Justin Trudeau launched the largest expropriation of private property in Canadian history with his gun grab. Now even that legacy isn’t safe. Buried in the Budget Implementation Bill is the biggest landgrab in a century.
Canadians may be shocked to learn that when this bill passes, the high-speed rail line from Quebec City to Toronto will automatically be approved. The Liberals don’t know where the rail line will be built, but it is already approved. If your home is in the way, they will expropriate it. They just need to delete sections 8 through 12 of the Expropriation Act to get it done.
In fact, they are so confident in pre-approving the rail line, without knowing the actual route, that the government is amending the Transportation Act to remove the ability of the government to amend the approval. Half the Budget Bill is the Liberal Government repealing decisions made by the Liberal Government, such as the consumer carbon tax, the digital services tax, the boat tax, the capital gains tax hike, and more. Now the Liberals want to tie their hands to prevent any future government from correcting any mistake they make with the rail line. There is a big difference between cutting red tape and throwing all the tape out the window.
If any of this sounds out of character from the red-tape-happy Liberal Party, don’t worry, they returned to form on the next page of the legislation. This bill states that the entire rail line is exempt from the dreaded, unconstitutional Impact Assessment Act. However, each segment of the rail line is subject to the Impact Assessment Act.
We can see where this is going, because we have seen this before.
Once they determine the route, they will begin expropriating the land. Then they will find a turtle or frog on the land. The activists and proud socialists will demand the Liberals adjust the segment of the line. If it is a Liberal riding, the line will move, if it is a Conservative riding, they’ll plow through. In the end, the government will have to take some other peoples’ land, and those who were needlessly expropriated will just have to watch from the sidelines.
For a while now, I have wondered how this government would hit their ridiculous target of restoring 30% of Canada’s developed lands to nature by 2030. One way would be to cut a straight line through the most developed and expensive lands in Canada, claiming it is for high-speed rail, then killing the entire project by blaming some turtles trying to win the Darwin Prize.
We have seen this all before.
In 1972, Pierre Trudeau expropriated farmland in Pickering to build an airport. By 1975 the airport plan was on hold. The government kept the land. In January of this year the government announced there would be no airport, but the lands would go to Parks Canada to be included in Rouge National Park. This bill makes the Pickering land grab look like a picnic.
The budget bill gives the unnamed Rail Corporation the power to issue stop work orders on any land it thinks it may need for the rail line. Once it puts your property on the maybe list, it will have first right of refusal for any sale. The Rail Corporation will have the right to issue stop work orders on any activity on your land. The Corporation will have the right to go onto your property at any time to ensure work has stopped.
In a normal expropriation, you receive a notice of intent. Then you have the option to object and a public hearing is held. Now you will receive notice, and still be able to object, but there will be no hearing. The final decision will made by the Minister behind closed doors.
Some Canadians reading this will think this has the makings of a second Pacific Railway Scandal. That would be a delicious irony to fall on the Party that gleefully tossed Sir John A MacDonald down the memory hole. Erasing history has its consequences. If one of those consequences is the Liberals sleepwalking into another sponsorship-sized scandal, then I am sure Sir John is smiling down on us.
While I would relish the Liberals paying a steep price for their arrogance, we also know from history what happens. They will just walk off into the sunset of a corner office in a fancy law firm or board room. It will be Canadians who are forced to pay higher taxes to the bond holders. It will be Canadians who are forced off their lands during a housing crisis. It will be Canadians who lose the farm their family has owned for generations.
When a Liberal promises you generational change, hide your wallet and lock your doors.