Whereas British Columbia currently has no legislation restricting foreign ownership of agricultural land in the province, resulting in concern among British Columbians that unrestricted foreign ownership of agricultural land in British Columbia may cause speculation in land prices and compromise the security and sustainability of food production in British Columbia; And whereas additional concerns resulting from unrestricted foreign ownership of agricultural land include: pressures on the limited protected agricultural land in BC; unmanaged lands with no local oversight leading to invasive species issues; whether the tax rate on non-resident ALR ownership should be different; and whether foreign ownership of ALR lands is in the long-term interest of the agricultural industry in British Columbia: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM support Recommendation 24 of the Revitalizing the Agricultural Land Reserve and the Agricultural Land Commission Report, December 2018 and lobby the provincial government to adopt policies restricting foreign ownership of ALR land in British Columbia, similar to those of other Canadian jurisdictions.
Ministry of Agriculture and Food In Canada, owners of farmland must adhere to all applicable laws, regulations, and bylaws set by federal, provincial, local, and First Nations governments, irrespective of their residency. British Columbia BC protects farmland for agricultural use through the Agricultural Land Commission Act and the Agricultural Land Reserve ALR, rather than through controlling ownership. In addition, the Province, through the Property Transfer Tax Act, imposes an additional property transfer tax of 20 percent also known as the foreign buyers tax on foreign nationals, foreign corporations and taxable trustees who purchase residential properties in specified areas in the province. Taxing foreign owners may help address housing affordability in BC by reducing foreign demand and curbing speculation in the residential property market. In January 2023, the federal government enabled the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act Foreign Buyer Ban, which banned non-Canadians from purchasing residential property in Canada for two years starting in January 2023. The ban applies to Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations as defined by Statistics Canada. The federal government recently extended the ban to January 1, 2027. Property transfer tax data from the Ministry of Finance shows that foreign investment has declined steadily from 3 percent of annual transactions in 2017 to 1 percent in 2024 in BCs real estate market since the implementation of the foreign buyers tax. Any exploration of policies restricting foreign ownership of ALR land in BC would need to be undertaken in collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Attorney General and the Ministry of Finance.