March 13th, 2014

On By peiislanderIn Letters to EditorLeave a comment

Hello, all,

Yesterday it was discovered that if you buy two ads in a local paper, you get an opinion piece printed like a news story.  But, wait, there’s more: the special really is:

Buy two big ads, get one editorial free.  This is the same package which the Department of Transportation got regarding Plan B!

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Opinion/Editorials/2014-03-12/article-3645493/Potato-processors-enter-water-debate-as-stakes-increase/1

Potato processors enter water debate as stakes increase
Published on March 12, 2014 in The Guardian
Lead editorial

The stakes are being raised in the divisive debate on deep-water wells for supplemental irrigation of potatoes on P.E.I. Now, itʼs about processing contracts, the ability of growers to fulfil those contracts and the future of our two major french fry processors. Last week, the spectre of Cavendish Farms or McCains Foods reducing their contracts or even remaining in the province was raised publicly during a meeting of a legislative standing committee.

There have already been warnings from processors that the demand for P.E.I. french fries is decreasing because of additional competition and supply from other market areas. There are suggestions that contracts will be reduced while processors are starting negotiations with a lower price offer over last year. This doesnʼt bode well for contractors who grow over 60 per cent of the Islandʼs potato acreage.
Outside of the agricultural sector, there is almost universal opposition to lifting a 10-year moratorium on deep-water wells. Even inside the farming community, the NFU is opposed to any changes. Other farmers, including some potato growers, are either opposed or neutral on the issue.

Like Daniel thrown into the lionʼs den, three farmer representatives from the Innovative Farm Group (IFG) appeared before the standing committee. IFG represents eight family farm operations in central P.E.I. who grow 4,000 acres of potatoes on a rotational production of 12,000 acres. Some of the farms already have deep-water wells, others use ponds fed by wells and the rest use a pond and surface water mix. If irrigation is needed, deep-water wells are the most efficient option, IFG representatives told the committee. Without the ability to guarantee quality, farmers risk losing processing and table markets where even one dry week can have a significant impact on yield. If Island growers cannot supply a certain quality and size of potato, processors have options with growers and plants in other provinces or states where opposition to deep-water wells is limited.
P.E.I. potato growers suggest the industry would be in jeopardy without some relief from deep-water wells, with catastrophic economic results for farmers, rural communities and the province in general. Irrigation will provide an important tool to help sustain family farms for the next generation and beyond. Farmers said all the right things to the committee. “We live in rural P.E.I. with our children, our families, our friends and neighbours, in and around the farms that we would be irrigating. Thus we are very committed to managing this resource to be as gentle on our environment and as beneficial to our environment as possible. Better plant growth from irrigation means less fertilizer and fewer pesticides due to less stress on the plant.”

The standing committee and government have difficult tasks ahead as they must decide if compromise is possible to protect our water resource even if science supports additional deep-water wells and thus offers farmers a chance to remain competitive in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
———-
The “Daniel in the lion’s den” comment is peculiar.  First, the editorial doesn’t credit that one of the presenters from IFG when starting his presentation used the reference to a lions’ den.  Second, the spectators were a bit taken aback by the allusion, as the atmosphere had been one of respect (and perhaps concern for the situation these farmers are in), and Chair Paula Biggar immediately and forcefully said no one would be treated disrespectfully in her committee room as she welcomed them.
———-

As a very observant woman said to me last night, “They (the Ghiz government) didn’t realize that the high capacity wells were going to be the thing that made many Islanders sit up and realize that the French fry sector of the potato industry is in terrible shape — and more acreage, French fry promotion, irrigation wells, fumigation…is just not going to fix it.  It’s not good for our environment nor our health.  But we can’t vilify farmers —  we do need to start the transition away from this before the market does.”

———-
Today’s weather is likely to have an effect on the Standing Committee meeting.  This will be the fourth meeting with presenters regarding this issue.  (Minister Sherry, Environment Director Jim Young and Watershed/Subdivision planner Bruce Raymond on February 20th, Catherine O’Brien with the Coalition for the Protection of PEI Water and Mi’kmaq Keptin John Joe Sark on February 27th; the National Farmers Union, PEI Watershed Alliance, Central Queen’s Wildlife Federation/West River, Green Party PEI, and Innovative Farms Group last week on March 6th.)

If today’s meeting (scheduled for 1PM) is postponed, it should be listed here:
http://www.assembly.pe.ca/meetings/index.php?shownumber=332
and be rescheduled for Friday, starting at 10AM.  

If you are storm-stayed with a bit of time, check out the archives put together by the tech-savvy member of the Coalition for the Protection of PEI Water, Maureen Kerr:
 https://peiwater.wordpress.com/
———-

Unfortunately, if the Standing Committee is postponed until tomorrow, it crams into other planned events:
National Farmers Union District Convention which is being held this Friday, March 14 at the Dutch Inn.  Registration is at 9:30 a.m. with the meeting getting underway at 10:00 a.m.  Our guest speaker is our National President, Jan Slomp who will be speaking on building alternatives for a better farming and food system.  As well, we will have a panel discussion on high capacity wells and fracking.  Reports and resolutions will be considered during the day with adjournment about 4:00 p.m.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  Registration fee is $20 per person which includes a hot and cold buffet at noon. 

March 12th, 2014

On By peiislanderIn Standing Committee Hearings on High Capacity Wells 2014Leave a comment

Tomorrow, Thursday, is the next meeting of the Standing Committee on Ag/Env/Energy and Forestry, at 1PM in the Coles Building.

**If weather cancels the meeting, it will be rescheduled, I am told, to Friday morning at 10AM.**

There is some other business first (from the Hog Board), then:
ECOPEI
Atlantic Salmon Federation (Todd Dupuis)
PEI Federation of Agriculture
Cooper Institute
Council of Canadians
Daryl Guignion
NDP PEI
Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI
PEIS Shellfish Association
and the Committee has to consider a request from Cavendish Farms

Woo, what a line-up!!
Of course, do consider attending if you can.
This page has the listing and link to the agenda.  As soon as I hear anything about the meeting being postponed, I will pass it on.

http://www.assembly.pe.ca/meetings/index.php?shownumber=332

———-
For an archive of letters and posts about this issue, including footage from Maude Barlow’s talk at the water forum last month, go to:
https://peiwater.wordpress.com/

———-
Besides the land limits, the Commission on the Lands Protection Act also explored the concern about “double-counting”, where farmland “leased out” (rented to someone else to farm) is counted and so is the same land “leased in” (somebody rents it).  The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, but pretty much no one else, liked the system.  So:

The Commission recommends:
2.    That the provincial government amend subsection 1(3) of the Lands Protection Act to remove the double-counting provision so that only land leased in is counted as part of the aggregate land holding; that the amendment include a sunset clause that would expire in six years, unless specifically extended before the expiration of the six-year time limit; and that a cap be instituted to limit the amount of land an individual or a corporation can lease out to 50% of arable acres owned.

March 11th, 2014

On By peiislanderIn Government PolicyLeave a comment

And a bit about the Lands Protection Act review:
Mr. Carver contemplated the issue of where the agriculture industry is today and would increasing the land holding size actually help matters.  He also was charged with looking at the “red tape” involved in accounting for the amount of land a farmer (or corporation) owns.  The regulations regarding renaming some land as environmentally sensitive (so overall holdings could be increased) were scrutinized.  (Once the regulations were modified in 2009, and in 2010, farmers wanting to get some of their lands exempted this way have to play a game of pickleball back and forth between IRAC and the Department of Agriculture to hear if the exemption would be granted.)

from the Prince Edward Island LPA Exemption Regulations (page 22-23):
35. (1) For the purposes of this section, “environmentally significant class of land holding” means any land holding other than a “natural area class of land holding” that
(a) the Department of Agriculture has certified as being (i) agricultural land that is identified in the PEI Sloped Land Inventory that is verified as having been converted from row crops by the owner through tree planting, (ii) land that is being utilized as an erosion control structure approved by the Department of Agriculture,
(iii) land on which there is a hedgerow that meets the Department of Agriculture’s criteria and standards for hedgerows, or (iv) land that is verified to be a permanent grassed headland that does not include any land that is required to be used as a buffer under the Environmental Protection Act Watercourse and Wetland Protection Regulations; or
(b)the Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry has certified as being
(i) land that is identified in the PEI Wetlands Atlas as designated wetlands, (ii) land that is identified in the PEI Corporate Land Use Inventory as forested land, or
(iii) land that is required to be used as a buffer under the Environmental Protection Act Watercourse and Wetland Protection Regulations or land that is required to expand a required buffer onto marginal agricultural land.
(2) All land holdings that are certified to be in the “environmentally significant class of land holding” are eligible for exemption from the section 2 aggregate land holding limits contained in the Act up to a maximum of 40% of current aggregate land holdings, to a maximum of 400 acres for a person and 1200 acres for a corporation, of which no more than 80% (320 acres for a person and 960 acres for a corporation) shall be forested land. (EC645/09)

And without further ado, the first recommendation from the Commission tidies this up:
1.    That the provincial government do the following: repeal Section 35 of the Regulations in its entirety; modify Section 2 of the Lands Protection Act to make it clear that the 1,000 and 3,000 acre aggregate land holding limits apply to arable land only; and accept as proof of compliance the farmer’s signed declaration of the acreage of arable land owned and leased.

March 9th, 2014

On By peiislanderIn Letters to EditorLeave a comment

This one raises an issue about radon, but has anyone actually heard about his concern?  Perhaps we all need to start asking about it.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Opinion/Letter-to-editor/2014-03-06/article-3639414/Deep-water-wells-will-spray-radon-into-air/1

Deep-water wells will spray radon into air
Letters to the Editor (The Guardian)
Published on March 06, 2014

A readerʼs view
Editor:
P.E.I. groundwater contains radon as a dissolved gas. Have the deep-water wells in Prince and Queens counties received a radiological assessment? For I believe there are meteorological and health consequences to their operation. Specifically, what are the activities of radon, 86Rn222, in these wells? How does it compare with shallow water wells? What is the airborne maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of radon on P.E.I.?
If you irrigate with P.E.I. groundwater by spraying, in the flight of the water droplets through the air, radon will evaporate out of the water droplet, effectively what is called an air stripper; now a radon stripper. Some radon evaporates (stripped out), some doesnʼt. The radon stripper effect will form a radioactive radon gas cloud, a radon plumb. The radioactive half-life of 86Rn222 is 3.8 days, and a significant concentration of radon may occur near the spraying source in light winds as well as down wind.
When radon decays it emits an alpha particle of 5.5 million electron volts, very energetic.
Electrons are stripped off diatomic oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air and it takes about 30 electron volts to create one ion pair. This is referred to as ionization or ionizing radiation. Do the math: divide 5.5 million by 30 and you
get ~183,000 ion pairs from one alpha particle.
There is a background level of ionization in the atmosphere caused by cosmic rays and background radiation. Airborne irrigation will add to this considerably; so much so that the resistance of the earth atmosphere is decreased, the electrical field of the earth arcs over, and you have thunder and lightning.
Last summer I heard thunder over Hunter River or Cavendish and there wasnʼt talk of any electrical disturbances on the newscast nor were the clouds thunderheads. I believe now this thunder most likely was caused by the deep-water wells spraying radon in the air in Prince and Queens counties of P.E.I. Friends say: “I heard that too.”
Health Canada should also look into the health consequences of the deep water wells.
As a public health matter, it will also prove useful to know the MPC of radon for groundwater, as municipal wells are also involved, at least indirectly.
Tony Lloyd,
Mount Stewart

———-

And a bit on the Lands Protection Act review:
from the Commissioner’s Report, page 21, with my inserts and deletions: 

Questions Regarding the Strategies (those documents cited a few days ago that looked at farming issues and the future):
The 1,000 and 3,000 acre limits were by far the dominant issue in public meetings held by the Commission.  Calls for increasing the limits came mainly from the potato industry, through the Federation of Agriculture and the Potato Board. Not all farmers and not all agricultural organizations    called for increasing the limits however.  The National Farmers Union opposes any change to the Lands Protection Act and Regulations.   Among non-farm groups and individuals, the vast majority favoured the status quo.

Two other points of view were expressed:
1. There still needs to be a limit on how much land a person or a corporation can own and control; and
2. The door should be left open for someday lowering the aggregate land holding limits.

Bearing all this in mind, the question must therefore be asked: If none of the provincial    and    industry    strategies mentioned above calls for increasing farm size as a way to improve farm profitability, enhance rural development, strengthen tourism, or promote environmental sustainability, on what basis can increasing the aggregate land holding limits be justified?

In this regard, the Commission sought answers to the following questions:
1. What is the relationship between potato acreage and profitability for a potato farm?
2. What is the evidence that the present aggregate land holding limits are having a negative impact on the profitability of individual potato farms?
3. If further consolidation occurs in the potato sector, what impact will this have on employment and contribution to provincial Gross Domestic Product?
4. If further consolidation occurs in the potato sector, what impact will this have on rural communities?
5. How does the Agricultural Crop Rotation Act fit into the picture? To what extent is it being enforced? In other words, how many potato producers are in full compliance?
6.    Given current aggregate land holding limits under the Lands Protection Act, has the Agricultural Crop Rotation Act become a deterrent to future growth of the potato sector?
7. Should the Agricultural Crop Rotation Act be changed, or can ways be found to use it, in combination with the Lands Protection    Act    and    government programs, to encourage better land management practices?
8.    What is the impact of the ‘double- counting’ provision that requires landowners to include both land leased in and land leased out as part of their aggregate land holdings? What would be the benefit, if any, of removing the requirement to count land leased out?
9. What are the problems with the Environmental Exemption Regulations introduced in 2009 as they are currently written and enforced? Can they be changed to better reflect the needs of the agriculture industry, or should they be abolished?
———-
So onto the what he actually recommended next.

March 7th, 2014

On By peiislanderIn Supporting OrganizationsLeave a comment

The Standing Committee On Agriculture and Environment meeting yesterday regarding high capacity wells meeting was full, which as you know makes an impression.

Today I’ll focus on the presentation by one of the five groups: the National Farmers Union, with the admirable Edith Ling presenting the brief.    Reg Phalen and Steven MacKinnon were with her to ably answer questions.

They hit all the points of concern regarding lifting the moratorium and focused on the farmer in all this, reminding the members that not all farmers want the moratorium lifted, but neither should farmers, especially potato farmers, be vilified.  They are concerned about nitrates and groundwater, as even if, as the argument could be made, that more water one year would mean that year’s fertilizer better utilized, there is still plenty of nitrate and contaminants that will be dissolved in the water and taken down to the water table with it.

Their recommendations to the committee include that the government:

  • “steadfastly maintain” the moratorium on new high capacity wells
  •  recognize and value ALL farming,
  •  promote mixed farming to transition from to protect and improve Island soil and water
  • develop a true water protection policy, including preparing for climate change
  • create a commission on water to involve all Islanders

The last echoes how effectively Horace Carver visited and listened to Islanders (and about whose work I am skipping discussing today).

MLA Buck Watts mentioned he thought these meetings were a form of public consultation, and I hope by the answers he understands yes, but there needs to be more to really say the Legislators consulted with the public.

(MLA Kathleen was quite focused on how many members are in the NFU.  When not given a specific number, she persisted and even asked other presenters if they knew.)
Compass, lead story
http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/PEI/ID/2440628638/

Some events coming up (not complete in the least):

Events:

Tuesday, March 11, 7PM
Pesticide Free PEI Meeting, Sobey’s in Stratford
https://www.facebook.com/events/514006368719528/

Thursday, March 13th, 1-5PM
High Capacity Wells presentation, Standing Committee on Agriculture, Environment, Energy and Forestry, Coles Building
Presenters (I think) include Todd Dupois of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the Council of Canadians, The Cooper Institute, and the NDP-PEI.

Also, on Thursday:

PEI ADAPT Council AGM/Conference
“Celebrating the International Year of the Family Farm”
AGM 9AM, Conference: 10:30AM
Farm Centre, 420 University Avenue Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
10:30 Conference Welcome: Elmer MacDonald, Chair, PEI ADAPT Council
Presentations from Family Farmers
Matt Dykerman, Rose and Dave Viaene, Don and Christine MacDonald, Alexander Beattie
Questions and Audience Discussion

ADAPT Project Leader Presentations
Farm Centre – Future of the Farm Centre & 2014 Legacy Garden Project
International Sustainable Communities – Roster of Skills
Organic Beet Production and Mkt Opportunities

Potato Marketing by Usage & Wireworm Control , PEI Potato Board
Questions and Audience Discussion

Report on PEI Agriculture Trade Mission to Taiwan – Issues and Opportunities
Phil Ferraro, Executive Director PEI ADAPT, PEI Agr. Trade Team Member

Project Trade Show and Nutrition Break
• GEC – DON Wheat and Future Mkt Opportunities
• Sea Spray Coop – Pickling/Fermentation,
• Fed of Agr/CMEG – Temporary Foreign Workers,
• Hort Assn. – Ethnic Veg Mkts., Club Root Resistance in Broccoli Varieties,
• Hometown Pork – Pork Value Chain,
• Soil Foodweb – Compost Tea as Fungicide, Storecast, Biochar Field Trails,
• Soil and Crop Improvement Assn. – Sea Lettuce Compost,
• Island Forest Foods – Diversified Permaculture Orchard,
• PEI Dairy Farmers – Bovine Leucosis and Johnnies Disease,
• PEI Brewing Company – Malt Barley Value Chain,
• PEI Cranberry Growers – Powder Cranberry Marketing,
• Omega Holdings – Safe Quality Food Planning,
• Certified Organic Producers Coop – Organic Products Field Trials,
• PEI Sheep Breeders – Genetic Enhancement,

Lunch with Keynote Speaker (12:30 – 1:30 pm.)
Reg Porter, ‘Historical Perspectives of Island Family Farming’

Project Trade Show 1:30 – 2PM

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION IS FREE and open to anyone with an interest in the future of agriculture and agri-food production on Prince Edward Island. Pre-registration is necessary as space is limited. To register call: 368-2005 or email:phil@peiadapt.com

Friday, March 14th

A short conference entitled “My Island, My Heart” will take place March
14, 1:00-3:00 pm, at UPEI’s Chaplaincy Centre. The conference, led by UPEI
arts student Faith Robinson, focuses on three themes—island fragility,
island sustainability, and island community.

Special guest speakers include: Deirdre Kessler, writer and UPEI professor;
Laurie Brinklow, accomplished poet and UPEI professor; and Millefiore
Clarkes, filmmaker to name a few. A short docu-film Island Green, about
organic farming on PEI, will also be featured as part of the conference.

Today, it is more important than ever to realize the limitations and
magnificence of our environment, so keenly felt by Islanders worldwide. It is
crucial that we not forget the roots from which we ourselves grow, to
envision a better future.

For more information on the conference, contact Faith Robinson at
frobinson@upei.ca. Admission is free, and snacks and beverages will be
provided. All are welcome to attend.

(Also note that) Saturday, March 22nd, Island Green screening, 7:30PM, Bonshaw

Lands Protection Act

On By peiislanderIn ResourcesLeave a comment

Regarding the Lands Protection Act recommendations from Horace Carver:

The media pretty much reported that in Mr. Carver’s recommendations the acreage size limits weren’t really increased and red tape should be reduced.   But there is a lot more in his discussion, of course.  It appears he read everything about land and rural development that government and other organizations have produced for the last decade or two.  He concludes that the “aggregate” land holding limit is primarily a concern of the potato industry, and has to decide if raising the limit would “fix” the industry.

One report he cites (page 20) that I hadn’t really remembered much about was the 2009 Report of the Commission on the Future of Agriculture and Agri-Food, entitled Growing the Island Way (http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/af_co mmofagri.pdf ).  This commission was made up a group of farmers, including Rory Francis, Raymond Loo, Randall Affleck, and Cynthia Frizzle.

In its conclusion, the 2009 Report of the Commission on the Future of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Growing the Island Way, put it this way:
“A ‘vicious circle’ has taken hold, characterized by declining profits, consolidation, and an intensification of operations that is causing negative environmental impacts and losing farmers the respect of the community. Without profit or pride, the next generation of farmers, or ‘new entrants’, is turning away from the industry.”

March 5th, 2014

On By peiislanderIn Letters to EditorLeave a comment

A Standing Committee meeting tomorrow, starting at 1PM, at the Coles Building next to Province House, with presentations (I think) from the National Farmers’ Union, The PEI Watershed Alliance, Central Queen’s Wildlife Federation/West River, The Innovative Farms Group, and the Green Party PEI.  If you can drop by for a little bit, that will support (most of) these groups and show the politicians that people are interested in this issue.

Wit, clarity, a warning to us all:  In yesterday’s Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Opinion/Letter-to-editor/2014-03-04/article-3633351/Unique-approach-to-selling-wells/1

Unique approach to selling wells
Letters to the Editor (The Guardian)
Published on March 04, 2014

Editor:
I would like to congratulate the P.E.I. Potato Board on their information ad, Thursday, Feb 27. I did not realize that by allowing deep-well drilling it would be a solution to the nitrate problem on P.E.I.
Too bad they did not come forward sooner with this approach. Their perspective that this is a lot of storm about a very small issue, that it will not take much water, and letʼs just trust them and the government to do the right thing is a little hard to take.
As many letters to the editor have pointed out both the industryʼs and governmentʼs track records on this have not been good. We have been though all this before with Plan B and I see the same outcome. In fact I will wager money that the government will approve this plan. Then we can wait for the ads about how great fracking will be for the island.
Carol Capper,
Summerside

—-
A quick Lands Protection Act note:

from page 11 of Mr. Carver’s report (spacing mine):

THE CURRENT LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK
While the purpose of the Act is clear and easy to understand, the legislative framework, consisting of the Act and the Regulations, is very complex and difficult to understand, even for those who deal with it on a regular basis. Few individuals and corporations make application, or even complete mandatory reports, without help from accountants and lawyers.

The legislative framework consists of a total of 88 pages:
the Act itself is 13 pages long
(http://www.gov.pe.ca/law/statutes/pdf/l– 05.pdf);
the Forms Regulations, 47 pages
(http://www.gov.pe.ca/law/regulations/pdf/L &05-2.pdf);
the Exemption Regulations, 22 pages
(http://www.gov.pe.ca/law/regulations/ pdf/L&05-1.pdf);
and the Land Identification Regulations, 6 pages
(http://www.gov.pe.ca/ law/regulations/pdf/L&05-3.pdf).

March 4th, 2014

On By peiislanderIn Letters to EditorLeave a comment

Most letters to the editor published in The Guardian get posted on their website, but occasionally one or two don’t make it. Often an e-mail from a reader will point it out to them.  Sometimes it takes a few reminders.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Opinion/Letter-to-editor/2014-02-21/article-3631832/Get-this-right-the-first-time/1

Get this right the first time
Letters to the Editor (The Guardian)
Published on February 21, 2014

Editor:
If the volume and sentiment of recent letters to the editor are indicative of Islandersʼ feelings, a vast majority of us breathed a sigh of relief to read that Minister Sherry remains open-minded, and that any decision on high capacity wells will be based on  “. . . informed discussions. We need facts. We need science.”
It appears as if the potential lifting of the moratorium on high capacity wells for irrigation of potato fields may be — excuse the pun — a watershed issue on P.E.I. The crux of Minister Sherry and the potato boardʼs shared position is that “the science” supports a lifting of the ban. But science is not a package of carefully filtered information presented as a final, incontestable truth; it is a dynamic, continuously unfolding process. Science is the ongoing clash of differing ideas from which the light of truth temporarily shines, until newer and better information illuminates the issue further.
When it comes to ground water on P.E.I., we know so very little. As the saying goes, itʼs not that we donʼt know all the answers, we donʼt even know the right questions to ask. The complexity of Island hydrology, and the importance of water in our lives insists that we proceed with extreme caution.
Many informed experts have already expressed grave concern about lifting the moratorium, and most “ordinary” Islanders with generations of accumulated knowledge seem to be saying that the lifting of this ban represents a line in our red soil that we must not cross.
Unlike some other issues, when it comes to our water, there is no Plan B. We must get this right first time. Islanders have an important decision to make; we need farming — indeed I believe that our provinceʼs economic future will depend perhaps more than ever before on farming. But it must be a type of farming that will rebuild our soil, not denude it, will protect our water, not threaten it.
I am not anti-farming — quite the opposite — but I am anti-screwing up our water.
Peter Bevan-Baker,
Leader, Green Party of P.E.I.

———-
Back to the Land:

More background that popped up about background on revising the Lands Protection Act (blue text are quotes from Mr. Carver’s Report, bolding is mine):

There has been a lot of tinkering with the Act  in the last fifteen years or so, trying to straighten out burrs in system:
Since 1995, leased land is deemed to be in the possession of both the lessor and the lessee, and it is counted towards the aggregate land holdings of both. This is the so-called ‘double-counting’ or ‘lease-in-lease-out’ provision.

There have been several suggestions that the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) should be in charge of decision-making in addition to investigation and enforcement. However, it usually is decided:

Executive Council retained its authority for decision-making and delegated investigation and enforcement of the Act to IRAC.
———-
In December 2009, the Commission on Land and Local Governance  (“Judge Thompson’s Report”) released its final report. It made a similar recommendation to the 1998 Standing Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Environment: that individuals and corporations be permitted to own or lease 1,000 and 3,000 acres, respectively, ofarable land, meaning land in agricultural production.
<<
Government responded by amending the Lands Protection Act Exemption Regulations. These Regulations allow an individual to exempt up to 400 acres and a corporation to exempt up to 1,200 acres of land that is certified by a government agency to fall within an environmentally significant land holding classification, as defined in the Environmental Exemption Regulations. It is the same approach as that applied to the Island Nature Trust under the Natural Areas Protection Act.