Discouraging Port Metro Vancouver from Expanding on Agricultural Lands

WHEREAS the Canada Marine Act e.g., through Letters Patent and pursuant to the Port Authorities Management Regulations allows Port Metro Vancouver PMV to undertake port activities including the shipping, navigation, transporting and handling of goods and passengers, including managing, leasing, licensing, acquiring and disposing of lands for the purposes of operating and supporting port operations; AND WHEREAS PMV has purchased land in the BC Agricultural Land Reserve ALR in the City of Richmond, totalling 241.51 acres, which over time it intends to develop for port purposes and these ALR land purchases have been authorized by the issuance of Supplementary Letters of Patent signed by the Minister of Transport Canada; AND WHEREAS the City of Richmond has advised PMV that it continues to strongly object to its Land Use Plan, as it does not protect ALR land, and has requested the PMV Board to delete the Special Study Areas located within ALR in the City of Richmond, and create a policy which prohibits the expansion of PMV operations on all ALR lands; Therefore be it resolved that the Lower Mainland Local Government Association LMLGA and the Union of BC Municipalities UBCM call on the federal government and the Minister of Transport Canada, through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities FCM and other avenues as appropriate, to: 1. Request the Minister of Transport Canada to rescind the March 24, 2009 Supplementary Letter of Patent attached issued by the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, which authorized the transfer of the 229.34 acre Agricultural Lands real property, described in this Supplementary Letter of Patent, from A.C. Gilmore Sons Farms Ltd. to PMV, and order the PMV Board to dispose of this real ALR property and other real ALR properties, currently designated in their Plan as Special Study Areas, for agricultural purposes, at fair market value; 2. Request the Minister of Transport Canada, by way of regulatory changes e.g., to the Canada Marine Act, the Port Authorities Management Regulations and Letters of Patent, to prohibit the PMV and its subsidiaries, from purchasing any ALR land in the City of Richmond and within the Metro Vancouver region, for port purposes; and, 3. Request the Minister of Transport Canada to require PMV to establish, with the local governments located within the area in which it operates, a meaningful consultation process and a formal dispute resolution process to address MunicipalPMV issues arising from its operations and activities.