Letter to the Editor,
Note: (This letter was also sent to the Minister of Agriculture)
I’m sending this letter in favour of the ALR lands around Revelstoke and in the Columbia Valley. We own ALR land and I would like to know how much ALR land has been lost in the Columbia Valley in the last 40-50 years? We have to quit using our ALR & BC Real Estate for bank accounts for the wealthy. It sits empty and none productive. Eg. original owners of one of the Catherwood properties got $900,000, 10 months ( shows unknown owner) later it sells to a # company for 4.6 million?? These Valleys should be used as a way of life and farming is a big part of life, food, fresh air, fresh water and nature, all major necessities of life. Yet we are prepared to let Development on our precious ALR lands destroy this land forever, sad. BC has less then 5% land available for farming! Yet 90-95% of B.C’s people support ALR lands.
These development assaults on ALR are just that, Assaults. Not only on the land but the surrounding neighbours, many who have been here for many decades. We don’t know what is coming next, global warming, earthquakes, war, are you willing to gamble with something as precious as food. I talked to our local MLA who quoted to me personally over the phone “ The ALR has no business in the Columbia Valley “ to which I asked him if he knew how much farm land was flooded in our valley in the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s, to which he answered “No”. Probably not a supporter of the ALR. We have councils that think digging huge voids of gravel pits right below a dam as good idea!
There was huge potential for development on the west side road but they seem to think our ALR lands are a better choice (Ridiculous). In my view, there should be a value for money audit done on this cities budget and administration. There was a program on CBC where a question of legitimacy of these #’ed companies and the source of their investment dollars, could this have reached us here.We don’t own the land, the land owns us, we are just caretakers for the next generation!
These lands are precious and non renewable, they must remain available for farming. Once you pave paradise you can’t go back! Please think of our future generations when making ALR decisions, enough has been lost already to greedy development. Thank you for your time.
Your truly
Daren Corneliuson
I encourage everyone who supports the ALR to participate on their online engagement options through email and a survey. The details can be found at https://engage.gov.bc.ca/
