The rejection of Corb Lund’s Water Not Coal petition, aimed at stopping new mines on the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies, throws Alberta’s whole referendum system into doubt and disrepute.

Lund wasn’t exaggerating when he said his cause got “screwed pretty hard.”

Braid: Corb Lund petition fiasco signals trouble for Oct. 19 referendum blitz Back to video

They were hit with an illogical, unbelievable defeat by Elections Alberta.

I don’t believe anything crooked is going on inside that beleaguered, overworked legislature agency. Lund hasn’t suggested that either.

“I don’t feel that the process Elections Alberta used to count our Water Not Coal petition signatures was reasonable or procedurally fair,” he said Friday.

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“However, as frustrating as their decision was, I have no reason to believe there was anything underhanded or deliberate in the way it was handled.”

The system proved to be so deeply flawed that many people believe it’s crooked. That is almost as bad.

This episode casts a long, dark shadow over the voting and counting of the 10 referendum questions — one on........

© Calgary Herald