The issue of foreign ownership of farm land rose to the surface again at the Saskatchewan Legislature.
During Question Period on Thursday, NDP Leader, and Agriculture Shadow Minister, Carla Beck accused the Sask. Party government of not taking the issue seriously.
"Mr. Speaker, the (Provincial) Auditor and SARM (Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities) have both sounded the alarm when it comes to the wide gaps in the system that supposed to ensure that only Canadians can buy Saskatchewan farmland. Will the Premier finally admit what most people on coffee row already understand, and that is that his government has failed to ensure that…those foreign interests can't buy up Saskatchewan farmland." Beck asked.
In response, Moe noted "increases in the stringency on ownership in this province" and ensured that "there is an ongoing discussion and a committee that is going to be engaging with (land) owners to ensure that we have this right all the time in this province."
The provincial government's response to the issue thus far includes amendments made to the Saskatchewan Farm Security Regulations last month, to give the Farm Land Security Board greater clarity of when it can give fines of up to $10,000 for each violation of the Saskatchewan Farm Security Act.
Situations include "a non-Canadian resident or corporation who acquires more than 10 acres of farm land in the province; a Canadian-owned corporation that becomes non-Canadian owned and does not divest itself of holdings over the 10-acre threshold; a person who acquires farm land on behalf of a non-Canadian resident or a non-Canadian owned corporation where that purchase would be in violation of the Act; and a person who has been granted an Exemption to the Act and fails to comply with a term or condition of the exemption order."
Another amendment was to remove the exemption for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to own farm land in the province. The provincial government said it previously amended the Act in 2015 to prevent pension plans from owning farm land but gave an exemption to the CPPIB since it already owned about 167,000 acres of land at the time, but the CPPIB had since divested itself of all land.
On October 6, a three-person Farm Land Ownership Advisory Committee was formed to "provide feedback which aims to strengthen Saskatchewan's farm land ownership legislation", according to a government news release. Consultations were set for October and November with the Committee to provide a summary of feedback to the government afterward.
What did the Auditor say?
The Provincial Auditor did a performance audit of the Farm Land Security Board as part of the Dec. 3, 2024 report.
In it, the Auditor noted there were approximately 38,000 land transactions in the province between August 1st, 2023 and July 31st, 2024. Since 2020, the Board issued five orders to sell farmland inappropriately bought by foreign entities but acknowledged there could be more instances of land bought or leased by foreigners that the Board hasn't addressed.
There were two instances where the Board did not inform the foreign entities to sell the land until two to six months after it identified non-compliance. The Board also didn't request statutory ownership declarations in 9 of 18 purchases made by corporations not registered in Saskatchewan.
The Auditor also pointed out the Board does not have escalation procedures for staff to take further action for non-compliance, such as fines or penalties.
Recommendations included speeding up the review process, having more enforcement tools to address non-compliance, setting performance indicators to allow for effective assessment and public reporting on enforcement activities, and working with the Ministry of Agriculture to determine how to effectively regulate and enforce non-Canadian farmland leases.
"Very serious accusations"
On Thursday, Deputy Agriculture Shadow Minister Trent Wotherspoon claimed the provincial government "looked the other way and have failed to enforce the law."
"The Farm Land Security Board needs more resources and real teeth. The fines need to be more than a slap on the wrist. And importantly, that government must audit and enforce the divestiture of land acquired and owned by foreign entities that have breached the law and cause the forfeiture of profit in its divestiture. No foreign entity – government's like China or criminal organizations – should be able to profit off the illegal purchase of Saskatchewan farmland. Why has this government failed so badly for so long in illegal foreign ownership? Why have they sold-out the hard-working and proud producers of Saskatchewan?" Wotherspoon added.
"It's very serious accusations coming across the floor of this Legislative Assembly," Moe replied. "And I would say that if the Opposition Critic has an example of – in his words – says that the Government of China or Chinese citizens are owning farmland in Saskatchewan that he report that immediately through the Minister of Agriculture's Office.
"All of those transactions will be looked at the front-end, not the back-end, Mr. Speaker, as per the recommendations from the Auditor," Moe added.
Wotherspoon talked to reporters following Question Period and re-iterated the accusations.
"It's not in our interest for this law not to be enforced, it's not in our interest for foreign entities whether that be the People's Republic of China or businesses from far outside Saskatchewan or billionaires or criminal organizations to acquire farmland illegally in Saskatchewan."
Harrison wrote a letter to Wotherspoon the same day, requesting if he or other members of the NDP have evidence to support the allegations that they be submitted to the Farm Land Security Board no later than Monday, November 10, at 5 p.m.
Wotherspoon wrote a letter to Harrison the following day, not only doubling down on the allegations but also describing the Ag Minister's letter as"a pathetic, non-sense letter that dismisses and attempts to shut down the very serious concerns of producers…instead of getting to work and stepping up to fix the problem."
Wotherspoon gave the Minister a deadline to reply of Monday at 1 p.m. which the NDP say Harrison didn't meet the deadline.
As for the Sask. Party's deadline, SaskAgToday reached out to the government to confirm if the Opposition met it or not.
