Latest news with #IslandRegulatoryandAppealsCommission
CBC
01-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Borden-Carleton mayor concerned over MLA's public meeting about proposed gas station
Social Sharing The mayor of Borden-Carleton is raising concerns about a public meeting to be held Monday by the area's MLA, Matt MacFarlane, about the planning of a fourth gas station in the town. The proposed project, to be built by D.P. Murphy at the corner of the Trans-Canada Highway and the Dickie Road, would include a gas station, coffee shop and convenience store. It's sparked discussion in the community in the past, with some residents and business owners saying the town of about 800 people is already "well served" by three other gas stations. The proposal is under review by the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, which is responsible for approving retail gas outlets on the Island. In a letter to Housing, Land and Communities Minister Steven Myers, Borden-Carleton Mayor Randy Ahearn said MacFarlane's meeting could cause issues. MLA's meeting 'undermines integrity of municipal planning process,' Borden-Carleton mayor warns 3 hours ago Duration 2:14 Borden-Carleton officials are expressing concern about a public meeting being planned on a proposed gas station development. The district's Green MLA has organized it. The P.E.I. town's mayor says the meeting risks causing confusion about the planning process. Now the provincial minister involved, Steven Myers (shown), is weighing in. CBC's Wayne Thibodeau has the story. "The MLA's decision to host a separate meeting — without any consultation with town council — undermines the integrity of the municipal planning process," he wrote. "This is not an official part of the planning framework and risks creating confusion among residents, while signaling to potential investors that due process can be sidestepped for political purposes." Ahearn said planning and developing are "core municipal responsibilities," adding: "When an MLA initiates parallel processes, it not only disrupts community trust — it may deter future developers who question whether their projects will be reviewed fairly and predictably under the planning act." 'These are my constituents too' Myers said he doesn't think the project needs additional oversight in the form of MacFarlane's meeting. "After I got the letter, I sought out legal advice to see what path we could chart to make sure the town not only felt that they were supported, but... have the room to operate without having to stickhandle a backbench MLA," Myers told CBC News on Tuesday. "This is all well inside the governance framework that is set up by the provincial government so, you know, we don't feel like it needs extra oversight at this point, but for some reason Matt MacFarlane does." IRAC's public hearing is scheduled for May 13. In the meantime, MacFarlane said he doesn't see what's wrong with setting up a meeting with his constituents on a topic of public interest. "This is an opportunity for people to speak on both sides of the issue if they want, and my intention is to make note of what I'm hearing, what people say and I'll send those comments along to IRAC as part of their deliberation process," he said. This repeated pattern is deeply troubling. — Randy Ahearn, Borden-Carleton mayor "I recognize they're a part of the town, but these are my constituents too, and they reach out to me and they... want to know what they can do to have their voices heard." Ahearn said this isn't the first time MacFarlane has hosted a public meeting about an upcoming project in the town. "A similar situation occurred during discussions around the Fabrication Yard Project. This repeated pattern is deeply troubling," he wrote in his letter to Myers. For his part, MacFarlane said he wants to meet with town officials before the public meeting. "I continue to communicate regularly with the town and their new CAO," he said. "If we can get a chance to get together before the public meeting, great. I'm hoping we can." Statement sent from town CBC News asked for an interview with Ahearn about his letter. He was not available Wednesday, but the town sent a statement. "The matter in question is currently before the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC), and it is essential that the established regulatory and planning process is respected and followed. It would be inappropriate for members of council to comment on an application that is currently being processed by IRAC," the statement reads. "In the interest of due process of integrity, we trust that all parties — including the MLA in question — will allow the IRAC process and the town's planning framework to proceed without undue influence or parallel initiatives."
CBC
19-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Big savings at the pump ahead as carbon tax ends for P.E.I. fuel April 1
The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission has confirmed the consumer carbon tax will be removed from P.E.I. fuel prices starting next month. The change follows an order in council signed by Mark Carney in his first move as prime minister on Friday. While the order eliminates the consumer carbon tax, Canadians will still receive the carbon rebate for the month. Currently, the tax adds 17.6 cents per litre to gasoline and 21.4 cents to diesel. However, because HST is also applied to the carbon tax, the actual savings at the pump will be slightly higher — about 20 cents per litre for gas and 24 cents for diesel starting April 1. There's no carbon tax charged on home heating oil as Ottawa announced a controversial exemption for that a year and a half ago. Initiative meant to promote sustainability Former prime minister Justin Trudeau first implemented the carbon pricing scheme in 2019. It was designed as a financial incentive for people and businesses to change their behaviour to burn less fossil fuel and transition to greener forms of energy, helping Canada lower its emissions. But as Canadians experienced high inflation in the years following, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's pledge to "axe the tax" gained traction among voters.
CBC
06-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
How much land do Buddhist groups on P.E.I. control? Here's why it's hard to come up with a number
It's a direct question... but also an indirect question: How much land do two Buddhist organizations in the province control? The Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission is diving into the mystery after the province recently ordered a review. CBC's Kerry Campbell, who has spent years covering the ins and outs of the province's Lands Protection Act, takes a look at the numbers that are publicly available so far.
CBC
06-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Calculation of Buddhist land holdings could lead to better enforcement of land limits, group hopes
An investigation into Buddhist land holdings in P.E.I. ordered by Minister of Land Steven Myers could provide the first legal test of measures in the Lands Protection Act meant to prevent concentration of land ownership across multiple linked corporations. It could also peel back the curtain to provide Islanders with a glimpse into how that landmark piece of legislation is being enforced — something that hasn't been made public for more than a decade. On Feb. 4, Myers directed the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to investigate the land holdings of the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute (GWBI) and the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS) "to determine whether the corporations have contravened the [Lands Protection Act] or regulations." In his letter to IRAC, Myers referred to a specific amendment to the act from 2022 that refers to direct and indirect control of land, representing the latest attempt by Island lawmakers to prevent large corporations with deep pockets from getting around the intent of the act. The Lands Protection Act is a unique piece of legislation first introduced in the 1980s that sets limits on the amount of P.E.I. land that individuals and corporations can own. It also requires corporations and non-residents to apply and receive cabinet approval for any land purchase of more than five acres. Myers wants review of Buddhist land holdings in P.E.I. to include indirectly controlled parcels 21 days ago Duration 3:02 P.E.I.'s minister of housing, land and communities has ordered a new investigation to look at the land holdings of Buddhist organizations in the province. Steven Myers said he hopes this will address years of questions, speculation and innuendo. The announcement was welcome news to the municipality caught up in the middle of it all — and to the Buddhists themselves. CBC's Kerry Campbell reports. "We've been speaking for generations now of loopholes in the Lands Protection Act," said Boyd Allen, a member of the grassroots Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands. The coalition has been calling for a much wider review of corporate and non-resident land ownership in the province, but has welcomed the current smaller-scope review into Buddhist land holdings. Allen said a thorough investigation in this case "would provide a clear snapshot of where we need to bolster the LPA," which he hopes leads to more proactive enforcement of the land limits for all parties — not just the two groups named by the minister for the current review. Buddhist groups welcome chance to end 'speculation' Both GWBI and GEBIS have denied suggestions that they own more land than allowed by law, and say they welcome the investigation. "There's so many rumours going around. I'd much rather have everything out in [the] clear … just base everything on facts," said Sabrina Chiang with GWBI. "Speculation… it's not a healthy way to live and it's not good for the community." Provincial land records show that both organizations are well below the ownership limit of 3,000 acres for corporations. The records show GEBIS owns 30 parcels of land, totalling about 580 acres; GWBI owns 22 parcels totalling 663 acres. Charitable tax filings from the two corporations show they claimed a combined $161 million in assets in 2023, including $78 million worth of land and buildings. Both groups also say their land holdings should be counted separately, and not combined as part of the larger Taiwan-based Tibetan Buddhist movement called Bliss and Wisdom, with which both are associated. There's no way to know if IRAC will consider each corporation's holdings separately, or whether it might consider other corporations related to Bliss and Wisdom. A previous investigation conducted by IRAC that concluded in 2018 included GEBIS, GWBI and three other corporations: Moonlight International Foundation, Grain Essence Garden Inc.; and Splendid Essence Restaurant Inc. The results of that investigation have never been made public. Drilling down into publicly available information on any of those corporations can lead a person down a rabbit hole of corporations which seem to bear some commonalities — though that's not to say they would be deemed to be under the same control. New report on P.E.I. Buddhist organization land holdings will be made public, minister says 21 days ago Duration 7:55 Minister of Housing, Land and Communities Steven Myers has ordered IRAC to launch a new review into the land holdings owned and/or controlled by two Buddhist organizations in P.E.I. While the result of a previous investigation from 2018 was never released to the public, Myers says that won't be the case this time. For example, land titles owned by Moonlight International link back to the Charlottetown address of the Splendid Essence Restaurant, owned by Splendid Essence Restaurant Inc. In the P.E.I. government's corporate registry, Splendid Essence lists the same shareholders as Grain Essence Garden Inc. The corporate mailing address for Grain Essence Garden leads to the Leezen organic food store in Charlottetown, on land owned by Canada Prajna Wisdom Co. Ltd., a federally registered corporation. One of the directors listed by the federal government for that corporation owns a parcel of land in Cornwall that also comes up as the corporate address for yet another corporation: Moonlight Charities Inc. But even if all these were counted together, their land holdings would still fall below the limits set out in the Lands Protection Act, totalling 2,275 acres. Other land holdings that might also be considered as related to the Buddhist expansion into P.E.I. include 504 acres owned by Hopetown Development Company, which is linked to a proposed residential development, along with 499 acres held by the spiritual leader of Bliss and Wisdom, Master Zhen Ru, under her birth name Meng Rong Jin. All these land holdings taken together amount to 3,278 acres — still within the limits of the Lands Protection Act when exemptions for non-arable land are factored in, and well short of the 17,000 acres the Coalition for the Protection of P.E.I. Lands has suggested is controlled by Bliss and Wisdom. That 17,000-acre figure was included in a 2023 story published by the Toronto Globe and Mail, though that story made it clear the Globe had not confirmed the figure. GWBI and GEBIS have both asked the coalition for a list of land parcels it used to arrive at the figure. CBC News has also asked for that list, but the coalition has said it's not able to provide the information. "Numerous media outlets have attempted to investigate these claims, but none have been able to obtain any evidence to substantiate them," GEBIS said in a Feb. 6 statement. "The overly inflated figure has caused fear and division within our community." 3 months ago Duration 2:54 Buddhist monks and nuns who have set up monasteries in eastern P.E.I. have become worried about their safety, after recent online rhetoric has stirred up public backlash against their organizations and supporters owning more than 1,200 acres of land. CBC's Wayne Thibodeau reports. In announcing the new investigation, Myers said this: "What it comes down to — and this is the concern that you will hear around the area that we're standing [in] here now, in Three Rivers — is the link[s], and who is connected to who, and are all the connections together one entity and are they over their land holdings? "I think that's what this investigation is going to find out." Should individual land holdings be included? Questions have also been raised as to whether corporations falling under Bliss and Wisdom have been involved in land purchases made by individual monks, nuns, lay people or their family members. At a standing committee meeting in October 2020, Cory Deagle, then a backbench MLA and chair of the legislature's standing committee on natural resources, brought forward multiple internal emails he said were from GWBI. One email, relating to the potential purchase of a home, included a suggestion to "pretend that the lay people are buying first for better negotiation and then transfer to GWBI later before closing." Another email included a list of 12 residential properties, whether they were winterized, and what they might be used for. At the committee meeting, it was disclosed that some of the properties belonged to GWBI while others were owned by individuals. Another email posed a question: "The land holding of one monk exceeds 750 acres. Should he file a report with IRAC as prescribed in LPA right now?" Yet another email disclosed that a house purchase would include "five buyers to hold title to avoid IRAC application" — apparently in order to reduce the number of acres per buyer to five or less, below the threshold at which a non-resident must apply for and receive cabinet approval to purchase property in the province. CBC News has found other titles where land purchases were similarly able to go forward with multiple buyers, including two parcels of land in Valleyfield that in 2017 were sold to a group including 15 non-resident buyers, all from the same province in northern China. The next year, the combined 75 acres of land were sold to a single resident land owner. "We're not perfect and we made some mistakes but we never have the intention to lie or to avoid or to cheat," Yvonne Tsai, a nun with GWBI, said at the 2020 committee meeting. GWBI does not control, or we have no interference in the land or the personal activities of individual nuns. — Joanna Ho "In the first few years, maybe we were lacking of local knowledge and we were advised by some people [on] what things can be done locally, but later on, we realized maybe that's not the correct way to do it and we fixed it." Joanna Ho also attended that 2020 meeting on behalf of GWBI. In an interview with CBC News last week, she said that at the time of those emails, the organization was helping to bridge language and cultural barriers with individuals in purchasing or maintaining properties on the Island. She said that assistance has since stopped. "GWBI does not control, or we have no interference in the land or the personal activities of individual nuns," Ho said. Concerns about Irving land holdings too Concerns have also been raised about other corporations that could own more land than allowed under the Lands Protection Act. A CBC News investigation last fall found that 20 corporations with ties to the Irving family own more than 12,000 acres on Prince Edward Island. In the legislature last November, Myers said concerns about Irving-related land holdings had "been fabricated by the Green Party." In February, he provided a more nuanced response to the question of the Irvings, saying public pressure and threats against municipal council members in Three Rivers, where GWBI and GEBIS own land, made those groups' holdings a bigger priority. After that investigation, Myers said, "The door is open for us to investigate whatever entities we need to to satisfy the public that we've done everything we can do to protect the land in P.E.I." A key to addressing the public unrest that has surfaced at public meetings of Three Rivers council will be to make the findings of the new investigation public, which Myers has pledged to do. The minister and a legislative standing committee have both recently requested IRAC provide a copy of the report from its 2018 investigation, to no avail. In both cases, the commission responded with a letter saying it was in contact with legal counsel over the matter. When CBC News requested a copy of that report through freedom of information legislation, IRAC responded by saying it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of the report. If public disclosure surrounding land holdings and the application and approval process is lacking, Islanders will never know if enforcement is needed, or has been needed. Similarly, the 2020 report from an investigation into the Brendel Farms land transaction involving a member of the Irving family has also never been made public. P.E.I.'s privacy commissioner said in 2021 that the report could be released in response to a freedom of information request filed by CBC News — but that still hasn't happened, four years later. The last time IRAC posted a public order involving an investigation under the Lands Protection Act was in 2014. Green MLA Matt MacFarlane said the level of transparency with regard to the act has been reduced to the point "that decisions made within it will always have a cloud of suspicion hanging over them."
