Josh Lewis Oct 30, 2024
The new Minister of Lands says the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) should release the findings of its 2018 investigation into land holdings of Buddhist groups in eastern PEI.
The fact it was never made public is probably “the big reason why” speculation on the issue continues to this day, he said.
The report was commissioned by IRAC, he said.
“We don’t have it but I will ask for it.
“I think we should be releasing any information (we) have access to. I’d want to get it out in the public,” he said. “Make data available and people can make their own conclusions.”
IRAC should be given more tools to investigate such matters, he said, “to make sure they’re able to dig deeper and land transactions have a higher level of transparency through the whole process.”
The crux of the current debate over Buddhist holdings is “how much land they bought – let’s call a spade a spade,” the minister said.
“People are concerned about who owns land on PEI because we’re small and we only have so much of it. I fall into that category myself.”
