Loopholes in the Lands Protection Act: Multinationals Exploit Weak Regulations

The following two articles from the Guardian regarding last weekend’s forum demonstrate the crux of the problem. Multinationals have found ways to manipulate the LPA so that both government and the abusers are comfortable saying that too familiar phrase: “no laws have been broken” . This needs to change.

Forum hears act has too many loopholes

Hundreds attend meeting; session focuses on organizations’ Kings County holdings

The Guardian (Charlottetown)22 Mar 2023KYLE REID THE GUARDIAN kyle.reid@saltwire.com

Editor’s note: For more information about this issue, see the related story below.

MONTAGUE, P.E.I. – A lack of enforcement is allowing organizations to find and exploit loopholes in the Lands Protection Act, attendees at a public forum heard recently.

Nearly half of the estimated 400 concerned residents who showed up for the meeting March 18, which focused on land use in Kings County, could not get inside the atcapacity upstairs room of the Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre in Montague. Many, instead, lined the centre’s halls to hear the presentations or tuned in to a virtual live stream of the meeting.

The meeting’s focus was on long-running allegations that organizations have accumulated more land holdings in Kings County than allowed under the province’s Lands Protection Act.

The forum, organized by the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands, was the third in the coalition’s series of public meetings on land protection in P.E.I. The meeting featured speakers including Douglas Campbell, district director for the National Farmers Union in P.E.I., and local business owner Shane Macdonald. Both shared concerns about potential land grabbing in Kings County.

LAND ACT LOOPHOLES

Primary discussion at the meeting centred on land holdings of the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute (GWBI) and the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS).

The publicly listed landholdings of GWBI and GEBIS are far below the 3,000-acre landholding limits allowed for corporations under provincial legislation. A public search of land purchases on the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) website shows GWBI owns 448 acres while GEBIS owns 576 acres. In an interview on March 21 with Saltwire Network, Sabrina Chang, who is with GWBI, said that organization owns 663 acres, while a representative with GEBIS said it now owns 577 acres.

Campbell, however, alleged that shell companies and other individuals are buying up land in P.E.I. that is then being improperly used by the Buddhist organizations.

Campbell suggested during the meeting that organizations and individuals with affiliations with the two groups own more than 15,000 acres of land in P.E.I. He declined when asked by Saltwire Network to provide evidence to support that claim.

The issue, Cambell noted, is that there is currently a lack of enforcement in the Lands Protection Act.

Under the act, individuals are limited to holding 1,000 acres of land. However, any individual or organization could potentially create a shell company that would permit them to buy more land than

the limit, Campbell said.

“Individual citizens can pay $250, create a business name or just a numbered (company), register it and also buy 3,000 acres each,” Campbell said.

For his part, Macdonald, who presented in his capacity as a concerned citizen, said the legislation needs to be amended to prevent any potential exploitation.

“For somebody to spend $250 and then be able to form a corporation on Prince Edward Island, I think that’s a bit ludicrous,” said Macdonald in an interview after the meeting. “There should be a business plan, possibly, associated with that or some form of documentation, what the intention of that land is.”

LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

Between 2015 and 2018, the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission investigated the landholdings of five Buddhist organizations in P.E.I. The findings of the investigation were not made public.

In 2021, IRAC CEO Scott Mackenzie said commission investigations remain confidential in cases where an infraction of the act is not found.

That lack of transparency has left some people with more questions than answers. During the meeting, Macdonald motioned to have the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands represent the forum participants in demanding IRAC investigate corporations and individuals involved in land transactions in Kings County. Macdonald also wants to have the investigation made public.

The motion was met with overwhelming approval from attendees at the forum.

Macdonald said he hopes a public investigation will help answer many outstanding questions about land use in the area.

“I’m hoping that by the (Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands) taking this to IRAC on behalf of the people, we may be able to get some full-on answers and some unredacted public consultation about actually what’s happening,” said Macdonald. “That’s all we’re asking for – straightforward, transparent action and answers.”

Monks respond to accusations from forum

The Guardian (Charlottetown)22 Mar 2023DAVE STEWART THE GUARDIAN dave.stewart@theguardian.pe.ca @Dvestewart

HEATHERDALE, P.E.I. – P.E.I. monks say they feel insulted and uncomfortable with accusations from a Prince Edward Island organization that Buddhists are buying more land than is allowed under provincial law.

The Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands held a public meeting in Montague March 18 to examine land use in Kings County. At the meeting, the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute (GWBI) and Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS) were accused of accumulating more land holdings than what is permitted under the province’s Lands Protection Act.

“We feel as though we’re being tied into the Chinese Communist Party and that we’re (being) funded and that (our existence here) is just a front, that our charity work is just a front,’’ Xing-chang, one of the monks speaking on behalf of GEBIS, said in an interview with Saltwire Network at the monastery in Heatherdale on March 21. “The school is under attack. The whole Buddhist group is being labelled as a Chinese Communist Party front. There might be some other agenda that we are trying to address (by speaking to the media), and we’re trying our best.’’

The publicly listed landholdings of GWBI and GEBIS are far below the 3,000-acre landholding limits allowed for corporations under provincial legislation. A public search of land purchases on the IRAC website shows GWBI currently owns 448 acres while GEBIS owns 576 acres.

On March 21, Sabrina Chang, who is with GWBI said that organization owns 663 acres, while GEBIS said it now owns 577 acres.

One of the featured speakers at the coalition’s meeting, Douglas Campbell, district director for the National Farmers Union in P.E.I., claimed that organizations and individuals with Buddhist affiliations own more than 15,000 acres of land in P.E.I. but declined when asked by Saltwire Network after the meeting to provide the information that the claim is based on.

Xing-shu, another monk Saltwire Network spoke to March 21, said the information is not true.

“It’s numbers they’ve pulled off the Internet,’’ Xing-shu said. “On one of their (social media) posts (March 21), it said it was up to 17,000 acres so I guess we bought another 2,000 acres in the last two days.’’

Campbell also suggested other shell companies or individuals are buying up land that is then being improperly used by Buddhist organizations.

Xing-shu said neither GWBI nor GEBIS knows how to respond to those types of accusations.

“If that is the platform for discussion there is no room for discussion here because that is an accusation right away,’’ he said. “How do we respond to that? We’ve commented publicly, we’ve told the public what we’re doing on the Island, that we’re building a monastery, that we’re farming organically.’’

Xing-shu said GEBIS and GWBI rent some land out to other organic farmers to support small businesses.

He added that in the past six years, neither organization has bought large tracks of land. Chang said GWBI has been more than forthcoming about its land holdings.

“We’ve appreciated the concerns about land and, thus, have welcomed questions and shared our total acreage of land holdings and usage in presentations within the local community, including the (P.E.I.) standing committee in 2020,’’ Chang said in an email to Saltwire Network on March 21. “Since then, we have not made any land purchases. We welcome open communication based on facts.’’

Share On Social Media

About the site

Stay up-to-date on Coalition activites here.

Find us

Address

81 Prince Street

Charlottetown, PE

c1A 4R3

Related Posts

UPCOMING FORUM

https://www.peicanada.com/island_farmer/silencing-of-the-land-topic-for-coalition-forum/article_377a8576-c754-11ee-b125-eb0a0b7d3ad0.html#tncms-source=block-contextual

Read More »