We do not “own” the land

Dear Editor:

Re: “Ignore it, it’s not enforceable,”

(Feb. 17).

In response to the letter by Daniel Pontes in last Saturday’s paper: I don’t whether Mr. Pontes has had legal training, or is simply someone who spends his time interpreting various human rights proclamations. If it’s the latter, he could do himself some good by getting some genuine legal advice before telling readers the NDP government will violate our “rights” by enforcing the short-term property rentals.

Any real estate person can tell him that in Canada (as well as in many other nations) we do not own the land, we simply own a bundle of rights pertaining to the land. First of all, just neglect to pay your property taxes and see how much of the land you own. Second, if his assertions are true, why do we have pesky things like zoning regulations, restrictive covenants, and easements, to name only three, cluttering up our lives?

Mr. Pontes appears to me to be reminiscent of the barroom lawyers who invaded Ottawa during the pandemic screaming long and loud about their “freedoms”, quoting various United States constitutional amendments.

And as a parting aside, governments (some of them right-wing) in other jurisdictions seem to be planning similar moves to relieve their own housing crisis. There’s no need to call our NDP government a “Stalinist playbook” user. Roderick MacIntosh

Peachland the order of priorities when planning are, “first people, then space and then building”. We have been doing the reverse for too long, even ignoring the first two most of the time.

Clean house, change focus.

Don Henderson Kelowna