Bill 36 - Time for action

[grassfarmer]

Bill 36, the Alberta Land Stewardship Act was passed in the last sitting of the legislature. Joe Anglin is once again spearheading the battle against another anti-democratic bill by the PC Government. As usual the bill was passed by ministers who had not read it and do not understand what it contains. Are you happy with our Provincial Government? If not it's time to stand up and be counted.

Here are some quick facts that you need to know:

* It authorizes the government to do with private land and Crown land as they see fit in order to implement the Cabinet’s 5-year “regional plans”

* It allows them to “‘extinguish’ existing rights held under licenses, permits, leases, approvals, or any form of governmental approval issued by the Alberta Government, a municipality or government agency (s. 11).” This includes land titles! The legal wording is clear and in black & white.

* “It restricts rights to compensation…(s. 19)”

* It trumps every and all avenues to fight back or protect your rights including the courts (you can’t appeal). It even overrides municipal laws, and other provincial laws that protect Albertans from this kind of “hostile takeover” such as the Expropriation Act.

* It enables a [Cabinet] Minister to file a judgment against a landowner without a trial or a court hearing that is binding as if issued through the power of a court.

* Bill 36 replaces our system of having locally elected officials make land use planning decisions. It replaces it with a centralized decision-making process where the Cabinet in Edmonton makes all the decisions for every inch of the province and whatever the Cabinet says goes.

* No other Western democratic country has tried to impose such a massive centralized and authoritarian planning scheme as that described in Bill 36. No other democratic country has so blatantly stripped landowners of property rights, due process, and court protections.

[smcgrath76]

Amen to that. There are serious
implications from this bill. There are
also major issues when local control is
removed. When you don't have to live with
the consequences, it makes decision making
pretty easy.

[per]

Our present reigning masters won't back down from this. There is only one option that I can see to find a solution. We need a change and overhaul. That won't come soon or without some unintended consequences. It is a scary thought that the power keeps being concentrated to the ministers and even more frightening is this group of ministers have a lust for power. With out checks and balances this kind of power always goes to the heads of folks with the power. If you or a group you belong to are offside with them then you are shut out of the debate.

[Happytrails]

I'm no fan of the charter of rights and freedoms but it might be of some use to counter abuses of bill 36. Other than that a regime change is the only hope. HT

[grassfarmer]

What does that entail HT? a case going to the supreme court of Canada?

[wd40]

(The infrastructure for transmission lines in Alberta is currently valued at $2 billion. The proposed infrastructure that the Stelmach government wants to add to our utility bills is valued at $16 billion. For every family of four in the province, on every street in the province, in every city and town in the province, it is equal to more than $21,000! This would be over and above the electrical utility bills we pay now – sort of like every family in Alberta having a payment for a new car folded into existing electric bills.) Everyone in the province will be affected because the cost of electrical infrastructure is passed on to consumers through higher utility bills.

[grassfarmer]

Yet barely a squeak is heard - the average person has no knowledge or interest in this due to a. complete complacency with their democracy and
b. a general media that totally fails to do it's job of independently reporting happenings in the Province.
What can we do to change the status quo?

[wd40]

Check out CAEPLA

http://www.landownerassociation.ca/

and buy your membership! As far as I can tell this is the only group working in the face of NEB, AUC or any and all corporate giants!

[grassfarmer]

Good suggestion wd40 but it will take more than a small group of landowners to fight this. As you said everyone in the Province will be affected and we need to get this on the radar of the majority of citizens in Alberta. I'm told politically both the Wild Rose and the NDP are on the same page to fight it despite their ideological differences. Do we need to buy adverts on the major TV stations - during their news reports - to spread the word? This is serious, serious stuff and if it is allowed to continue because our action was limited to a few shared conversations behind closed doors with like minded friends we will have let democracy fail and let the efforts of those who fought and died for our democracy be in vain.
As someone involved in the battle said - this is unheard of - the sweeping powers these politicians are granting themselves to remove the rights and property of their citizens were only achieved by the worst dictators like Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin AFTER they had seized control of their countries. To just sit back and allow this to be implemented in a country and province that consider themselves to be amongst the most democratic in the world is a frightening thought.

[wd40]

I wish you were right GF, but the liberal news media is not about to rattle the hand that feeds them. Maybe 30,000 people to take over the Legislature that might wake someone up, but I doubt it. Abject arrogance coupled with incompetence is pretty much the picture.

Your right that the un-educated populace is the bigger problem! Bad politics can be fixed from time to time, but educating the frog as he boils in the pot is the real job.

However don’t rule out CAEPLA, their growing by leaps and bounds and their mission is to educate the land owner, and they are making a mark.

[per]

As much as they try then can't ignore well managed and engaged land owner groups. You know that from Lavista, we have the Pekisko. Especially when working together with each other and add in a larger non regional out fit like CAEPLA we have a power that can't be ignored even by the ignorant.

[per]

You might want to ignore the sentence structure on my previous post.

[wd40]

Of all the ag issues that us producers have faced this is thee ONE issue that we would unit on!

[Kathy]

There is supposed to be a meeting on November 22, 2010 in Camrose (probably the Norseman), where-in Bills 36 50 and others will be discussed. I will let you know more, when I know more.

If you want to change things, you have to start on the farm. Next time a landman comes to your door to negotiate a well-site.... etc... you have to tell them to go away!

[Kathy]

Here is the information from the Alberta Surface Rights Federation regarding the November 22, 2010 "Special Meeting".

http://www.albertasurfacerights.ca/nav/press/specialmeeting.pdf

Note: Lawyer Keith Wilson will be speaking on Bills 19, 36 and 50 in the afternoon. Don't miss it!