Time for revolution in the People's Republic of Alberta

[grassfarmer]

Folks, we need to get serious on what is happening in Alberta. I attended the meeting at Last West yesterday to hear lawyer Keith Wilson and democracy activist Joe Anglin speak on Bill 19, 50 and 36 and it was shocking.
Bill 36 - The Alberta Land Stewardship Act was passed last spring in the legislature without the ministers (by their own admission) even having read the Act. Basically it removes all property owners rights, overrides all existing provincial acts and regulations and informs us that all future decisions concerning land use will be made by the Alberta cabinet. Furthermore they restrict the right to compensation that was previously available and rule that they cannot be challenged on court on any of these issues.
This is not an exaggeration - it's right there in the text;

"The Act allows Cabinet to amend or 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). The
Act restricts rights to compensation where exiting rights are amended or extinguished (s.19).
There is no appeal to the Courts and a privative clause blocking a citizen’s right to seek judicial
review or commence an action (s. 15(3) and (4))"

To read Keith Wilson's full legal perspective please go to http://www.landownerassociation.ca/rsrcs/wilsoncritique.pdf - the first 17 pages cover the relevant issues.

There is much resentment of leftist/socialist/communist thinking in Western Canada yet this "Conservative" dictatorship in Alberta has just written laws that can remove your property and property rights just as surely as if Stalin had turned up on your doorstep.
This has got to be overturned - I am starting a campaign today asking all property owners to withhold property taxes next year. That is a long ways off time wise but we need to be telling our counties that next year they will have no budget - we need to get this issue big enough to get on the radar immediately and get it overturned. With no money for them to operate on we can quickly collapse the system. Just as soon as I sign up some neighbors there will be a letter going to our local and provincial politicians telling them the game is up - we cannot allow this province to act like some banana republic dictatorship.
Time to overthrow this regime - who is with me??

[ALLFARMER]

Throw the conservative's out next election!

[rkaiser]

No doubt it is time for change grassfarmer. Have you considered talking with the ag service board rather than taking the no pay route. You might be surprised how many people in these other elected postions oppose or at least disagree with the current provincial leadership.

[Kathy]

Grassfarmer, I'm with you on this. I have been reviewing the Land Stewardship Act, which when printed out is 53 pages long (plus explanatory pages equaling another 17 pages.

It has to be the NASTIEST piece of legislation ever introduced or passed in Alberta/Canada.

I have a bone of contention with all the bills that has been brought to the AB Legislature that were/are drafted by: "The Minister of....." as in this case, the Minister of Sustainable Development.

One: Only MLAs can bring a bill to the legislature. There is no listed name of any MLA on this bill/act (this is the case with most of the bills brought to the leg. over the last decade).

Anybody can be a Minister. There is NO LAW stating that the Minister has to be an MLA, it is "convention" meaning based on past practices; but it is not law.

TWO: No Ministery is to spend money to develop new laws/acts. This is not their mandate/job. The Minister and his staff are to "enforce existing laws". Only MLAs on their own, with their own private funding are allowed to develop new Bills to be brought to the legislature. Tax dollars should not be spent to create new law; this process must be privately funded. Instead, government lawyers and bureaucrats are working on "New Laws" steady.

When I brought this up with then Transportation Minister Jack Hayden, at a Bill 19 Land Assembly Project Area Act meeting, (This bill was brought to the legislature by "The Minister of Transportation", he stated:

"That is true, but that's not the way we do it".

Consequently, all the bills brought before the Alberta Legislature from the office of a Minister ... are unlawful.

If you look back in history, years from now..... as with Bill 36... it merely states it is brought to the leg. by "The Minister of Sustainable Resource Development".... Bearing in mind, that this ACT and others are granting the powers of the Minister to various bodies/individuals (those NOT being elected members of the legislature.).... In the future, we will see a diversion from Ministers being MLAs, to Ministers being unelected private individuals. These individuals will have strong connections to the corporations that are pushing this fascist agenda. The electorate will have NO RECOURSE, against these powerful individuals who will slip seamlessly back and forth between Government positions and Corporate board rooms.

On the basis of these arguements, the Government of Alberta has been enacting Legislation unlawfully for decades, yet where are the lawyers to challenge these criminals. Where are the university scholars who teach politcal science? Do we teach one thing and do another? Do we stand idle will our God given human dignity is destroyed.... Maybe you can ask these questions while you enjoy the radiation from the body scanners at the airport, OR do you perfer a "Love Pat".........................................

[grassfarmer]

Randy, I don't think the Ag Services boards are going to cause much of a storm in a tea cup.
I'd be quite interested in Coppertop's views on this topic given her involvement at municipal level and that she was a big supporter of Steady Eddie.

[kato]

A lot of the problem is when you get a government that believes they are undefeatable. We also have issues in Manitoba with the NDP. There are enough people in Winnipeg to vote them in, no matter how many rural voters go to the polls. So laws are based on how good they are for the city, while rural issues are ignored,at least, and sometimes made worse.

They are confident that they can get away with just about anything they like, based on past events. Pass a bad law, no one says anything, and then they vote you back into office. Do that a few times and the confidence level rises along with the audacity of the law.

The federal Conservatives take the western vote for granted too. They assume the West will vote PC, no matter what, so they spend their energy and good will wooing other parts of the country.

Do you guys have an election coming up? Maybe it's time to send a message.

[smcgrath76]

GF - one issue I have is that my
property taxes support my county and
that is currently the only government
that is really listening to and doing
something for me. I know that they are
really struggling to be heard at the
provincial level as well, and 19 through
50 walk all over their
rights/responsibilities and
jurisdictions as well.
I am 100% certain that I am not voting
for my PC MLA in the next election, but
apparently letters, tv interviews,
formal complaints, and/or trying to
bridge a middle ground don't work.

[grassfarmer]

Valid point Sean - I don't hate my county either. It's an idea though - what else can we do?

[per]

Figure out how to have the current Highwood MLA resign forcing a by-election in Danielle's new riding in 6 months or less and more than likely forcing an Alberta election.

[grassfarmer]

How confident are you that an election would bring a change? Most of these rural seats have @60% of the votes cast for the PCs. Typically the PC candidate gets around twice what all their opponents combined get. In a first past the post system a swing of the magnitude needed would be just about unheard of would it not? It will take more than a few disgruntled landowners to swing it for sure.

[Happytrails]

What other choice do we have? HT

[per]

It will take a more than a few disgruntled landowners to have a revolution as well. I know of many long time active PC's that are working hard to change the political landscape.

[grassfarmer]

With some courage and fighting spirit on your side you can achieve great things - it's too bad modern Canadians don't believe or can't envisage the impact they could have.
The difference for us Europeans is we have grown up seeing democracy working, people power working... I well remember listening to the radio as Lech Walesa took on the might of the Soviet block when he was in the Gdansk Shipyard as a Union leader. I remember the growing movement of people risking their lives that eventually led to the Berlin wall crumbling. I remember Mrs Thatcher dispatching the British forces to the Falkland Islands to repel the invading Argentinians with almost no support in the worldwide political community. A huge logistical feat given the extreme distance and statistically small armed forces we had compared to Argentine.

With a "can do" attitude and right on your side there is nothing you can't achieve. It would not be difficult to put enough pressure on this PC Government to cause them to reverse this legislation - all it takes is enough media attention on what are un-defendable laws, once the defections to the Wild Rose increase the Government would crumble.
This is winnable - can Albertan's be bothered though?