The B.C. election race officially got underway this week with affordability, housing costs and healthcare already entrenched as top concerns for voters.
Yet the climate crisis still ranks high as an election issue, right after health and pocketbook concerns — ahead of other problems like crime and the toxic drug crisis — and may be the deciding factor for undecided voters at the ballot box.
The Clark government introduced legislation dividing the province’s Agriculture Land Reserve in half. In the South, “decisions will continue to be made on the basis of the original principle of preserving agricultural land.” They want freedom to reconsider how parcels the Northern section will be used. A news release entitled “Food for Thought” explained this by saying 85% of agricultural revenues came from a mere 10% of the land. It looks like the BC Government wants to frack BC’s Agricultural Land Reserve in the north.
Opposition MLA Vicki Huntington had stronger words, “Without consultation, this government has introduced legislation to remove 90 per cent of BC’s farmland from the ALC’s (Agricultural Land Commission) independent mandate to protect farmland and farming.”
