So you thought the Ontario Landowners Association (OLA) was being a bit reactionary when it came to proposed provincial legislation?

Now a second group, Ontario Property and Environmental Rights Alliance (OPERA), is on a bandwagon in opposition to the legislation - or at least against how it is being enacted.

Both organizations, OLA and OPERA, say they are asking only that property rights be entrenched in the Constitution, more or less. OPERA might fall short of OLA's battle cry of, "Back Off Government, This is Our Land," but it's asking municipalities to support it in its opposition to the selfsame legislation that has long been the concern of OLA.

The current complaint is about the Species at Risk Act. In opposition to it, OLA is proposing, "At various locations across the province (to) begin selectively clearcutting and draining tracts of privately-held land - such as old fields, wetlands and forested areas - that might be in danger of being declared suitable habitat for endangered or threatened species.

"Private Landowners who have safeguarded these natural features for generations are being forced to take this action, because the lands would be at risk of falling under government control if left in their present state."

OPERA is not proposing such action, but says the process of enacting the legislation was "questionable." It says the public meetings were "widely dispersed and narrowly advertised," that an Internet site was "unknown to many affected citizens," that the panel to review proposals had "no municipal or landowner members" but only three academics, five environmental industry representatives and one Aboriginal delegate, among other weaknesses.

OPERA, in a recent letter to municipal councils, MPPs and MPs, accuses the province of "covert manipulation of municipal authority, and many restrictions in private ownership of rural land."

It cites various new statutes - Greenbelt Act, adjusted Conservation Authorities Act, Source Water Protection Act, along with Species at Risk Act - as laws that municipalities must include in their Official Plans and enforce them at local taxpayers' expense.

The Species at Risk Act is expected to be fast-tracked to third reading within weeks.

Meantime, local representatives of OLA could not be reached for comments on possible area bulldozing operations.