Kudos to Kerry Campbell for this great piece of investigative journalism. Although so far, his research has focused mainly on the Irving family, there are many other so called “family” corporations that abuse the LPA to serve their interests. Kerry has also produced an excellent podcast on this. Go to CBC Prince Edward Island PEI website to listen to the 1st episode.
20 corporations with ties to Irvings own more than 12,000 acres on P.E.I.
Province has a unique law to limit land ownership, but how that’s enforced is murky
Kerry Campbell · CBC News · Posted: Oct 31, 2024 6:00 AM ADT | Last Updated: October 31
One of almost 300 parcels of land in P.E.I. owned by 20 different corporations with ties to the Irving family from New Brunswick. Altogether those corporations own just under 1 per cent of P.E.I.’s land, despite a unique law meant to restrict corporate ownership. (Kerry Campbell/CBC)
Four years ago, the P.E.I. government said it had ordered a corporation owned by a member of the Irving family, Red Fox Acres, to get rid of some of its land because of a contravention of P.E.I.’s Lands Protection Act.
It was only the second time the province had ordered a divestiture of land under the act, which came into effect in 1982. The first time, it was also the Irving family that was ordered to give up land.
Two years ago, the government said the Irvings were now in compliance with the act, even though land title records show the same corporation still owns the land in question today.
No information was shared with the public to explain what changed, or just how the Irving family had come into compliance with the act. In the legislature, the Green Party suggested the company had leased the land to another Irving-controlled corporation.
There are renewed calls for stricter enforcement of P.E.I.’s Lands Protection Act on the heels of a CBC News investigation looking into the land holdings of corporations with ties to the Irving group of companies. It turns out that it’s impossible for Islanders to see how — or even whether — the province is upholding this key piece of legislation.
And this is largely how enforcement of this unique piece of legislation has gone, over the 42 years since the act was enacted: with no way for the public to scrutinize how corporations, the provincial regulator, or even the provincial cabinet is following the law.
“Governments… both Liberal and Conservative, have turned a blind eye to the Lands Protection Act. They haven’t enforced it,” said James Rodd, a former leader of the Island New Democratic Party and a founding member of the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Land. That’s a grassroots organization that sprang up around what has become a contentious issue in the province.
In October 2020, CBC News filed a freedom of information request with then-minister of land Bloyce Thompson’s department for a copy of the investigative report that Thompson had ordered and received from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission into the Brendel Farms land acquisition.
Even though the privacy commissioner ruled in January 2021 that the report could be released, it still hasn’t been.
In the meantime, Rebecca Irving and Red Fox Acres had filed two court applications for a judicial review in November 2020, asking the P.E.I. court system to “nullify” the minister’s decision to order the land divested.
That judicial review has never gone forward. While it’s still listed as an active file in court records, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice told CBC News in September: “The province does consider this matter closed as the parties achieved compliance with the Lands Protection Act prior to advancing to the official review.”
Companies tied to Irvings own 12,600 acres
P.E.I. is the only province in Canada that places legal limits on how much land individuals or corporations can own.
CBC News used provincial land records to calculate how much land is owned by companies with ties to the Irving family in New Brunswick.
It totals more than 12,600 acres, representing just under one per cent of the province’s total land area.
That amount is much higher than the limit for any single corporation under the Lands Protection Act of 3,000 acres — even taking into account exemptions for non-arable land or land leased out to someone else.
None of this is to say that any single Irving-controlled corporation violates the law.
The Lands Protection Act does have provisions to prevent multiple corporations under the same control from owning more than the amount of land allowed for a single corporation. But the public is not allowed to see how those provisions are applied, or whether cabinet chooses to overrule decisions made by the province’s land regulator, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission.
LISTEN | Why do the Irvings own so much land on P.E.I.?