canoe on Bill 18

[grassfarmer]

Yeah, sounds like "straws" and "clutching" now Mr Webber so i'll leave you to work on your math.

[ASRG]

parsley: I should apologize to you. I am just a cranky old type that is getting ready to bail on farming (and enjoy my day in the sun!)!
I never was a big fan of the CWB. Both me an Wilagro should just take our piles of money and go sit on the beach!
I will admit though that I have done a lot of work on property rights over the years and the end of the CWB monopoly is one of the greatest victories for property rights.......I have ever seen!

[FarmRanger]

I ask a serious question.

Was that plebiscite voter list of non-farmers the same as the one that has been used to elect the directors currently serving on the CWB board?

[parsley]

ASRP
Am really pleased to hear property rights are at
the top of your priority list. Farms need to
establish firm land ownersip rights. In your
opinion, should property rights efforts be directed
first at provincial laws or first at federal laws?
Pars

[Tom4Wildrose]

FarmRanger,

You KNOW the answer to that question... the CWB surveys over the past 10 years proved this.

Minister Goodale was a genius at ruling from behind the "iron curtain" for 8 years after he lost power!

We will find out by Christmas if his rule is finally over and we can stop fighting the 2nd world war out here on the prairie!

[ASRG]

parsley:That is a good question.
In the big picture of course it would be great to enshrine property rights in the Charter. That would be really helpful.
My involvement has mostly been at the provincial level in Alberta. In the last few years we have seen a provincial government assault on our property rights that almost boggles the mind! .....why we might even slip further than Saskatchewan! LOL
ASRG is short for Alberta Surface Rights Group.

[parsley]

I'm so pleased there is a pot bubbling. Is there
sister association in Saskatchewan you have
been liasing with? I was in contact with Danielle
Smith fairly often when she was CEO of Property
Rights' Association. That's a decade or so ago.
Grassy, are you an active member of this Alta
association? Pars

[parsley]

I'll toss the property rights issue into a nest of
disarmed politicos if I get a chance on Monday
after the reading of the Speech from the Throne.

KEY WORDS: property rights stir cauldron
trouble witch opening of parliament

[grassfarmer]

Parsley, I'm a member of CAEPLA
http://www.landownerassociation.ca/

[parsley]

Do ASRG and CAEPLA work together yet? Pars

[ASRG]

parsely: We have a very good relationship with CAEPLA. Probably a lot of cross memberships. I am a personal friend of Jim Ness (who is a former board member and their land agent....also....as an aside one of the seven border runners who went to jail for taking wheat across the border!)
Our group has been forced into the role of defending property rights.....our original purpose was to educate and assist landowners with surface leases, pipeline right of ways, and annual surface lease rent...and quite frankly that is what I wish we had stayed at!
The Stelmach government was a disaster for landowners......and we were forced to push back before we didn't have any property rights left.
While Alberta is having problems, it is still a much better situation than what landowners have in Saskatchewan. We do have the "entry fee" of $500/acre and our freehold mineral owners still own the deep mineral rights (Unlike Sask...where the government took them!).
We still have a regulator (ERCB) where you can get a hearing and a Surface Rights board to appeal to on compensation. I'm not really up on Sask. property rights but I think it used to be the Energy minister just made all the decisions and it was tough luck for landowners!
Danielle Smith (Wildrose party) has stated very clearly if elected she will bring in a "Property Protection Act" (based on the APRI-"Alberta Property Rights Initiative" proposal) and work with other provinces toward enshrining property rights within the charter.
Our group is in touch constantly with the Ontario Landowners Association. They are trying to set up a cross country coalition of landowners groups to ensure we have a voice.

[parsley]

Really interesting ASRG, and thanks for the
detailed information. Stelmach was such a
Destructive failure, wasn't he. Pars