Responding to a task force that heard from Albertans about property rights, the Alberta government is promising a new property rights advocate office, but has no plans to repeal controversial legislation.
The government's Property Rights Task Force, which conducted forums all over the province last month and took in online submissions on the issues, released their report and the government's response on Tuesday afternoon.
In addition to the new advocate, the government is pledging to review how it consults with Albertans and to review both the surface rights act and the expropriation act with an eye toward landowner compensation. The government is also promising to review the issue of infrastructure, like oil wells and pipelines that are no longer in use.
Environment and Water Minister Dianna McQueen said the new office is intended to be a resource for property owners whether they are dealing with industry or government over their land.
"This office will provide independent and impartial information about property rights to landowners, something many Albertans thought was necessary," she said.
McQueen said the need for someone to help landowners navigate the process was obvious.
"They certainly wanted to make sure the government was providing them with someone who was there to advocate for them."
Infrastructure minister and local MLA Jeff Johnson who also sat on the committee said the advocate office is going to be a big benefit to landowners, because it will be a one-stop shop.
"There are different processes, depending on which ministry you might be working with," he said. "I think to be able to go to one window is going to be a valuable tool for landowners."
No repeal
The task force is not recommending the wholesale repeal of several pieces of legislation that many attendees at the meeting asked for. McQueen said there certainly was a call for repealing some of the legislation, but it wasn't universal.
"Every area we met did talk about the need, some people said, to repeal the bills, while others really understood the need for land use planning."
Minister of Agriculture Evan Berger, who co-chaired the task force with McQueen, said while there were calls for repeal there were plenty of others who wanted to keep, but repair, the legislation.
"There were others who were saying don't repeal because you are going to set the province back. We have to move forward because we have all these competing uses of the land."
Johnson agreed about the desire for repeal, but he said more important than the actual legislation is to get the details right about how landowners are treated.
"It wasn't about the bills, it was about them having the assurance they were being taken care of."
Wildrose MLA Paul Hinman said he believes repealing the controversial pieces of legislation, Bills, 36, 19 and 50 are exactly what people were hoping for and the response deeply disappoints him.
"This is a sham," he said. "This brings a whole new meaning to 'in one ear and out the other'."
Hinman said he doubted from the beginning the task force would accomplish anything on the issue.
"This was a forgone conclusion and it was a waste of the taxpayers' money and a waste of everyone's time."
McQueen said new legislation to create the property rights advocate office will be tabled in the legislature soon. The new advocate will be under the justice minister, but will file a report annually to the legislature.
