EDMONTON – A court case to decide whether farmer advocate Ray Strom is guilty of impersonating a land agent sounded more like an English lesson than a trial.
Even Court of Queen’s Bench judge L.D. Acton said defence lawyer Kevin Feth’s arguments reminded her of school.
“You’re going to have me back in Grade 8 English, for sure,” Acton told Feth during the appeal of an earlier court ruling. “My Grade 12 English teacher would love it.”
For an hour and a half Dec. 14, Feth methodically highlighted parts of the Land Agents Licensing Act to show it was deliberately crafted to not include agents working on behalf of landowners.
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The original authors of the act, written in 1968, didn’t overlook landowners’ rights, but were precise in wanting only to include agents working for companies wanting to acquire land for oil and gas development or utility right of ways, he said.
“The legislation should not be read broadly to expand it to include Mr. Strom, but to read it narrowly to exclude Mr. Strom,” said Feth.
In April, an Alberta court judge found Strom guilty of breaking the law governing land agents. Judge Peter Ayotte said he had no choice but to find Strom guilty under the Land Agents Licensing Act for accepting a fee for acting on behalf of landowners during negotiations with three companies between October 2002 and November 2003.
The law stipulates that negotiations must be conducted through a licensed land agent. Strom is not licensed. Alberta has about 1,200 licensed land agents, but almost all work for energy companies.
Feth said agents working on behalf of landowners are generalists and should not be lumped in with energy company land agents. During negotiations, owner agents need to know a variety of information including weed problems associated with energy activity, historical and local fees negotiated by other landowners in the area and not just surface rights lease law, as do licensed land agents.
“It’s simply a separate vocation not meant to be regulated by this legislation,” he said.
It took less than a minute for crown prosecutor Jeff Rudiak to summarize his arguments to the court.
“The trial court judge got it right,” said Rudiak.
Strom was advising landowners for a fee to dispose of land. It’s as simple as that, said Rudiak, and sat down.
The trial wasn’t over for the 25 people in the courtroom who had travelled across the province to offer their support for Strom or listen to the arguments. For another 90 minutes constitutional experts offered constitutional reasons on behalf of the crown and defence. It was too much for many in the crowd, who began to nod off during the detailed explanations.
Akton said she would try to make a decision quickly, but it will likely be the New Year before her decision is written.
