WORDS BY ELIZ ABETH BRUBAKER
Replacing Expropriation with Voluntary Exchange A process truly compatible with the free market would replace regulatory hearings with a property rights approach
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PIPEL INE OBSERV ER
HAT IS THE BIGGEST economic and environmental problem that needs to be solved in Canada? For me, that’s an easy question. Our biggest problem is that we don’t have strong and secure property rights in this country. In many cases, resource users don’t have clearly defined, exclusive, perpetual, transferable, enforceable rights. Property rights internalize the costs and benefits of resource use — they ensure
that people experience the consequences of their actions. As a result, they create incentives for sustainable use. Property rights also provide tools to protect resources from outside threats. They give people the legal right to say “no” to developments that harm them, their land or their water. Even when people do, nominally, have property rights, their rights aren’t secure — they can be expropriated.
CAEPL A .ORG
