I’m a big fan of giving credit where it’s due, and one man who has not received his due is land rights lawyer Keith Wilson. Wilson turned the debate on three provincial bills, two of which the government was compelled to amend (one of which is currently before the legislature). Yet despite his cardinal role in shaping the debate, a toothpick’s worth of gratitude is the furthest thing from the lips of government MLAs.
Premier Alison Redford launched a property rights task force in November to look into property rights concerns, but how those terms came under so much contention to warrant a task force appear to have been lost.
Redford promised in her leadership campaign, and delivered, by suspending Bill 36, which will likely be a focus of the task force. As the Journal reported last week, Bill 19 is up for amendments that address concerns about compensation, which Wilson targeted in a debate with former Infrastructure Minister Ray Danyluk in St. Paul this spring.
One former minister acknowledged Wilson’s contribution to the debate, Mel Knight, who was the minister of Sustainable Resource Development until the recent shuffle. He invited Wilson to a private meeting about a year ago. The PCs subsequently amended the Land Stewardship Act in spring.
Wilson’s role in shaping the debate cannot be denied. Wilson, policy chair of the Alberta Landowners Council, put on thousands of miles across the province speaking to landowners on the three acts passed in 2009. He spoke at 55 town hall meetings, attended by around 13,000 people, including in St. Paul and Elk Point. To suggest this did not impact the concerns brought to the attention of the government is not giving credit where credit is surely due.
Wilson spared no feelings when talking about the bills. Maybe that’s why his contribution seems to have been forgotten by government. He gave direct criticisms and pointed out the ministers responsible for problem bills that fell in their portfolios. Nonetheless, the government has incorporated numerous suggestions of his, but not all, into the amendments.
Another reason government members may be unlikely to credit Wilson is that he has recently taken legal action against the Heartland transmission line project, one of the subjects of his town halls, being built under Bill 50. He filed a notice of motion with the Alberta Court of Appeal alleging the premier and Ted Morton interfered with the independence of the Alberta Utilities Commission. So as that process continues, Wilson may have to continue to wait for that appreciative nod the PC government so dearly owes him.
