If this on the up & up?

[ALLFARMER]

Forage if farmers "one day have no rights" then
the land would be worthless. I don't see land
being worthless any time soon.

I hope your enjoying fighting the gov. Some days I
do the same myself...I have fought and beaten
over a dozen speeding tickets.

I also fought the gov. for 10 years over a bridge
that leads to my property. I had to sign and accept
responsibility for a full size rural road bridge when
I decided to buy this farm. I actually decided not to
buy this farm because the only access to this
property is from a bridge that is not even on my
land. After a month of looking around I came back
to this property (a cheap buy because of the
bridge issue and a hog barn one mile away.....I
also never fought the hog barn) So I bought the
farm and go stone walled by the municipal and
then the provincial gov ...my MLA. He already
heard of this bridge and said he wouldn't touch it.
So I waited..then when he retired I wrote a letter
to the new MLA Frank Oberle and asked him one
simple question, who owns this bridge? Within
days there was a survey crew out. He wrote me
back and it's a provincial bridge. Maintained by
the county. Then I fought for a couple years to get
maintenance done. The provincial bridge
department said the county was saying it was low
priority. I said its more like no priority. Alright he
says what does it need ....well there is a retaining
wall completely in the creek, on and on. Now it
gets inspected yearly and has been fixed up
some. The bridge foreman said this was the
worst bridge he has seen his 30 years. It needs
dynamite lol. The hog barn only ran 4yrs after I
bought this place and then it went broke. So with
these 2 issues resolved guess what my land value
has done 160k now like 650k on the original 1/2
section. Plus I fought for another 5 quarters of gov
land to adjoin that. Currently I have 1.5 miles of
land touching up against a gov bush bush
township, lots of room for expansion on this outfit.

The moral of this big long story is to pick your
battles wisely.

[per]

Don't forget Forage that ALSA passed 3rd reading in 2008 and we are still having the conversation and affecting changes that included amendments. The land assemblies act was also reopened and changed as is the Electric Statues Act. It is never to late on these things but for sure it would be nice if government would listen and get it correct from the get go.

Allfarmer is right about picking your battles and this is one worth battling for a bunch of us. We do however have only so much capacity and can get too stretched.

[grassfarmer]

The moral I read in your story Allfarmer was that you
are only interested in things directly affecting you.
That's quite a difference from most of the other
commentators on this post.

[ALLFARMER]

With all the gas, diesel, natural gas, health care,
roads, plastic products, good paying jobs that the
oil patch provides there are trade offs.

If Wiebo Ludwig hated the oil patch so much why
the heck did he buy a farm in the middle of it???

Wait till highway 2 needs a third lane. Alberta tax
payers are gunna pay thru the nose for that.

[SADIE]

Just a comment "food for thought".

We live in central Saskatchewan and not anywhere near the activity of Pump Jack and oil wells, flares, oil patch jobs close by, sponsorships from oil companies.

My only expertise and knowledge comes from the experience of three pipeline corridors ENBRIDGE---now two easements and 6 pipes dating back to 1951. Alliance 48 inch built in 1997 and Kinder Morgan (cochin) built back in 1976. We are in Saskatchewan and Powerlines cross the countryside not following lot lines, diagonnally crossing open quarters of farm land.
There is "0" annual payment to the pipeline landowners. This area of landowners now has approaching 70 years of pipes in the ground and now are seeing in one generational lifetime the lifecycle of a large diameter pipeline on their properties.

Most landowners with utilities like myself purchased lands and were "un informed landowners"

With the implementation of the Sask/Canada Environmental farm plans in 2005-07 there has been a huge wake-up call on proper land stewardship through our countryside.

My question is and what I have learnt from having CAEPLA coming in and working and educating pipeline landowners on the ALBERTA CLIPPER PROJECT is why does any landowner accept a utility company and sign a new easement agreement that was prepared only by the utility company whose only interests on that proposed easement agreement looks after the utility or energy companies interests and not the interests of the landowner whose name is on the land title?

On the Alberta Clipper project landowners got involved as a collective group, where able to have proper legal counsel (paid for by the energy company) to make up clauses on the new easement agreement that both parties signed and there was protection for future environmental impacts, a proper and better construction proceedures and land reclaimation.

Most landowners are busy and the land agents arrive (planned) when landowners are busy, short notice and shove a piece of paper with poor wording and printing in your face, drawn up by the energy or utility company Highlighting only the Compensation package and asking a landowner to sign.

Not signing----Right of Entry Order which informed landowners refer to this as **** AND PILLAGE ORDER can be served to acquire this land. This is not expropriation order because then the name on the title would change to the energy company and then the company would be on the hook for future cleanup and environmental issues.

Informed landowners are becoming more pro-active in learning and studying into these easement agreements. Some of these informed landowners have potential for inter-generational transfer of property.

We are seeing Albertan after Albertan come into this area and purchasing or trying to purchase land, block it up very trained and informed on their concern of not acquiring land with utility or energy corridors on their new property.

I had the privelige of spending 20 years in a veterinary business in east central Alberta and seeing all aspects of the oil patch come through the communities---the jobs, the sponsorships, the spinoffs and yes the concerns that ranchers had dealing with the invasion of pump-jacks on their lands.

Now I watch on agriville--the last couple of years was it bill 18, 24, 36 46 & 50 concerns to you Alberta Landowners and now the invasion of BIll 2 coming down your throats.

IT has become a fulltime job for many concerned landowners in Alberta and yes Saskatchewan to even to try and keep somewhat current on protecting ones property.

What ever ground landowners in Alberta loose in ALberta----I am really concerned on what the spin-offs will be in this province.

Just an early morning post--morning rant.

[ASRG]

Forage: Your description of the LA course at Olds is pretty accurate!
Look.....Bill 2 is one more step on the road to ending all private property. It was preceded by Bill 19, 50, 36, and 24. It will be followed by a bill in the spring to make amendments to the surface rights act and in all likelyhood an act to create a new "water market". The South Saskatchewan Regional Plan will be implemented (this is the one the government really wants...it will determine the rest of the regional plans)in 2013 under ALSA.
The overall goal of these various acts will reduce you the property owner to the status of little more than a tenant, with no control over what happens to your property. Whenever the government decides they can get rid of you! That is the goal.
Personally I have always believed the solution is political. Will the next party be any different than the last sell outs? They will if the party's constitution MUST be controlled by the grassroots constituency associations....with re call and citizen initiative referendum entrenched in the constitution.
That is the Wildrose party.

[forage]

I am sorry to say but asrg's predication is very probably closer to the truth than you think. The lobby by capp is so under handed and corrupt to dominate power over anything that is in their way and createss any obstacles that well have potential to stop their development. The development of shale gas and hydrofracing is in its earlier stages in Alberta and the only real challenges are the volumes of fresh water and capp knows full well that their experiences in US water was their obstacle and path of resistence from the rural people.

[grassfarmer]

Sad to say but this stuff was inevitable after the April
23rd result, that's when the damage was done. How
do we change that with a hugely urban electorate, so
many of whom have short term vision and oil linked
jobs? Not just the urban vote look how many of the
rural votes are oil linked - nearly every farm/ranch
operation in my immediate area is more reliant on the
oil patch than they are on agriculture for their
income.

One thing I've heard is that the NDP work with the
Wildrose and realise the priority is getting rid of the
Cons - meanwhile the Liberals sent out an email a
couple of weeks ago shooting arrows at the other
opposition parties insisting that the Liberals were the
only ones having their questions answered in the Leg
with the implication they were the only ones being
taken seriously.

I see ASRG's MLA making a name for herself and
getting on camera while we are playing "where's
Waldo" in our constituency. Reading the hansard
documents Joe has been active and able as usual but
why does he never get on camera or in front of a
microphone?

[ASRG]

grassfarmer: Be assured Joe is battling big time in the legislature! He is the guy leading the charge!
I am very disappointed with Energy Minister Ken Hughes. He comes from an old time respected ranching family. He knows better.

[grassfarmer]

I know Joe is working hard but why do we never see
him in the pictures or behind a microphone in the
news clips? It's always Danielle, the Anderson guy and
your MLA.