Eby’s ALR Pledge Sparks Backlash from B.C. Farmers

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BC's Agricultural Land Reserve is at the center of a growing debate in this campaign. There are concerns about food security, protecting farmland, and the future of food processing. David Eby has pledged to scrap the ALR's 50-50 food processing rules if re-elected. And the BC Agriculture Council, which represents more than 20,000 farming operations worldwide, warns that change could drive up the prices of farmland and weaken the oversight and fail to guarantee more support for farmers. Well, joining us now is Jennifer Wojc, President of the BC Agriculture Council. Jennifer, thank you so much for taking the time.

No problem.

Happy to be here. Let's talk about what the ALR is for people who may not be familiar with it.

Well, the Agricultural Land Reserve is something that is very specific. No other provinces in Canada have anything like it. And the Agricultural Land Reserve was put in place approximately 53 years ago to protect agricultural land for the uses of food production.

So what kind of consultation happened before this pledge by David Evey?

Well, the consultation, the paper came out in the middle of August and it came out at a time where literally days after the brief dropped on the 50-50 rule, the province was pushed into a state of emergency with wildfire situation happening in the interior. And a lot of agricultural and farmers and ranchers were affected by that. So in our opinion, timing was kind of off to begin with. Summertime is a very busy time for anybody in the agricultural business. But we got to it, and from what I understand, there was 250 submissions through the consultation process that were sent in. We have not seen these submissions, nor have we seen a summary of it, nor has the public seen a summary of this consultation.

What do you think is happening behind the scenes here?

Well, I don't know. I think that perhaps, you know, elections always matter. But this election matters more than ever because it feels very often like agriculture is an afterthought. And every single one of us, every single day, three times a day, if we're lucky, depend on BC's farmers and ranchers. And we need every single party to consider food security when making decisions, protecting farmland, supporting BC farmers and processors, and making it viable for that next generation to keep producing food here. If we want to see more BC products on our tables, we need policies that help farmers and ranchers get them there. We don't feel that this, as it was proposed, was that.

What do you think is, do you think that they're looking at rezoning these portions of land for other reasons, for other businesses and other