Alberta cattlemen don’t understand the Alberta Land Stewardship Act. Having recently attended one of the province-wide meetings on the Land Stewardship Act and the Land Assembly Project Act, sponsored by the Western Stock Growers Association, it is very evident that there is a lot of confusion and chaos as a result of misunderstanding the intent of this legislature.
Certainly, the provincial government could have done a better job of explaining the need for the legislation.
However, these two pieces of legislation should not be presented in the same forum because they are entirely different with different intent.
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Bill 19’s purpose is to assemble land for powerlines, roadways, etc. I as a landowner do not want these facilities in my backyard and most landowners don’t, but if the need is there, the only recourse is adequate compensation, not the pittance that is being offered.
The Land Stewardship Act is designed to assist in the protection of our landscapes or natural capital, land and water with the use of market based instruments.
A new stream of property rights is evolving in the ecological goods and services that the land provides. This legislation will help protect these property rights and also enable the creation of revenue steams that up to this point landowners have been providing free.
These cattlemen complain there is too much power or central control in the legislation for cabinet, yet when the cabinet used that power to change the cattle checkoff from mandatory to refundable without a plebiscite, these same cattlemen honoured the minister of agriculture at a banquet.
These cattlemen better decide which way they want it. Hypocrisy is not the answer.
The Alberta Land Stewardship Act is enabling legislature structured and designed, similar to the Alberta Agriculture Products Marketing Act, which has served the agricultural industry for over 50 years. Landowners whose property can come under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act may look forward to having their cake and eat it too.
This legislation will assist in protecting the land and also assist the landowner through market-based instruments in being rewarded for good stewardship and being able to sell development credits or ecological services or in some cases both.
Unfor tunately, the meet ing I attended was more of a political rally and politicians don’t want to confuse the issues with facts.
Harvey Buckley,
Calgary, Alta.
