The Provincial government responded to the report of the Property Rights Task Force last week. The task force stopped in St. Paul in January, one of 10 locations where meetings led by hired consultants took place.
The government promised to “improve engagement of Albertans in consultations regarding property rights,” in its response to the task force. The government plans to review the requirements of industry to reclaim and remediate land and remove unused infrastructure.
The government plans to review the Expropriation Act and the Surface Rights Act to “consider ways and means to strengthen those acts.” The government’s response states landowners must have recourse to an independent tribunal, the courts or both to determine “full and fair compensation.”
The government plans to create a Property Rights Advocate Office to help people determine the “appropriate resolution mechanism” and to “disseminate independent and impartial information about the right to compensation” when land is expropriated or where the landowner has had a compensable loss.
Diana McQueen, chair of the task force and minister of Environment and Water, and co-chair Evan Berger, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, addressed questions from media on the government’s response in a conference call on Feb. 21.
The Property Rights Advocate Office will be under the Ministry of Justice and the advocate will report annually to the legislature, McQueen said.
“Our government respects landowners and their rights. That’s exactly why this task force was created,” said McQueen. “Our goal was to find grassroots solutions to the serious property rights concerns that Albertans have raised. The people we spoke to were respectful and certainly generous in their comments.”
While some suggested repealing bills, others “understood the need for good land use planning,” said McQueen.
“Indeed, yes some did say and many said they wanted to see the bills repealed, but we got into a really good conversation about what were the real issues around those bills.” McQueen said the talks pointed to the issues identified in the government’s response: consultation, compensation, access to the courts and advocacy.
“They weren’t against in many cases the issues of the bills. What they wanted to tell us was they felt they didn’t like the way they were consulted so we need to do that better,” she said.
Some attendees told the task force “don’t repeal, you’re going to set the province back. We have to move forward,” added Berger.
“We have all these competing uses on the landscape, which are both a blessing and a curse. We’re blessed with abundant resources, great agriculture, great recreation opportunities, we’re cursed that they all take place on the same landscape and we have to balance these things.”
The Wildrose Party called the task force a sham, in a press release last week, pointing to numerous reports of attendees asking for a repeal of four land bills. “The government’s response to the task force’s report completely ignores these calls. Instead, it contains an empty and meaningless promise to ‘improve engagement’.”
“Like anything our government has done, it has proven to be rather ineffective,” said local Liberal Party candidate, John Nowak, on the task force last week.
Keith Wilson, an outspoken critic of Bills 19, 24, 36 and 50, will hold an information meeting at the St. Paul Rec. Centre on March 7 at 7 p.m. Wilson is the policy chair of the Alberta Landowners Council.
Around 200 people attended when Wilson spoke in St. Paul about a year ago. Council member Colleen Boddez said she expects an even larger attendance at next week’s meeting.
MLA Ray Danyluk attended and debated Wilson at last year’s meeting. Danyluk defended Bill 19, the Land Assembly Project Area Act, which has since been amended.
"The thrust of these three acts is to give landowners more rights, and that's the total opposite of what's being said," said Danyluk, regarding Bills 19, 36 and 50, in a follow up story to the meeting.
The government’s full response and the task force report can be found online at www.propertyrights.alberta.ca.
