Truly a cowboy province

[grassfarmer]

Another sad day for democracy in the Petro-state of Alberta. Jessica Ernst's appeal is struck down by the AB court of appeal.

If you don't have time to read the article in the link please ponder on these points:

"The Court of Appeal, which has the power to make law or correct errors in law, argues in a densely worded 11-page decision that Energy Resources Conservation Board (now the Alberta Energy Regulator) owes no duty of care to individual landowners harmed by industrial activity."

"Furthermore the decision states that an immunity clause in the Energy Resources Conservation Act (Section 43) protects the powerful regulator from any lawsuit or Charter claim regardless of how the regulator has treated individual citizens."

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2014/09/16/Fracking-Suit-Supreme-Court/

[perfecho]

Heard this on a CBC report the other day....it is very sad!
And it is likely to get worse, unless we do something about it, but, everyone is busy making too much money to notice......

[Happytrails]

Something must have went wrong. The post has nothing to do with the topic. With 60% of Canada's beef industry we are "truly a cowboy province".

[grassfarmer]

Don't let my choice of wording distract from the message HT this is an important issue and something I think we all need to be concerned with.

It was a play on words as in some other parts of the world there is another meaning to "cowboy" - it is used to denote crooked, dishonest or shoddy work.
I tell people now that I was drawn here by the iconic image of the cowboy ranching in the shadow of the Rockies - only to discover that the biggest thing "cowboy" about this province is the Government and their regulations.
I'm not in any way being derogatory to the cattle people of this province who seem to be fine, upstanding citizens on the whole.

[smcgrath76]

This is a hugely important story. I am not sure if a regulator does not have a duty of care, that it is actually a regulator or more of a facilitator. This is definitely a contact your MLA and don't take no for an answer problem.

[grassfarmer]

Of course the AER is a facilitator now Sean, a facilitator (or protector) of unlimited, unregulated energy development. That was the intention when the AER was created and given its new powers.
We have been systematically stripped of all our property rights in recent years and that should worry all landowners and non-landowning residents.

[littledoggie]

Brought to you courtesy of the PC government - mainly Redford as justice minister and then premier. Gotta wonder if the 'left leaning' of the PC's in recent years was communist in nature.

[grassfarmer]

No I think the right wing are just as communist in effect - the results of extreme left and extreme right finish up being about the same.