A proposal that could impact Delta, the bill, according to the Greens, would address the rampant speculation of agricultural land, a trend that sees valuable farmland left unseeded or turned into sprawling mansions.
"Since the introduction of the 15 per cent foreign buyers tax on residential real estate in Metro Vancouver, speculators have targeted other areas of the province and our agricultural land," said Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head.
"Investors are taking advantage of tax breaks meant to encourage farming, building mansions and using the land for speculative purposes. As a result, farmland is being taken out of production and prices are skyrocketing, making farmland unaffordable for local farmers," he warned.
The bill would prohibit foreign entities from purchasing Agricultural Land Reserve property over five acres without prior permission from the lieutenant governor in council.
Many other provinces regulate and restrict foreign ownership of agricultural land by limiting the maximum acreage that can be purchased, according to the Green leader.
Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington said she can support such a bill and that the government needs to engage in conversations about the impact of speculation on the price of farmland, both foreign and domestic.
She said farmers have been priced out of the market which is a threat to our food security.
"Foreign ownership data is still hard to come by, but the government should face this issue head on. Other provinces — including Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec — restrict foreign ownership of farmland, and I think this could be one pillar in a suite of actions the government could take to address high ALR prices," said Huntington.
Delta Coun. Ian Paton, a Ladner farmer who will be running for the Liberals in Delta South in the next election, told the Optimist there's no data on how much of Delta's farmland is being held by foreign speculators.
"My own personal experience from many years of living here is that I cannot think of any farmland in Delta right now that's under foreign ownership. In Delta, pretty much all the farmland is being actively farmed, so even if a person owns a farm in Delta, you have to prove you meet a standard of farm income and I know that the B.C. Ag Council would like to see that raised to a much higher rate so that people purchasing farmland would have to show a greater income on that farm in order to get the tax benefits," said Paton.
He added if there is a problem, a foreign buyers tax could be considered, but, as far as he knows, most farms in Delta are either owned and actively farmed by local farmers or owned by someone living here who's renting the acreage to farmers.
Paton also noted Delta has already placed tight restriction on the size of new houses and where they can be built on farmland, regulations approved by the province but for some reason not being followed by other communities.
