The party wants to change the structure of the Farm Land Security Board
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
One of Saskatchewan’s political parties wants to limit foreign farmland ownership.
“The problem with foreign farmland ownership is it’s chewing up so much farmland that it drives the land prices right up,” Rose Buscholl, the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, told Farms.com. “It becomes impossible for people to compete and for families to keep the farms in their families.”
For context, Saskatchewan’s farmland values increased by almost 16 per cent from 2022, Farm Credit Canada’s Farmland Values Report says.
Under current Saskatchewan law, people or entities deemed ineligible, which include non-Canadian citizens or non-permanent residents of Canada, may own 10 acres of land. Acquisitions of more than 10 acres require an exemption from the Farm Land Security Board.
One of the Buscholl’s party’s proposals is to expand the definition of foreign farmland ownership to include people or entities who aren’t living or farming in Saskatchewan.
A 2017 report from Saskatchewan and Manitoba researchers found that, in 2014, 37 identified investors owned a total of 837,019 acres.
That report identified Robert Andjelic, an Alberta investor, as a top landowner with 160-858 acres in Saskatchewan.
A 2023 article from The Narwhal says he owns more than 225,000 acres across Saskatchewan communities.
“We need to limit the amounts, and I think if there were more checks and balances, you’d see a whole way of life preserved better in the province,” Buscholl said.
One way of ensuring those checks and balances, Buscholl says, is to change the structure of the Farm Land Security Board, which administers farm ownership legislation in the province.
The board’s membership as of March 31, 2023, consisted of six people.
The PC’s proposal would bring the membership to seven people.
One person would be from the elected government to chair the meetings.
SARM, SUMA, APAS, the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, and the Association of Saskatchewan Realtors would have one representative each.
“We need to be looking out for what’s best for the people and the Province of Saskatchewan,” Buscholl said.