The commission charged with overseeing the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) is losing the fight to protect farmland in this province, according to a report from B.C.'s Auditor-General John Doyle.
The report, which was released Tuesday, concluded that consistent budget cuts have crippled the Agricultural Land Commission's ability to enforce illegal activity on ALR lands, to accurately identify prime farmland within the ALR and to coordinate with local governments on planning, development and protection.
Under the Liberal government the commission's budget has been reduced from $3 million to $2 million, 33 per cent below what the commission says it needs to maintain core business activities. There are only two enforcement officers charged with protecting ALR lands across the province from illegal activities.
The commission makes decisions on applications to add, remove or subdivide land from the ALR or designate it for non-farm uses. According to the Auditor-General's report, the commission is not effectively evaluating the results and impacts of these decisions.
Since the ALR was established in 1973, Vancouver Island has lost 13 per cent of its ALR land, the Okanagan 12 per cent and the Lower Mainland 8 per cent.
According to a report published earlier this year by the Langley-based non-profit South Fraser OnTrax, the provincial government is responsible for 72.8 per cent of all the land in the South Fraser region that has either been excluded from the ALR or paved over for transportation use.
Under the direction of recently-appointed chair Richard Bullock, the commission is undergoing a review of its policies and operations. The Auditor-General's report made several recommendations to the commission, including that it ensure the accuracy of ALR boundaries and maps, work with local governments on long-term planning, evaluate the collective impact of its decisions, and report those findings publicly.
Colleen Kimmett reports for The Tyee.
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morechatter
1 year ago
The Whole Province is Underfunded
Except for the politicians and the CEO's heading up are public companies and bleeding the people dry.
So what is the point if you province is so feebly managed by incompetents and boobs because who else would take a job that they just couldn't do? And I would give my head a shake in the province of BC because most are on shakey ground with these guys in charge of your money which apparently you don't have all that much. Where did it go, what did you all do as those stories of richs and glory are what a mere fabrication. 2010 the road is paved with another hockey night in Canada on Global TV as folks sit around to watch the playoffs as there is hardly a difference except millions of dollars that players are paid for getting on the ice.
Sask Resident
1 year ago
Surveys needed, still!
You can't manage what you don't understand. With land, that means measuring and denoting where the lands are and what they are used for. The province (and feds and regional districts) are way behind on completing surveys. Even legal surveys are questionable. Some districts still use the Canada Land Survey information at 1:250,000 done in the 1960s by the federal government. A little out of date.
The province must and should be completing the unfinished surveys in the province and updating the ones done 50 or 100 years ago. Then, maybe, the Commission could do their job.
snert
1 year ago
No reason for land to be threatened.
All cases should just default to protected status until the commission gets around to looking at the case. The heavier the work load, the longer it takes to decide.