CALGARY – The Western Stock Growers Association is proposing a property rights research centre that would involve private landowners, as well as leaseholders throughout North America.
The group is planning a conference for the fall of 1997. Academics, producers and government officials would gather to discuss land tenure, the rights of owners and environmental protection obligations.
Protection of private property rights has been one of the main tenets of the stock growers association since the organization formed 100 years ago.
At the stock growers recent convention in Calgary, they passed a new motto to reaffirm their concern for environmental protection. The motto is “The voice of free market environmentalists since 1896.”
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Set up research centre
Vice-president Norm Ward said they want individuals involved in the conference to form a research centre to evaluate the issue of landowners rights and protecting the environment.
Landowners protecting the environment and maintaining economic stability through responsible means is a motherhood statement that most people support, said Ward.
“When you get into specific things it’s pretty hard to go from private property and then expand that into the environment. People think of private property as being in their own backyard. They think environment is something else,” said Ward.
The stock growers argue when people own land or have secure tenure on a lease, it is in their best interest to take good care of the environment to preserve their own livelihood for present and future generations.
They are looking at several specific areas for research:
- Do property rights increase stewardship of resources?
- Do property rights protect against pollution?
- Do government subsidies degrade the environment?
- Do market incentives spur industry to conserve resources and protect environmental quality?
