Alberta premier faces raucous, angry town hall on province's coal policy

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province's coal policy. About 500 people, dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta., for an event marked by heckling, competing applause, and placards.

The premier and her ministers of energy, environment and agriculture took questions and were shouted down on several occasions by attendees as they defended changes to the province's coal policy.

The town hall came weeks after the Alberta Energy Regulator, or AER, granted an Australia-based coal company permission to start a controversial coal exploration on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

A new study by Alberta government scientists, which has yet to be peer reviewed, recently said old coal mines on the eastern slopes are poisoning fish and any further coal mining there would result in ``population collapse'' of fish species in a nearby lake.

The premier also jousted with protesters while speaking to reporters before the town hall, where concerns about water, agriculture and wildlife were also raised.