From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
   Who would have thought that agricultural land in BC was being sold to foreign   
   company involved in making products with chemicals and various drugs?  And the   
   reason for it? . . . . to plant trees as an off-set to their environmental   
   carbon footprint.     
   This could accurately be called a 'food for drugs' scheme - endorsed by the BC   
   Liberals.     
      
   No bloody wonder environmentalists and 'the left' are gaining strength and   
   ground in Canada.  They're literally trying to *regain* that ground.   
   __________________________________________   
   CBC News Posted: Jun 26, 2015   
      
   Reckitt Benckiser's carbon credit scheme destroying B.C. farmland, says NDP   
      
   British company bought over 10,500 hectares of farmland to plant trees for its   
   carbon offset program   
      
      
   Thousands of hectares of B.C. farmland may be ruined for food production for   
   hundreds of years by a British chemical company's carbon credit scheme,   
   according to the B.C. NDP.   
      
   Company Reckitt Benckiser bought over 10,500 hectares of agricultural land in   
   Northern B.C. in order to plant trees and bank carbon credits.   
      
   The company website says since launching the program in 2006 it has planted   
   seven million trees on land in B.C. that was previously cleared, with the aim   
   of offsetting the carbon emissions of its manufacturing operations by 2017.   
      
   But according to Lana Popham, the NDP agriculture and food critic, the land   
   should be protected for farming food, not trees.   
      
   "This land could potentially be out of production for hundreds of years   
   because it's now owned by this corporation in the UK," said Popham.   
      
   Popham says even though the land was included in the Agricultural Land   
   Reserve, that was not enough to protect it from being taken out of   
   agricultural production.   
      
   That's why she is demanding B.C.'s Ministry of Agriculture introduce   
   legislation to prevent inappropriate use of farmland in the future.   
      
   "We could've avoided it by having legislation that basically had a mechanism   
   that sent it to the Agricultural Land Commission for approval, and in this   
   case, I don't think this way of using the land would've been approved by the   
   commission."   
   Legislation needed?   
      
   Popham has already drafted her own private members bill, which she plans to   
   introduce to farmers in Prince George this weekend.   
      
   But she says the Ministry of Agriculture needs to take action to prevent the   
   problem in future.   
      
   Previously B.C. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick has said such legislation   
   already exists.   
      
   "In November of 2011, the government put a change to the ALC Act which says   
   that a covenant ... that restricts or prohibits use of agriculture land for   
   foreign purposes has no effect until approved by the commission," he said in   
   April.   
      
   On Friday, Letnick also noted the company did not break any rules.   
      
   "Growing trees is a permitted use on agricultural land. People do it all the   
   time. The challenge is, we don't want people to be putting trees on good,   
   productive agricultural land for 100 years and just take away the possibility   
   of growing food on that    
   land."   
      
   Reckitt Benckiser has not returned the CBC's calls for comment, but has   
   reportedly stopped buying up farmland in B.C. for carbon offsets because of   
   the negative media attention.   
      
   http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-governme   
   t-warns-of-limits-on-tree-planting/article24560070/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)