Update on Bill 36: Alberta Land Stewardship Act

As previously noted in our blog, Bill 36, the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, received its third reading on June 2, 2009 and Royal Assent on June 4, 2009. The Act will come into force on Proclamation, which has not yet occurred and will occur at the discretion of the Provincial Cabinet.

Certain amendments were made to Bill 36. Of particular note is Amendment A1E, which amended the provision of Bill 36 that concerns the notices required to be provided by a person intending to register a conservation easement.

Previously, under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act ("EPEA"), a person intending to register a conservation easement was required to provide notice of the planned registration to:

• the Minister responsible for the Municipal Government Act, where the land that is the subject of the conservation easement is located in an improvement district,
• the Special Areas Board, where the land that is the subject of the conservation easement is located in a special area, or
• the local authority of the municipality in which the land that is the subject of the conservation easement is located, in any other case.

Bill 36 contains a version of the third requirement which has been broadened to require notice to also be provided to the council of the Metis settlement in which the land that is the subject of the conservation easement is located. The amendment to Bill 36 requires that the Minister of Infrastructure and the Minister of Transportation must receive notice as well.

The notice is required to be provided in accordance with the regulations. The Conservation Easement Registration Regulation (the "Regulation") provides, among other things, that the notice must be received at least 60 days prior to the presentation of the conservation easement for registration.

Under EPEA, the Minister can modify or terminate a conservation easement if the Minister considers that it is in the public interest to do so. Bill 36 grants this ability to a "Designated Minister", which can be designated under the Government Organization Act, named in a regional plan, and may include the Stewardship Minister.

In addition to the additional notice requirements on persons registering a conservation easement, an effect of Bill 36 and the amendments to it is that the number of Ministers and governmental officials monitoring conservation easements in Alberta is about to increase. It will be noteworthy if governmental encroachment of conservation easements will increase as a result, or if the government will maintain a "hands-off" approach to contracts signed between private landowners and conservation organizations.

The Regulation will remain in force and will effectively be moved from EPEA to the new Alberta Land Stewardship Act. This will require some consequential revisions to the Conservation Easement Registration Regulation, if only to update the statutory references to the new Act. We will monitor the legislative steps taken to revise the Regulation and will report when it happens.