P.E.I.’s minister of justice says a corporation with ties to the Irving family is now in compliance with P.E.I.’s limits on land ownership, even though that corporation has not sold land acquired in a controversial transfer in 2019 after a divestiture order from the minister the following year.
P.E.I.'s Minister of Land Bloyce Thompson tabled changes to the province's Lands Protection Act in the legislature Wednesday, following through on a commitment to change the law in light of a case where a corporation was able to acquire land without cabinet approval.
Posted: Apr 29, 2021 6:00 AM AT | Last Updated: April 29
P.E.I. s Minister of Justice and Public Safety Bloyce Thompson hand-delivered a report on a controversial land transaction on March 5 to the standing committee that demanded it from him just as he promised to do when the committee issued its subpoena.(Kirk Pennell/CBC News)
2,200 acres in Summerside area
At the centre of the controversy is 2,200 acres of land in the area of Summerside and North Bedeque that had belonged to a family-owned farming operation, purchased in June 2019 by Haslemere Farms, which listed Rebecca Irving as its director. Haslemere Farms has since changed its name to Red Fox Acres.
A previous attempt to purchase the same land had involved several corporations with connections to the Irvings, and failed to receive the necessary cabinet approval.
But in the Haslemere Farms/Red Fox Acres transaction, Thompson said the transfer had not been put before cabinet for approval. He asked IRAC to investigate, and vowed to close loopholes in the Lands Protection Act, legislation that sets limits on individual and corporate land ownership on P.E.I.
IRAC surprised and disappointed
The legislative committee, which has the power to subpoena witnesses, reached out in mid-September asking the commission to appear to discuss the investigation it had carried out on a controversial land transaction.
In 2019 a company called Haslemere Farms (later renamed Red Fox Acres) became the owner of 2,200 acres of land in the area of Summerside and North Bedeque that had belonged to a family-owned farming operation Brendel Farms.
IRAC investigated the transaction at the request of the provincial minister of agriculture and land.
Cory Deagle, chair of the standing committee on natural resources and environmental sustainability, says his committee has been trying to get IRAC to appear to discuss the controversial land transaction since last September. (Kirk Pennell/CBC)