Pay to Play in BC with farmland

1. BC has no restrictions on foreign donors to political parties.
2. BC has no restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland.
3. Legislation protecting farmland is a provincial responsibility.

In 1974, BC passed Agricultural Land Reserve legislation to protect farmland but two years ago Christie Clark's government weakened its mandate :

National Farmers Union : Losing Our Grip 2015 Update : How Corporate Farmland Buy-up, Rising Farm Debt, and Agribusiness Financing of Inputs Threaten Family Farms

"On May 30 2014, the BC government weakened BC's farmland protection legislation by passing the Agricultural Land Commission Amendment Act. The new law creates two tiers with reduced protection for 90% of the Agricultural Land Reserve : the Interior (1,528,968 acres), Kootenay (392,557 acres), and the North (2,210,783 acres). These three regions of BC are the most affected by oil, gas, and coal industry development."

Foreign companies buying B.C. farmland to earn carbon credits ...
Last year it came to light that the UK chemical company Reckitt Benckiser bought 10,500 hectares of agricultural land in the ALR in Northern BC and planted it with over 7 million trees to offset the carbon emissions of its manufacturing operations. 

Western Investor May 31 2016 B.C BC's largest land agent really deals in water

From verdant farmland to oceanfront and lakefront escapes, world demand is turning to what the West Coast has in abundance

LandQuest Realty Corp. ... said the biggest international demand is for farmland ...  China-based buyers were the first foreign climate-driven investors to begin buying B.C. farmland, primarily for hay crops. 

“We market British Columbia to the world.”

Despite the growing international interest, Osborne confirms that Canadians still make up about 85 per cent of LandQuest buyers, and this demand ranges from farms and ranches to urban retreats and trophy recreational titles.

BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong said he was not in favour of a tax on foreign investment, fearing it sends the wrong message to the Asia Pacific investors B.C. has been courting for years.

Under public pressure for the inclusion of real estate companies in her recent trade junket to Malaysia and Korea, unregulated foreign investment in urban housing, undisclosed $20K per donor private-access-to-Clark Liberal fundraising events, and her yearly $50K salary top up from the BC Liberal Party, Christie Clark's government began officially tracking foreign ownership of BC farmland for the first time yesterday.

h/t RossK@The Gazetteer for Western Investor link
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Canadian farmland vs American hedge fund

Local farmers 120km northwest of Toronto have four days left to win their battle to keep farmland and fresh water headlands from disappearing into a US hedge fund's limestone mega-quarry.

If only 3% of  land in Ontario is suitable for agriculture, why should any of it be lost to an open pit mine deeper than Niagara Falls to benefit US investors who acquired the land by passing themselves off as farmers ?


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Laura K provides action links and the history leading to the July 10 deadline for the project's approval.
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Avaaz has a petition to Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey. Please sign and pass it on.

Locals resisting the quarry certainly have their work cut out for them.
A good local article : High Stakes in the High Country lays out the opposition

The public face of Highland Companies in Melancthon Township is Michael Daniher of the PR firm Special Situations Inc.

"Daniher’s business partner is Paul Curley, a former advisor to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and other Progressive Conservative party leaders. He shares an office with two other agencies, Counsel Public Relations and Counsel Public Affairs. The latter’s president, Philip Dewan, previously the most senior political advisor to Premier Dalton McGuinty, is one of two lobbyists registered to work at Queen’s Park on behalf of The Highland Companies on issues of “agriculture, economic development and trade, energy, environment, transportation and natural resources.”

NDACT, a local group opposed to the quarry, lobbied to have the agricultural land protected as "specialty cropland".

"When the specialty crop designation somewhat curiously failed to win the support of the Ontario Potato Board, NDACT members noted that Bruce Wilson, Highland’s vice-president of farm operations, is one of the board’s directors."

Today's Orangeville Citizen : Highland remains confident in bid for new quarry

In spite of the Ministry of Environment’s (MoE) criticism of The Highland Companies quarry application, the company remains confident that the application will succeed.

and from Orangeville.com :

The company’s spokesperson, Lindsay Broadhead, [note : of Hill and Knowlton] said they are aware of the public’s concerns regarding the quarry’s impact on local culture .

“It is important to reiterate that this process is not over. We welcome public scrutiny and feedback on the company’s plan including suggestions about how cultural and heritage concerns can be addressed ...”

she said, without mentioning the 30 heritage homes and farms already bulldozed by her employer. That flattened expanse in the top video? That's them. 
 
h/t West End Bob

Monday update : media coverage ;
 Global : Thousands of Canadians rally to stop mega-quarry. Good article.
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