Alberta’s government has generously gifted $143 million of public funds – not to schools, hospitals, or clean energy, but to coal companies, as a thank-you for letting the province reverse its own policy. The payment stems from Premier Danielle Smith’s coal policy U-turn, compensating companies for not being allowed to mine the Rocky Mountains into gravel piles of profit.
Critics are calling it “corporate welfare dressed in soot.” One opposition member quipped, “Why stop at $143 million? Let’s give them the Rockies too.”
The government insists this is a responsible and necessary move. “You can’t put a price on progress,” a spokesperson said, “but if you could, it’d be $143 million, apparently.”
Environmental groups are mourning the policy’s demise by holding mock funerals for mountain streams, while Albertans are left wondering if they should start investing in coal—or just ask the government nicely for a check.
