NDP Says New Document Show Liberals’ Secret Plan To Dismantle Agricultural Land Reserve

VANCOUVER – The Liberal governmentissuing an order to the AgriculturalLand Commission to stop improving theAgricultural Land Reserve is the latestevidence of its plans to dismantle theALR, say New Democrats.“In October, Pat Pimm’s deputy ministerordered the ALC to stop boundaryimprovement work in the Kootenays.Under the Clark government’s secretplan to dismantle the ALR, land use decisionsfor the Kootenays would no longerbe subject to existing ALC rules, andwould be essentially handed over to theOil and Gas Commission,” said NewDemocrat Leader Adrian Dix.“This is more evidence showing thatLiberal government has already startedthe groundwork to implement their proposalto shatter the ALR.”In a letter dated Oct. 4, the agricultureminister’s deputy minister instructed thechair of the commission to halt ALRboundary review work. The first phase ofthe boundary work – which was beingconducted in response to an recommendationmade by the auditor general –involved the Kootenay region.The timeframe of the letter coincideswith when Pimm was preparing a secretplan to dismantle the ALR and ALC.One part of this reckless overhaulinvolves handing over wholesale controlof land use decisions in close to half theprovince – including the Kootenays – tothe Oil and Gas Commission.New Democrat agriculture criticNicholas Simons said that the letter alsofurther confirms that Bill Bennett’s corereview is a cover for dismantling the ALCand ALR.“The Liberal government is Instructingthe ALC to stop boundary improvementwork because of the core review. Butone of the commission’s key responsibilitiesis to maintain the integrity of theland reserve. If the core review was toleave the ALC ‘s mandate and responsibilitiesintact, there would be no need tostop its ongoing efforts to improve theALR,” said Simons.The New Democrats also pointed tohow the Clark Liberals have no mandateto shatter the ALR.”Not once during the election campaigndid the Clark Liberals mention dismantlingthe ALR and ALC,” said Dix. “Theyeven claimed they wanted the ALC tomeet the auditor general’s recommendationsaround improving the land reserveand encouraging farming. But now, withthe campaign over, the Liberals are takingactions to undermine the commissionand the ALR.”This echoes of the Liberals’ HST doublecross. They said they wouldn’t introducethe HST before the campaign, onlyto push it through after the ballots werecast,” said Dix.