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??

[BTOfarmall]

Eminent Domain at its finest. Looks like the Wild Lands Project is finally coming to Canada. See what happens when you vote these idiots in??? Oh by the way taxes are unconstitutional and paying taxes is voluntary.

http://takingliberty.us/TLHome.html

[Happytrails]

I agree on the gravity of the problem. Maybe not on the approach. I think we should try the ballot box first. The PC government can only do so much damage b4 the next election when we get a chance to throw them out. Lets be ready to get the job done at that time. HT

[grassfarmer]

That might be 2 years away and a few disgruntled farmers and ranchers will not influence the next Government using their ballots, we are numerically insignificant. We need to reach the masses and I don't think we can wait 2 years - what happens if the cabinet in the meantime decides your property is no longer yours and will be put to another use of their choosing? I think this stuff is too dangerous to leave on the statute book.

[mustardman]

This comes from having one party in power for decades. They have handed to much power over to oil companies at the expense of land owners. This started big time with Klein and continues.

[FarmRanger]

<i>....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.</i>

I agree completely that the government's ability to expropriate property should be severely restricted. Unfortunately property rights were not enshrined in the Canadian constitution under the watch of PET and the federal Liberal government of the day.

The chickens have come home to roost.

[grassfarmer]

So what are we going to do about it? I don't want agreement I want indications of potential action to resolve this issue.

[food4u]

When did you people vote in a NDP govt???????

[parsley]

Well, it's prudent to act on this grassy, and a good Albertan you are. Pars

[rockpile]

So grassyguy, who do we turn to? The Wild Eyed
Alliance (as one independent MLA calls them) is even
more in bed with the energy industry and utilities.
BTW, there is no argument at all that these 3 bills are a
total perversion of property ownership, meaning the
top six inches in title, we are road kill! Why aren't
people going after the current bunch of bandits to
force them to reverse? Maybe the courts are an option?
I really don't see switching labels as accomplishing
that much.

[grassfarmer]

Rockpile I don't suggest we can just change parties and resolve the issue although the Wild Rose and NDP are actually in agreement this has to be overturned. The lawyer indicates this can't be resolved in court - remember it's clearly spelled out that this act is over and above the law - the cabinet ministers are now a dictatorship.

You say "why aren't people going after the current bunch of bandits to force them to reverse" - Exactly what I am trying to initiate.
It's tough in Western Canada though - the attitude is to shrug their shoulders, bitch a little and do nothing. The irony of just coming through Remembrance Day and pledging to "never forget, so they did not die in vain" seems lost on modern Albertans. Would today's average Albertan working in the oilpatch and shopping at Walmart just shrug their shoulders and let Hitler overrun Europe if conditions were to repeat themselves?

As a European I'm often branded a trouble maker here because I try to get involved to make democracy work. 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 distant Falklands to repel the invading Argentinians with almost no support in the worldwide political community. Sometimes you need to draw a line in the sand and say "NO MORE" I think this is one of those occasions - will anyone join me?

[parsley]

I's like to suggest the following:

#1. Contact Garry Breitkreuz MP. His passion has always been property rights. He's super to work with, and he knows the issues involved with property rights inside and out.

#2 Get a signed list of farmers who support a property rights bill. Most of them won't lift a finger, but some of them will indulge in hard labor and sign their name. You need farmer names to get a bill to go forward.

#3. Work with Daniiuelle Smith to do the same in Alberta

#4. The Frontier Centre in Regina is a good contact. They would most likely help you with the technicalities of bringing a bill forward and doing some contact work.

#5. Ask for supporting resolutions from farm associations. In writing.

#6. Delegate work via interested farmers.

#7. Form a loose committee of farmers you can depend upon.

#8. Ask for help for a specific task.

Pars

[cottonpicken]

Wrote for 10 minutes,and deleted it all.

[parsley]

Good to see you're deleting what doesn't make sense.

LOL

[rockpile]

Very precise response Grassy. You are right, we need
to change the 'culture' here. Good comments Pars, but
you don't understand Alberta. It doesn't work that way
here. I'm not sure I would discount the court system
just because a Provincial cabinet states otherwise. So,
a starting point?