Premier David Eby cannot have welcomed the latest headline on property rights in B.C., coming as he heads into a year of touting the province as a welcoming place for investors.
“Do property rights still exist in B.C.?” asked the Wall St. Journal, a newspaper with considerable influence in the investment community.
The article, published online Sunday, detailed the fallout from the August B.C. Supreme Court decision recognizing Aboriginal title for the Cowichan Tribes over private land in Richmond.
The court finding that Aboriginal title is a “senior and prior” right over private fee-simple title has implications that go well beyond Richmond, the Journal noted.
“The ruling has roiled the wealthy districts of the Greater Vancouver area, one of the most expensive real-estate markets in the world,” wrote the journal’s Vipal Monga.
“Its scope has shocked businesses, homeowners and community leaders, who fear that it nullifies the principle of “indefeasible title,” the legal term for absolute certainty of land ownership, setting a precedent that threatens billions in real-estate investment.
The story quoted lawyers Thomas Isaacs and Robin Junger and tax services realtor Paul Sullivan, on the negative implications of the decision for private property, the economy and investment.
More to the point were recent quotes from Eby himself. He blasted the court decision as “overreaching” and “unhelpful,” and acknowledged that his government will have to “go to the wall” to defend private property rights.
“Eby’s office said the government was considering a financial guarantee to backstop homeowners and businesses looking for mortgages and financing, to ensure that banks won’t hesitate to loan them money because of the uncertainty around property rights,” the paper reported.
While ripples spread outward from the Journal story on the decision’s potential impact on B.C.’s economy and investment climate, the Eby government was hit with an opposing critique from Indigenous leaders.
Read the full story: https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/vaughn-palmer-do-property-rights-exist-in-bc