Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 29 OCTOBER 2015

Planning For The Costs Of Expropriation

Municipalities are granted powers of expropriation under The Municipal Act and other empowering legislation.

CanadaReal Estate and Construction

Municipalities are granted powers of expropriation under The Municipal Act and other empowering legislation.  Expropriation is the taking of land that belongs to another.  In the United States this is called "eminent domain".  The law (in Manitoba, The Expropriation Act) requires that the municipality or other expropriating authority pay compensation to the owner for the land that is being taken.  Under our system of government (at least since Magna Carta in 1215) this is seen as only fair. 

So, if a municipality requires ten acres of land belonging to a resident property-owner and land generally sells for $1500/acre in the municipality, the municipality should be able to budget about $15,000 for the land acquisition in its capital budget, right?  Well, not always.

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

See more popular content from