A trio of MLAs faced more than 200 people who attended an open house on Saturday in High River and questioned the Tories on the controversial Alberta Land Stewardship Act.
What could have been a gathering fueled by animosity it was an example of how government should work.
Highwood MLA George Groeneveld, Foothills-Rocky View MLA Ted Morton and Livingstone-Macleod MLA Evan Berger were at the Highwood Memorial Centre in High River to face southern Alberta taxpayers who were concerned about the Alberta Land Stewardship Act and its potential impact on landowners.
The trio of MLAs faced the fire, but they also outlined the changes made the land stewardship act since it was first made public in late 2010.
The revamped Alberta Land Stewardship Act and the subsequent open houses prove when the Legislature, the opposition parties and lobby groups work hand-in-hand government can work and work well.
Soon after Premier Ed Stelmach’s Conservative government unveiled the Alberta Land Stewardship Act it came under fire from landowners, the opposition parties and lobbyists such as lawyer Keith Wilson who hosted town hall meetings across Alberta. Those who were concerned with the act claimed threatened Albertan’s property rights.
The backlash was so severe the Tories elected to go back to the drawing board, not to start from scratch, but to review the document and address the concerns raised in the town hall meetings, Legislature and coffee shops around Alberta.
Now the revamped Alberta Land Stewardship Act addressed some of the concerns and some of the controversial wording has been softened. For example, the portion which included the statement regional plans may extinguish statutory consent has been reworded and “extinguish” has been replaced by the word “rescind.”
The open house also allowed the MLAs to debunk some of the misconceptions raised during the past couple of months.
One of the main concerns was there was not enough public consultation prior to the proceeding with the act which has only been given two readings in the Legislature.
Although the Province has stated there is a plan in place for consultation before, during and after the Alberta Land Stewardship Act is enacted it is clear there was not enough initial public input.
Berger admitted this has been a lesson learned for the Tory government and some of the adjustments made to the act should have been addressed before the document was made public.
As a result, rather than plow ahead, the Stelmach government listened to Albertans and quickly initiated a review of the act and in only two months brought the rewritten document back to the public.
The public meeting also reassured those in attendance the act does not eliminate local decision making, there is an opportunity for legal appeals and compensation and property right s will not be compromised.
The provincial government responded quickly to the public’s concerns — which is certainly not always the case — with the Alberta Land Stewardship Act and using the feedback provided by the public and opposition they tweaked the document but remained true to the original intent of the act.
It was a fine example of how democracy can and should work. Now Albertans want this to be the norm rather than the exception.
