[All] Overview of CPPIB ending Land Banking Schemes

[Lanteigne]

Hi folks. This topic needed more background to really flesh things out on what is happening here. 


CPPIB is putting an end to their Land Banking of Farmlands across Canada. Two quick articles about it here. Approx. 120,000 acres in the US and approx. the same area size in Canada with prospects for South America and other locals. 
http://www.farms.com/amp/ag-industry-news/2017/canada-pension-plan-stops-investing-in-farmland-472.aspx#.WRMTW-zUV34.twitter

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKBN17S2JX-OCABS?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
Their withdraw is likely linked to the fact Walton's Land Bank schemes are entering insolvency.
http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/calgarys-walton-group-leading-land-developer-files-under-ccaa


Walton was buying up massive tracts of A1 farmlands in Ontario in 2012 and my group, the Grand River Environmental Network, were examining these deals with CCOB: Concerned Citizens of Brant.  
Walton was working out of Calgary through an agency in Singapore. They were doing deals with Empire Homes to build subdivisions where there were no viable water supplies available. The housing firm wasn't even disclosing the fact these same properties were being contested with First Nations as they were trying to flip these properties with potential buyers. The Caledonia area had been under dispute for quite some time because it actually is sitting on Treaty lands.   http://www.ubcpress.ca/books/pdf/chapters/2011/ConflictInCaledonia.pdf
To give some background to all this, the Liberals created a Pipeline scheme 35-40 years back which to access a future water supply from Lake Huron or Simcoe. They did this because they wanted to exploit the gravel of the Waterloo Moraine to build a big Toronto Like City cheap. The gravel is what provides our groundwater currently. We are the largest region dependent on ground sourced drinking water. (provides 75-80%). Most major cities are built where the gravel is easy to get.  So they bound the growth projections into the Places to Grow Act.
Later on laws for source water changed and they were unable to take water outside of the natural watershed so the water to provide for Waterloo Region now had to come from Lake Erie instead.  Stantec did the projections of $2.8 billion dollars for the pipeline but when I examined the numbers, it was really flimsy. Then I stumbled across their report regarding London's water supply and saw the distance of their pipeline is half the distance of the Lake Erie Pipeline to Waterloo and it appears they simply doubled the values. They excluded the costs of how much it would cost to treat and transport the water uphill all the way to Waterloo which would require huge amounts of energy to transport. When this plan was made there was no regard for Climate Change, zebra mussels or the decline of Lake Erie's algae issues. It was outside of their projections.  
Meanwhile Stantec did a survey looking for "old aquifers" that may serve as future water supplies. They dug boreholes throughout the Grand River Watershed. Geological folks I spoke with had details of the finds. They found black patina around Brant County. The land has both Natural Gas and Oil deposits so our fear was the potential for fracking along this major food belt. Data is data. It can be used many ways. 
For years my group as been fighting plans for subdivisions and mega dumps and below water table quarry pits in the Grand River Watershed which includes the Brant/Brantford area. The Empire subdivision around Caledonia clearly had no viable water supply yet they relied on the pipeline venture to come to fruition. What they didn't factor in was the fact that Region of Waterloo's success with water conservation has offset the need for the water pipeline beyond 2030. 
All in all I've spent 16 years of my life fighting off these badly designed schemes trying to protect our agricultural sector and water supplies for the long term.  It would be economic suicide if they allowed these plans to happen. We are the second largest food belt in Ontario second only to the Niagara Region. Food and food production is huge economic driver but further more, we are one of only Six countries who may be capable of food exports in the days ahead according to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. The water is the lifeline for all our communities, our universities and food and water security. I have a power point in the attachment that I gave to the Agricultural Minister to outline the economic risks. Feel free to use/circulate. 
CPPIB is looking to sell the lands now. Question is, who will buy it and for what purpose? 
Thanks
Louisette Lanteigne



   

   
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