Victoria dismisses fears over backlogs

VICTORIA — B.C.’s agriculture minister is brushing aside concerns that a delay in forming regional panels to oversee the Agricultural Land Reserve will lead to a backlog of unresolved applications.

Norm Letnick said he will announce a full slate of 18 commissioners in six regional panels next week at the legislature. The appointments are a week past a deadline set by Premier Christy Clark in Letnick’s mandate letter.

“I asked for extra time because I wanted to speak to each of the finalists to make sure I had a good sense that we were getting 18 people with a balanced perspective,” Letnick said.

“The timing of the appointments will have very little impact to the timelines for processing applications.”

The extra commissioners and entrenched focus on regional panels are a result of government legislation passed earlier this year that overhauled the ALR and split it into two zones.

The government said it would give farmers greater economic freedom to stay on their land, as well as boost the authority of the six regional panels that decide upon farmland use applications within their communities.

Critics have complained it has weakened farmland protection and left land in the north more easily developed for natural resource projects.

The new ALR law came into force Sept. 5.

Letnick’s inaction on appointing commissioners has meant the reserve was unable to make quorum for meetings and has been at a standstill for a month, said NDP critic Lana Popham.

“The Agricultural Land Commission is out of commission because of it,” she said, adding that “there are stacks of applications sitting there not getting addressed.”