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Expropriation involves the compulsory taking of your property by an Expropriating Authority. The power to expropriate includes all types of interests in land, not only the simple or total ownership, but also registered and unregistered easements and licenses. Expropriation is a right granted through federal or provincial statutes to Expropriating Authorities such as governments, universities, public utilities as well as to privately owned pipeline companies, and it involves situations where privately owned land is needed for public projects such as the building of roads, highways or schools.

Homeowners that are being forced to expropriate have the legislative right to object to the expropriation by requesting a Hearing of Necessity, however, it is rare for an owner to become successful at this stage. The stage at which owners are more commonly successful is at a Compensation Hearing where the amount paid by the Expropriating Authority can be challenged.

Yes. The Expropriating Authority is legislatively required to attempt to negotiate the purchase of the property before any other action is taken. If the Expropriating Authority is unable to reach an agreement to purchase the property directly, the Expropriating Authority will proceed with a formal expropriation. The formal process is started by the Expropriating Authority serving a Notice of Intention to seek approval for the expropriation.

In the Expropriations Act, Section 1 defines injurious affection in relation to two different scenarios. The first is where a statutory authority acquires only part of the land from an owner, and the second is where the statutory authority does not acquire any land from the owner.

The Income Tax Act, R.S.O. 1990, c I.2 contains provisions that are intended to mitigate or eliminate the immediate tax burden that is created as a result of expropriation. This is because it is understood that expropriation only affects a small portion of the population, and is not ordinarily requested or desired by the landowner. Due to this, parliament passed legislation aimed at providing relief from the immediate tax event that might otherwise result, in fairness to the taxpayers who must involuntarily dispose of their property as a result of the expropriation.