(The first of a four-part series on property rights in Alberta)
My friend, Barry, is crusty. He can be so blunt that he offends people. Even so, I like him. I know that underneath that hard exterior, he is good humoured and well-intended.
Nearly two years ago, I became an MLA. Barry and I are still friends, but sometimes, when he goes off on an anti-politician rant, I say, “Ouch!” Usually, I say nothing, because I often agree with him.
Barry’s two favourite things to talk about are politicians and property rights. “Property and property rights ain’t the same thing,” he always says. “People don’t know that.
Property is bank accounts, cars, houses, and land. Property rights are what the government will let you do with ’em. If my land is mine, who I allow on or kick off is none of the government’s business.”
Barry is right. If I own a quarter-section of ground and have title to it, it’s my property. I have the right to sell it, rent it, give it away, or grow canola on it instead of grass.
These are my property rights. So is the fact that I can tell a hunter, trespasser, and anybody else, to get off my land.
If the legislature in Edmonton decides to pass a law saying that the government can approve, initiate, or restrict what occurs on my land, without first obtaining my permission, and then denies me the statutory right to go to court if I disagree with what it’s doing, my property rights will be violated.
Just because the legislature passes a law saying that the government can trample my property rights, doesn’t mean they’re not being trampled. Just because something is legal doesn’t make it right.
Nowadays, property rights in Alberta and elsewhere in Canada don’t get trampled when governments forcibly take away land titles or seize our property.
Property rights get trampled when politicians pass laws that give them control over what we can and cannot do on our own private property. Usually, the political party that does this kind of thing has some excuse. They claim to act in the public interest, or insist that they are streamlining the economic development process.
Up until a few years ago, Alberta’s track record on property rights was a thing of beauty. This rich tradition took root in the 1880s, and flourished for more than 100 years, enabling our province to bring economic shelter and life to Canada. Alberta’s modern PC government, with more faith in bureaucratic planning than in the creativity of individual Albertans, took an axe to this tradition through Land Bills 19, 24, and 36.
Since the last provincial election, these three have been joined by Bill 2, the legislative package that University of Calgary law professor Shaun Fluker referred to as “a colossal gaffe by the Alberta government,” because it deliberately retracts rights from landowners.
Next week, in part two of this four-part series, I’ll look at the practical effect some of the Alberta government’s land bills are intended to have on individuals and businesses.
Rick Strankman is the MLA for the Drumheller-Stettler riding.
— From the Legislature