Green Party seeks audit of Lands Protection Act enforcement
P.E.I.’s Green Party wants the province’s auditor general to have a look at how the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission is enforcing the Lands Protection Act.
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CBC News ·
Posted: Apr 01, 2021 10:51 AM AT | Last Updated: April 1
The Lands Protection Act is designed to limit the amount of land any one person or corporation can own.(Brian McInnis)
P.E.I. MLAs vote to subpoena Brendel Farms report from minister of lands
For the first time in 20 years, a committee of the P.E.I. Legislature is using its power to issue a subpoena.
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CBC News ·
Posted: Feb 26, 2021 9:10 PM AT | Last Updated: February 27
The committee will issue the subpoena to Minister of Agriculture and Lands Bloyce Thompson, who received the report from IRAC in October. (Kirk Pennell/CBC)
For the first time in 20 years, a committee of the P.E.I. Legislature is using its power to issue a subpoena.
On Friday, members of the province s standing committee on health and social development voted unanimously to issue a subpoena to compel government to provide a report from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission on a controversial land transfer.
MLAs question IRAC on enforcement of Lands Protection Act
In a meeting that became testy at times, the head of the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission Scott Mackenzie appeared before a committee of MLAs Thursday to explain how IRAC conducts investigations under the Lands Protection Act.
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With more than 900 exemptions on file, calls to update P.E.I. s 3-year crop rotation
The P.E.I. Department of Agriculture and Land had 934 active management plans on file at the start of 2020, each allowing a farmer to deviate from the province’s mandated three-year crop rotation on a particular field.
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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.