The province will create an independent property rights advocate office to deal with landowner compensation and other issues, Environment and Water Minister Diana McQueen announced last week.Presenting the final report from the Alberta Property Rights Task Force, McQueen outlined several broad initiatives but said hiring a property rights advocate was ìthe real deep pieceî designed to respond to the public's concerns.ìThey wanted someone to advocate for them,î McQueen said.The task force visited 10 communities last month, drawing 216 people to the Cow Palace in Olds, the second highest turnout of the tour. Feedback was received from a total of 1,400 Albertans, McQueen told reporters last Tuesday.She acknowledged that some people who attended the open houses called for the government to repeal its contentious land bills ñ Bill 19, the Land Assembly Project Area Act; Bill 24, the Carbon Capture and Storage Statutes Amendment Act; Bill 36, the Land Stewardship Act; and Bill 50, the Electric Statutes Amendment Act.ìMany did say they wanted to see the bills repealed, but when we got into it we came down to four key principles,î she said.These included improved consultation, ensuring fair compensation, ensuring access to the courts, and providing effective advocacy for landowners. Last week's final task force report pledged to act on all four fronts.On consultation, the task force said the government will take steps to improve public engagement, ìincluding being more consistent, predictable and timely in consultations.î It will also review requirements for industry to reclaim, remediate land and remove unused infrastructure.On compensation, the government will review the Expropriation Act and the Surface Rights Act, ìto consider ways and means to strengthen those acts relative to property rights.î The review will include the compensation guidelines applied by the Surface Rights Board and Land Compensation Board.On access to the courts, the government promised to ensure that landowners ìhave recourse to an independent tribunal or the courts, or both, for the purpose of determining full and fair compensation.îOn advocacy, the government said its new property rights advocate office will share ìindependent and impartial informationî with landowners, ìincluding information about the right to compensation where land is expropriated or where an owner claims to have suffered a compensable loss.îMcQueen said the Property Rights Advocate Act would be introduced in the legislature by the end of last week. The office will work under the justice department and will make an annual report to the legislature, which McQueen predicted would be ìa very public and independent report.îThe new office will work in conjunction with the existing farmer's advocate office, assistant farmer's advocate Graham Gilchrist told the Gazette last week.The position of farmer's advocate has been vacant since last May, but ìthat should be fixed in the next two or three days,î Gilchrist said. ìOnce that person is appointed he will work closely with the property rights advocate.îWhile the division of roles was not yet clearly defined, the new position will not make the farmer's advocate redundant, Gilchirst said.ìOur office does a lot more than just property rights. We're all over the board,î he said, listing a range of functions from crop insurance appeals and consumer protection to ìhandling stuff like two cowboys that can't build a fence together.îMeanwhile, Wildrose Party deputy leader Paul Hinman shot down the task force report in the legislature last week, calling it a ìshamî for ignoring calls by the public to repeal the four land bills.ìGiven that you're clearly going to keep ignoring landowners who overwhelmingly want you to repeal these bills, will you at least apologize to landowners for wasting their time and taxpayers for wasting their money with this utter sham of a task force?î Hinman asked in Question Period Tuesday.
