The Agricultural Land Reserve created in the early 1970s was developed to preserve precious farmland. It was too easy for the developers of the day to snatch up under or semi-developed arable land for urban sprawl. It started to happen at an alarming rate, so it was needed and instituted by the government of the day.
Dr. Lenore Newman will be speaking on the matter as part of a lecture series at the University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford campus, on Feb.15 in Lecture Theatre B101.
The ALR has become a real success story in protecting our ranges to produce dairy products, and our arable lands for fibre food source. Except for the odd political diva trying to corruptly swindle the odd piece to pad their personal pension plans, it has worked relatively well. Now the current provincial agricultural minister is conspiring with B.C.’s oil and gas sector to divide the ALR into two separate zones with different processes.
Though the oil and gas sector decisions are backed by the federal government, this compromise by the BC Liberals guarantees the oil and gas sector access to any land in the province. So now we’re back conspiring to swindling land out of the ALR, just like the aforementioned diva of the same political stripes. Though energy is, without a doubt, a most important issue, we can’t eat it.
Let’s just leave the ALR alone, it’s a government policy that works, and if it’s not broken, there’s no need to fix it.
Art Green,
Hope, B.C.