Comox Valley MLA Don McRae received a stocking full of coal Wednesday from a group of placard-waving residents concerned about Compliance Energy Corporation’s proposed Raven coal mine in Baynes Sound.

Coal Mines are not in Compliance with Nature.

You must be Raven Mad to use dirty, toxic coal.

These were some of the quips appearing on the signs.

One gentleman wearing a gas mask held a placard bearing the image of a skull clad in a coal miner’s hat, beside which read: They get the coal, we get the shaft.

Several of the 20-some participants in Wednesday’s demonstration — which proceeded to the office of Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan following the McRae visit — are supporters of CoalWatch Comox Valley, which is fighting through the federal environmental assessment phase of the proposed project.

“These were a group of concerned citizens who don’t want a mine, period,” said Robin Mumblo, a Fanny Bay resident who organized the protest. “We don’t believe that it can be mitigated.”

The event was performed in concert with the Wilderness Committee.

McRae recognizes the importance of raising constituents’ concerns about the proposed mine prior to a January meeting with Coell.

“Many of them (concerns) I share,” said McRae, noting the volatility of the mineral industry. “I know people especially in the Fanny Bay area and Ships Point area who are so dependent upon the aquifer. We want to make sure their quality of life is protected.”

Mumblo was happy McRae showed his face, but said he is still unwilling to speak out against a coal mine.

“That’s the political game, but we are not interested in playing games,” said Mumblo, who realizes some people favour the coal mine because Compliance is promising hundreds of jobs in and around the Valley and Port Alberni.

However, she said the company’s only mine to speak of is a basin coal mine near Princeton, which she figures yielded about 80 full-time jobs but only six weeks of work.

Raven Project CEO John Tapics said the Princeton mine operated for upwards of three years on a full-time basis. It stopped operating due to a change in provincial regulation.

“We are committed to proceed with this project on a socially- and environmentally-responsible manner, and that the project is subject to the rigorous provincial and federal review process that will hold us to those commitments.”