are right about who rescinded the 1976 Coal DEVELOPMENT Policy, then in 2022 reinstated, not the policy, but the Land Categories and banned exploration. It wasn't until Jan 2025 that the Coal Development Policy was reinstated.
But it was the NDP that started the land rush and told companies, and municipalities, that they supported coal mining.
So question for you.
Where is the "documented proof" that there were back room deals? What ever happened to the Pekisko Group's FOIP request? Didn't they get the documents? What haven't they released them?
This. And an extra $5,000,000 spent on the municipal election in Edmonton alone to hand count ballots. And so on. But the fiscal responsibility party can't find any money for our kids.
You are invited to the Strawberry Equestrian camp about 44 km east of Longview on Hwy 543 to learn what the Defenders of the Eastern Slopes are doing on the ground, trying to stop clearcut logging in the Highwood and Loomis Creek area. We have had a camp there for the past two weeks. Come and see the bridge which West Fraser Timber wants to erect across the Highwood River, destroying bull trout fish habitat. Come see our answer to a locked gate....We will be meeting on Saturday morning at 11 am at the camp, bring some lunch and water and if you'd like to make a donation, some cash. Hope you can make it....this is what furious taxpayers do.
Everyone seems to forget that it was the NDP that opened the door to these companies in 2016 when they verified in writing that "Category 2 land did not preclude open pit mining". That was the catalyst for the Australian companies to come into the Eastern Slopes. The AER, under the NDP approved multiple Coal Exploration Programs before they lost the election in 2019.
The NDP also supported the payment to fossil fuel companies for their own policy changes when they paid $1.4B to the thermal power generators for NO tangible benefit except feeling smug.
Of course you wouldn't expect the Tyee to be balanced in anyway.
A review of hundreds of pages of publicly available documents by Great West Media has also identified 14 former government insiders hired by coal companies and industry associations to lobby for favourable coal policy changes, including past energy and environment ministers, an Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) executive, policy advisors, and various senior staff from UCP, NDP, Wildrose, and Progressive Conservative caucuses.
Here is a timeline detailing the coal industry’s lobbying campaigns, lobbyist ties to Alberta politics, and key policy decisions.
March 22, 2017: Benga Mining Ltd. hires Alastair Sanderson to lobby the government on provincial coal policy, the Water Act and water licensing in southern Alberta, and approval of the Grassy Mountain coal mine.
Sanderson held the position of assistant deputy minister at Alberta’s Department of Energy until 2016.
May 1, 2017: Benga expands lobbying through a contract with Impact Consulting.
Alberta’s lobbyist registry lists two consultant lobbyists handling Benga’s file: Jason Ennis, former senior policy advisor to the deputy minister of Alberta agriculture and rural development, and Brookes Merritt, senior communications consultant serving various ministers until 2015.
Sept. 21, 2018: After acquiring Impact Consulting, Global Public Affairs assumes responsibility for Benga’s lobbying campaign.
Elan MacDonald, who served as acting chief of staff and advisor to Premier Alison Redford, joins Ennis and Merritt as a consultant lobbyist on the file.
June 18, 2019: The Coal Association of Canada’s (CAC) president, Robin Campbell, meets with Minister of Environment and Parks Jason Nixon to discuss proposed coal mining in the Eastern Slopes and related land-use planning and zoning.
Campbell was an MLA from 2008–2015 and served as the minister of environment, finance, and Aboriginal relations.
Reise O'Hara, who was chief of staff to the Alberta’s transportation minister until 2015, is also listed as a lobbyist for CAC in the provincial registry.
June 21, 2019: Campbell meets with deputy minister of Alberta Energy to discuss potential coal mining, primarily export coal in the Eastern Slopes, and making amendments to the 1976 Coal Policy to reflect updated land-use plans and attract investment to build coal mines.
A. These are publicly available documents, therefore, not "back room deals"
B. Lobbying is allowed and by your own work, transparent.
C. Plenty of NDP affiliated lobbyists are working today, and interestingly enough, some of them are working for oil companies now.
Brian Topp — former chief of staff to Premier Rachel Notley; now a founding partner at GT & Company.
Cheryl Oates — former Executive Director of Communication and Planning to Premier Notley; now a principal at GT & Company. 
Marg McCuaig-Boyd — former Alberta NDP Minister of Energy (2015–2019); now a senior advisor at Counsel Public Affairs. Wrote the 2016 memo confirming that "Category 2 does not preclude open pit mining" and working with Tourmaline.
Deron Bilous — former Alberta NDP Minister (Municipal Affairs; Economic Development & Trade); now Senior VP at Counsel Public Affairs (and active on lobbying files).
Leah Ward — former Director of Communications to Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP caucus; now a vice-president at Wellington Advocacy (a government-relations firm). 
And if you think CPAWS isn't lobbying, you'd be naive. They just aren't transparent about it.
Stop trying to blame the NDP for the UCP’s huge mistakes and errors in judgement.
the potential new mines identified in the court action were approved by the UCP after they came to power in May 2019.
From the Globe and Mail -
At the heart of the court action was a series of changes made to Alberta’s provincial coal policy by the United Conservative Party government. In 2020, it nixed land protection rules that dated back to 1976, prompting a furious public backlash that forced the government to reverse its decision the following year.
The province then cancelled leases earmarked for potential new mines and declared an indefinite moratorium on coal exploration.
This past January, the Alberta government scrapped the series of ministerial orders that banned coal development in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, returning to an older policy that in part relies on land categories to govern where mines are built.
You are telling the truth, just not all of it.
The court action was indeed catalyzed by the UCP's decision making since 2019, but those companies were IN THE EASTERN SLOPES as a result of NDP support.
There were NO MINES APPROVED by the UCP after 2019. The AER under both the NDP and the UCP approved exploration programs in the Eastern Slopes.
The Alberta Government, both NDP and UCP, made commitments, the withdrew them, resulting in a liability.
The so called 'older policy' was in fact the much acclaimed 1976 Coal DEVELOPMENT Policy the rescinding of which caused the furor you refer to.
So in a nutshell, the UCP reinstate a policy you and your acolytes support, then berate them for doing so???
Wow.
That’s completely false.
Grassy Mountain for starters was turned down by the joint Federal Provincial panel.
Northback appealed three times and lost all three court challenges.
Brian Jean specifically resurrected it.
The UCP and the UCP alone created the legal mess by flip flopping policy announcements.
We would be where we are today if the Jason Kenney UCP government had not revoked the 1976 coal policy.
It’s far past time the UCP and their supporters accepted the blames for their screw ups and stopped trying to blame the NDP
This is garbage.
The back room deals with UCP politicians before they came to power is well documented.
It was the Kenney government that rolled back the 1976 Coal Policy, under the guise of red tape reduction, and then reversed their decision after massive public outcry and harsh criticism from UCP MLA Brian Jean.
It was the policy reversal that caused the lawsuits from coal companies.
What bit isn't true?
The NDP verified that Category 2 did not preclude open pit mining.
Australian companies acquired projects in the Eastern Slopes while the NDP were in power.
The AER under the NDP approved four Coal Exploration permits.
The NDP paid $1.4B to coal fired power plants.
You are right about who rescinded the 1976 Coal DEVELOPMENT Policy, then in 2022 reinstated, not the policy, but the Land Categories and banned exploration. It wasn't until Jan 2025 that the Coal Development Policy was reinstated.
But it was the NDP that started the land rush and told companies, and municipalities, that they supported coal mining.
So question for you.
Where is the "documented proof" that there were back room deals? What ever happened to the Pekisko Group's FOIP request? Didn't they get the documents? What haven't they released them?
This. And an extra $5,000,000 spent on the municipal election in Edmonton alone to hand count ballots. And so on. But the fiscal responsibility party can't find any money for our kids.
You are invited to the Strawberry Equestrian camp about 44 km east of Longview on Hwy 543 to learn what the Defenders of the Eastern Slopes are doing on the ground, trying to stop clearcut logging in the Highwood and Loomis Creek area. We have had a camp there for the past two weeks. Come and see the bridge which West Fraser Timber wants to erect across the Highwood River, destroying bull trout fish habitat. Come see our answer to a locked gate....We will be meeting on Saturday morning at 11 am at the camp, bring some lunch and water and if you'd like to make a donation, some cash. Hope you can make it....this is what furious taxpayers do.