The Redford government got an earful last Wednesday at the Olds Cow Palace as about 220 participants took part in the fifth of 10 open houses hosted by the Alberta Property Rights Task Force.Urged by Environment and Water Minister Diana McQueen, the task force chair, to ìbe open and blunt in your comments,î speaker after speaker targeted the government's four contentious land bills ñ 19, 24, 36 and 50 ñ and some took aim at the task force process itself.ìWhat's happening here is nothing but a sham,î said Luke von Maldeghem of Indus, south of Calgary.ìWhere was the public consultation before these bills were passed? Where's Ted Morton? You want solutions? Vote for something other than PCs,î von Maldeghem said.Lack of public consultation before the bills were drafted and passed was a recurring theme among participants.ìThese meetings should never have been necessary,î said Sharon Meadows of Innisfail.The Olds session was ìvery poorly organized, very poorly advertised,î said Don Bester, president of the Alberta Surface Rights Group, who also attended.Open house participants were split into six ìlistening stations,î with three taking place inside the Cow Palace foyer and the other three within the show ring.ìDivide and conquer, that's the strategy ñ people can't hear what the other people are saying. They did not want big audiences,î Bester told the Gazette.ìI'm just really concerned that this is all for nought. I've heard it at each of these stations: ëRepeal all these bills.' It took them five years to put them together ñ do you think you're going to get rid of this before the election?îAsked how much of the meeting could be classed as a Wildrose Party pre-election event, Bester said, ìAll of it.îDuring his presentation, Bester criticized the Energy Resource Conservation Board (ERCB) for ìrunning around promoting the oil industry when they're supposed to be a regulatory body, not a propaganda tool.îLarry Koper called the ERCB ìa jokeî during his presentation.ìThey follow the wishes of the people who pay their salaries and most of their salaries come from the oil companies.îKoper said a total of eight oil wells were being drilled within a two-mile radius of his property north of Cochrane. When he asked oil company reps whether they would supply him with water if his aquifer became contaminated, they dismissed his concerns, he said.ìI was told I own the first three feet and below that, the hell with you. But without water I can't live,î Koper said.ìNobody's looking at the impact and no one's taking responsibility if I lose water from my place, or my so-called place. Oil companies are simply telling me not to worry and from what I've read, I'm worried, I really am worried, and that's the only reason I'll speak at an open session such as this.îìWe want a truly independent ERCB,î Red Deer County resident Glenn Norman said during the consultant's summary, when all the participants briefly came together. ìWe don't want an ERCB that is in the pockets of industry. Whether you agree with that or not, that's the perception of 90 per cent of the people in the room.îThe call to repeal the four land bills was ìthe overarching piece of adviceî by many at the open house, said lead facilitator Catrin Owen in her summary of the session.Imposing a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, defining property rights and enshrining them in an Alberta bill of rights were also common solutions offered up by participants, said Owen, a senior consultant with Calder Bateman, the Edmonton-based public relations firm which is managing the task force exercise.Following the Olds session the task force held its sixth open house later in the day at Rocky Mountain House, where about 75 people attended. The final sessions were scheduled for Brooks and Hanna yesterday and Medicine Hat and Lethbridge today.A report incorporating the public feedback is due at the end of the month.
