Whether politically motivated or not, rural Saskatchewan may owe a debt of gratitude to Progressive Conservative leader Rick Swenson.
Forcing the issue on who has the right to own farmland in this province is a debate worth having.
Swenson and his nemesis Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart have agreed on precious little during the combative political careers.
It was Stewart who beat out Swenson for the Saskatchewan Party nomination in Thunder Creek. Swenson then returned to his roots and reinvigorated the old Progressive Conservative party he now leads.
But while the two Thunder Creek politicians may be continuing their feud over the format of the farmland ownership review, that both now see value in some sort of review is a very good thing.
Stewart announced last month the parameters for online consultations at (www.saskatchewan.ca/farmland) that will last until Aug. 10. Participants will get to peruse background documents on the role of Farm Land Security Board, complete a survey and compare farmland ownership rules in other jurisdictions. The results will be publicly posted online.
The main issue appears to the current rules that dictates only Canadian residents and “100 per cent Canadian-owned entities” should be permitted to own more than 10 acres in this province.
Since April 13, temporary restrictions have been imposed, denying pension funds and other institutional investors from acquiring farmland until this review is complete.
The move comes as a result of public outcry from rural residents (and Swenson) over the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s (CPPIB) $128-million purchase on December 2013 of 115,000 acres of farmland owned by Assiniboia Farmland Partnership.
The deal was not reviewed by the Farm Land Security Board, but the Justice Ministry offered its approval.
In current PC radio ads and in press releases, Swenson has attacked both the current law and this specific deal and is now questioning why this transaction, itself, is not part of review process.
At a news conference at the legislature last month, Swenson hinted problems with the patronage-nature of Farm Land Security Board appointments and proposed future boards be made of representatives from from the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, the Saskatchewan Realtors’ Association and the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.
But the PC leader also demanded that the entire review process be taken of the hands of the agriculture ministry because of a “potential conflict of interest” between Ministry of Agriculture Deputy Minister Alanna Koch and “the predecessor company involved in the CPPIB purchase.”
Swenson noted that Koch sat on the board of EAI Agriculture Development Corp. as an adviser to Assiniboia Farmland in 2005-06. He also noted that “the advisory company was owned 85 per cent by Emsley Associates, which is wholly-owned by Doug Emsley and his spouse.”
Swenson told reporters Emsley served on Premier Brad Wall’s transition team that may had a role in advising the Sask. Party government on deputy ministers appointments like Koch.
The PC leader may be drawing a very long bow in concluding that the Agricultural Ministry can’t handle this review because of a conflict. Koch noted that she was only on the advisory Assiniboia Farmland’s advisory committee for a short time, didn’t attend any meetings, didn’t receive any money for it and resigned when she became deputy minister.
It’s also worth noting that Swenson and Emsley were embroiled in legal proceedings over control of the PC Trust Fund — millions of dollars left behind by the former Progressive Conservative party of the 1980s. Swenson now controls the fund and is using the money to fund things like the current PC political advertisements hammering the farm ownership law.
How much of this is driven by politics is hard to say.
But what has come out it — a review of the farmland ownership laws in this province — would seem to be a very good thing.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
