Land loopholes
NFU leader says recent sale of over 2,000 acres could allow circumvention of LPA limits by Irving
A local farming advocate says a recent sale of over 2,000 acres of land is an attempt to circumvent the “spirit” of the Island’s Lands Protection Act.
Douglas Campbell, the P.E.I. district director for the National Farmers Union, believes a recent sale of 2,296 acres of what he called “prime potato land” near Bedeque to three separate companies is an effort to bypass land holding limits under the LPA.
The LPA limits corporate land ownership to 3,000 acres of P.E.I. land. Enacted in 1982, the act has historically been a legal instrument intended to restrict large landholders from consolidating control of P.E.I.’s limited agricultural land base.
Campbell said the sale is part of an ongoing pattern.
“Successive Island governments have permitted the spirit and the intent of the Lands Protection Act to be continually violated,” Campbell said.
“In turn, they tell the public that the letter of the law is being followed. Is that a lie? Technically, perhaps not. But its spirit and intent certainly is.”
Campbell made the remarks on Saturday at a forum on “land grabbing in P.E.I.”
The event, organized by the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Land and Water, drew approximately 175 people and featured presentations by P.E.I. Senator Diane Griffin and former CBC reporter Ian Petrie.
FROM A1
The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission website notes three companies — Galloway Farms, Indian River Farms and Long River Farms — applied for the purchase of a total of 2,296 acres from Brendel Farms Ltd. on Feb. 7. The land was spread throughout plots in various areas, including North Bedeque, Lower Freetown, the Wilmot Valley, Summerside and elsewhere. The sale has not yet been approved by executive council.
Campbell claims the three companies have ties to the Irving family.
On the P.E.I. corporate registry website, Galloway Farms lists Rebecca Irving as its sole director, while Long River Farms lists Elizabeth Irving as its president. Indian River Farms lists Mary Jean Irving as its president.
According to the P.E.I. corporate registry, Galloway Farms was incorporated on Feb. 5, 2019. Indian River Farms was registered in 1990, while Long River Farms was registered in 2006.
Campbell said the current provincial government has been reluctant to close loopholes in the LPA.
“Through inter-locking companies, the Irvings own and control an unknown amount of agricultural land,” Campbell said.
“By using the loopholes in the act, which governments have made no move to close, the processor has been able to profit through land grabbing at the expense of Island farmers.”
Griffin, the chairwoman of a federal standing committee on agriculture and forestry, spoke about the issue of land ownership from a national perspective.
She said a Senate study of the issue found that land concentration is happening on a national scale. She said the committee found that the number of farms in Canada has declined by 64 per cent since 1956.
“Overall, in Canada, we have fewer farms. We have larger farms,” Griffin said.
“In terms of a megatrend over the same period, farm cash receipts increased about twentyfold, so smaller numbers of farms, larger farms and much more productive farms.”
Griffin said she has seen an increase in investment in farmland by non-agricultural interests, such as pension and private investment firms. Financial barriers to entry have also kept younger people from entering the farming industry.
Campbell also suggested that the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society has circumvented the LPA. He said land that was originally zoned as agricultural was improperly rezoned as commercial to allow the group to construct a monastery.
“Had the rules of the Lands Protection Act been followed, this could not have occurred. If the government supported the Act, it would have ordered building cease rather than rezone,” he said.
Campbell’s comments about GEBIS were met with applause from the audience. But not everyone agreed with his characterization of the Buddhist organization.
Nick Scott, a student researcher at UPEI, said some of the concerns about GEBIS were valid. But he also suggested the concerns had a “nativism” angle as well.
“When you’re talking about GEBIS, there’s this extra level of scrutiny that’s being placed on this group based upon their funny customs or the way they dress or things like that,” Scott said.
“It does concern me that we don’t really apply the same standards of non-residential land ownership to, for example, people who don’t live on P.E.I. anymore — who were born here — but who own cottage properties here.”