Out of the blue, a utility informed me they required an easement, and sent me a contract to sign. (This easement would have been on a scrap of farmland in the middle of nowhere).
The offer in the contract was for service which they were already providing. Since past consideration is not good consideration, I drew this to their attention, and suggested they might run their line elsewhere. I then prepared myself for battle by reviewing the provincial statues on utility easements, land titles, and expropriations.
But to my surprise, the faceless bureaucrat that sent me the contract apparently doesn't know what "consideration" means.
Things sort of went downhill from there, with said bureaucrat demonstrating they had no clue in the domains of negotiation or persuasion (let alone property law), and me expressing my disinterest as tersely as possible. (They didn't even think to offer me $1, not that that would have improved my mood.)
Anyway, I think the lesson I was supposed to learn is that the Authorities know what's Best for Everyone, so being Anti-Authoritarian is the same as being Anti-Social.
But can I be blamed if I'm not inclined to donate property rights to the benefit of some multi-millionaire (probably) who wants to build a country house?
P.S.
Apparently they can still run the line somewhere else, it will just cost them more. I'm okay with that.
