Alberta's Liberal energy critic wants a controversial regulatory hearing restarted because, he claims, the proceeding before the Energy and Utilities Board lacks legitimacy.

"What we need to do here is have a new meeting, have a fresh start," MLA Hugh MacDonald said Friday.

However, Jason Chance of the Alberta Energy Department said he doesn't know if the province can ask the board to hold a new hearing.

MacDonald made his comment after landowners fighting a proposed power line between Calgary and Edmonton said private investigators had been hired to spy on them.

MacDonald is also concerned that the hearing is going ahead in a closed room. The board decided to accept only written submissions after a scuffle broke out at a hearing in April.

The board is considering a proposed 500-kilovolt power line between Calgary and Edmonton. Landowners are concerned about possible health effects and have complained that the board has already decided to approve it.

MacDonald accused the board of rubber-stamping the project and catering to the electricity industry. The hearing is an example of how the rights of landowners are not fairly represented at Energy and Utilities Board hearings, he said.

"It's top-heavy with industry representatives and we have suggested to the minister in the past that this imbalance be changed," he said.

Chance said the board does listen to the concerns of landowners, but the needs of all Albertans are paramount, and right now, they need more electricity.

AltaLink Management Ltd. wants to build the line.

Last week, the Alberta Court of Appeal gave a landowners' group permission to challenge two Energy and Utilities Board decisions about the power line.