If you think your property rights are protected under current Canadian legislation, you can think again.
Canada is the only modern industrialized country that doesn’t protect property rights adequately. The right to own land and other materials is not included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and this is a glaring omission. I supported a recent motion before the House of Commons to include property rights in the charter because I believe every Canadian’s property should be protected.

Small wonder that many people are disillusioned by big government tactics that trample on the rights of the individual. It is astounding that property rights were not written into the charter when it was tabled to much fanfare 25 years ago. As recently as last December, Prime Minister Stephen Harper supported putting property rights into the charter, but he will wait until the provinces and public are ready to agree on the amendments.

Private members’ bills and motions to enshrine property rights have been debated in the House of Commons 10 times since 1983 – five of those debates were on bills or motions that I introduced. Property rights are included in the Bill of Rights, but they need to be written into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to have the protection of the courts.

The right to own property, enjoy one’s property, and not risk being unfairly deprived of one’s property is a cornerstone of a free and democratic society. It should have been unlawful for the government to ban and devalue legally registered firearms with Bill C-68 in 1995 without compensation. The law-abiding firearms owners did nothing wrong, yet big government simply waved its hand and rendered their property worthless overnight. Many of the firearms collections that suddenly became taboo were family legacies passed from generation to generation as heirlooms.

There is also the case of the mentally challenged veterans who were denied payment of millions of dollars of interest on their pension benefits by the federal government when they lost their case before the Supreme Court in July 2003. Big government should not be allowed to take away what is rightfully yours.

And many farmers across the land aren’t allowed to sell some of their own crops when and where they want because the government continues to control the flow of certain agricultural products.

I will continue to fight the good fight so that perhaps one day Canadians can have their property rights enshrined into their own federal laws.

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