Herald poll question misleading to readers
By Lethbridge Herald on April 11, 2025.
Editor,
The Lethbridge Herald must be called to account for a recent poll that misleads the voting public, specifically the daily poll published in the online newspaper on April 9th. This poll read “Should federal candidates address coal mining even though it’s a provincial issue?” As anyone who has lived in Alberta for a while should know, the province regularly loses court cases on that very issue. Yes, provincial jurisdiction encompasses mines, but mines can also impact things of national import. Coal mining affects Canada’s carbon footprint, air quality, water quality, and wildlife, as well as indigenous rights, all federal issues. In fact, coal mine pollution from the same region the poll is about has contaminated the United States and caused a serious international incident.
The Herald covered all these things in the news and is certainly aware of them. Telling readers coal is only a provincial issue in the poll question, when it isn’t, completely invalidates the poll, forcing readers towards one response based on a false premise. This might be an error, which is bad enough, but it may also be an attempt to make voters comfortable with pro-coal candidates, by giving them the impression coal mines can’t be a consideration in a federal election.
I’m willing to give the Herald the benefit of the doubt, as long as they’re willing to remind the public that federal candidates should certainly be expected to have a stance on coal mining.
Tom Moffat
Lethbridge
-4
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I agree that the Heralds wording on that poll was not only misleading but a blatant lie to favor the UCP. The federal govt has a lot of say in the approval of the Grassy Mtn mine. Unfortunately this is par for the course for the Herald. This is the main reason I no longer subscribe to the Herald newspaper. George
You certainly have it right. Why do they think Teck Oil Limited was fined $60 million for polluting the water in B.C. and Montana by Fisheries Canada?
The Herald polls could be a case study on the wrong way to do media. Biased questions, voting on clearly established facts as if they’re opinions, and of course no controls whatsoever on sample selection or multiple voting.
Nobody should take the results of these polls seriously for even a second. Unfortunately they do occasionally get brought up by elected officials when they find it convenient, so we can’t ignore them completely.
Thanks for printing this letter, Herald. It’s one of the questions I’m asking candidates.
Those of us who had ties to the oil industry know that a study done in 2006 proved that 70% of the air pollution from Fort MacMurray was drifting into Saskatchewan and Manitoba and it was having an effect on their lakes and soil like it was in Alberta. We knew something had to be done. So the Conservatives under Ed Stelmach worked with the oil executives to create a plan and the Carbon Tax was created because it had been working so well in other countries and 27 countries have now implemented it because they know it works.
Yet Reformer Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to implement it and President Obama refused to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline and Albertans lost billions of dollars in oil revenue.
When Notley and Trudeau were elected they were willing to get it implemented and now these Reformers, who are well known for deliberately destroying everything Conservatives have created for the good of the people in Danielle Smith, Moe Scott and Pierre Poilievre want the Carbon Tax completely destroyed so the oil industry can pollute as much as they want.
They don’t give a damn about the massive lawsuits this will bring our children to face or what Global Warming could do to them, that’s how stupid they are and why they took the protection off our mountains that Lougheed had put on and allowed this Coal mining stupidity. They have to destroy what conservatives have created, that’s their mandate.
What is so disgusting is all the stupid seniors who hurl their sarcastic comments at us for not being as dumb as them and allowing this to happen?
Are you going to help us once proud Conservative Supporters put a stop to this Reform Party stupidity and kick out this Donald Trump wannabe Pierre Poilievre or are you going to let the lunatics win and destroy our children and grandchildren’s future?
Oilmen state the $260 Billion oil well cleanup mess that Smith’s hero Ralph Klein dumped in our laps will soon be a $500 Billion nightmare for our children to face, and these idiots don’t care, do they?