Villeneuve Hall was packed last Tuesday night for an emotional meeting about the proposed Heartland Transmission Project.
A group opposing the project, the Sturgeon Blue Line group, gathered three prominent opponents of the power line and the government's land use bills for an information session.
Danielle Smith, leader of the Wildrose Alliance; Joe Anglin, a prominent opponent of the several power lines and Keith Wilson, a lawyer who has examined the legislation all attended.
Wilson gave the assembled crowd a legal analysis of three pieces of government legislation, Bill 50, Bill 36 and Bill 19, saying all three represent a huge change in rules around property rights.
“If these laws are going to stay on the book for any amount of time then they are going to have to rewrite the textbooks to say here is how the law works except and unless in Alberta,” Wilson said.
He said unfortunately the bills are now law and it is very difficult for any landowners looking to block the lines on a legal basis.
“I hate being like the doctor who says that the cancer is terminal. I hate being a lawyer who says I am sorry, the way the government wrote the law there is nothing that I can do for you.”
Anglin, who has been a vocal opponent of proposed power lines in the Rimby area, argued that in a funny way the bills were a blessing because they made more people aware of the issue.
“Thank god for bill 50 because you are all here, and you weren't here in 2005.”
Anglin said the lines power companies are proposing to build across the province are unnecessary and will only add to power bills, which is not only bad for homeowners but also for industrial companies, who might leave the province for somewhere with lower costs.
The proponents of the project have identified two potential routes for the power lines. The preferred path runs from coal power plants near Wabamun, south of Edmonton and then along the west side of the city before going north through Sturgeon County near Redwater, towards the proposed upgraders.
The second routing, the alternate or blue route, would run east from the same plants, but would go north on the west side of Edmonton passing near Villeneuve and Riviere Qui Barre before heading east, north of Morinville.
Anglin told the crowd he suspects the blue line routing could be used in the future for another line to Fort McMurray.
“They are doubling down on this one. They are going to do the alternate route for the Heartland project, while they are doing the primary line for the Fort McMurray line.”
Smith was the last of the speakers and said a Wildrose government would have solutions to these problems if elected into government.
“Now that they have told you what a headache these three pieces of legislation are, I think I am supposed to be here to provide the Aspirin,” Smith told the crowd.
She said land issues and power lines are important to all Albertans and not something only rural Albertans need to be concerned with.
“We have a very vibrant debate happening in this province and I don't think people are buying that we have to disadvantage our rural areas to bring power to our urban centres.”
Smith gave credit to all of the opposition parties for opposing the bills and said while an election is one way to change them, she is hopeful the government will see the error of its ways.
“I am very hopeful that some of the Tories’ MLAs will realize that they have made a mistake, a grave one in passing these bills on the basis of the say-so of the leadership team and the say-so of the administration and they will start challenging them in the same way the opposition has.”
Colleen Boddez, a spokesperson for the Blue Line group, said they organized the meeting to give the public more information about the lines and to draw attention to the issue.
She said they will be organizing more events and intend to send a clear message to provincial MLAs.
“We are telling them change it or we will change you.”
