Bill 232 — The Farm Land Ownership Act Dr Buck (Legislature 18, Session 3)

L18 S3 5837

Alberta — Bills

1977 Bin 232 Third Session, 18th Legislature, 26 Elizabeth II THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ALBERTA BILL 232 THE FARM LAND OWNERSHIP ACT DR BUCK First Reading Second Reading Third Reading . . .. Printed by the Queen's Printer for the Province of Alberta, EDMONTON

Bill 232 Dr. Buck BILL 232 1977 THE FARM LAND OWNE'RSHIP AC'T (Assented to , 1977) HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, enacts as follows: 1.

In this Act, (a) "aggregate land holding" of a person is the total of all land holdings held directly or beneficially by that person and includes all land holdings held di rectly or beneficially by that person's spouse or common law spouse, except a spouse from whom that person is judicially separated, and by that person's dependent children or other dependent relatives and for the purposes of this section, where a person :holds a piece of land jointly or in common with others, the shares specified or im plied by law shall be counted as his holding in such land and where the amount of each person's in terest is not stipulated on the title or implied by law, the Commission shall have the power to re quire the amounts to be declared; (b) "Commission" means the Farm Land Ownership Commission established pursuant to

section 5; (c) "holding" means an interest in land being a title in fee simple or a leasehold with an unexpired term in excess of ten years; (d) "land" means real property outside a city, town, village, summer village or hamlet and which is not subdivided but shall not include (

i) mineral, coal Dr oil and gas rights which do not include a holding in the surface rights, or (ii) any land used only for the purpose of exploit ing an interest listed in (i), or (iii) any land held for forest development or lum ber harvesting purposes only; (e) "Minister" means the Minister to whom the ad ministration of this Act is assigned; (f) "non-resident" means any individual, corporation, firm, association, body or authority that does not come within the definition of resident;

Explanatory Notes General: This Bill will limit the right of non-residents to hold farm land. I.

Definitions.

(g) "resident" means (

i) an individual who resided in Alberta for 183 days or more out of the previous 365 days, (ii) an individual the maj.ority of whose income de rives from farming and who resided for 183 days or more out of the previQus 365 days either in Alberta or within 20 miles of the bor der .of Alberta and within Canada, or (iii) a corpQration that has moOre than 60 per cent of its shares held by individuals who come within the meaning of subclauses (i) .or (ii). 2. Subj ect to sections 3 a.nd 4, no non-resident may hold an aggregate land holding in the Province in excess of 640 acres. 3.

(1) For the purposes of sectiQn 2 (

a) an acre of land which is not, and has not in the past three years been plowed shall count as half an acre until such time as it is plowed; (

b) an acre of !land which is treed or bushed toO a de gree that would require clearance by fire or power ed mechanical equipment before plQwing shall count as one-third of an acre; (

c) an acre of land which, because .of temporary or permanent water or marsh or rQcks or undulation .or crevasses .or .other significant physical feature, has never been and could not reasonably be expect ed to be plowed, shall count as a quarter of an acre;

(2) Any acre which CQunts as a fractiQn of an acre, by virtue of subsection (1) and is subsequently plowed shall continue to count as such fraction of an acre until immedi atelyafter such time as it is transferred by the person who owned it when it was plowed to an other person and shall then count as one acre.

(3) The Commission shall have power to designate by order areas .of the Province in which an acre of land shall for the purposes of

section 2, count as a fraction of an acre and in so doing the Commission shaH have due regard to the agricultural value .of the land and the size of an econo mic farming unit in such area.

(4) The Commission may from tim'e to time vary any designation made pursuant to subsection (3).

Section 2 shall not apply to (

a) any land acquired in exc-ess of that permitted by this Act, prior to June 1, 1977 or subsequently ac quired by excercis,e of a right or option that arose 2

2. Non-resident limited to holding of 640 acres. 3. Certain land may be deemed to be a lesser area. 4. Excepted land holdings. 2

before June 1, 1977 provided that such land shall be counted as a land holding for the purpose of establishing whether an acquisition on or after June 1, 1977 would contravene this Act; (

b) any land that is acquired on or after June 1, 1977 by foreclosure, quit claim, settlem,ent or O'ther realization of a security provided that the person acquiring such land shall, within two y,ears of such acquisition, divest himself of sufficient of land holdings as will bring his aggregate land holding within the limit established by

section 2; (

c) any land that is acquired on or after June 1, 1977 by demise or by operation of law consequent upon the death of another person provided that the per son acquiring such l'and shall, within three years of such acquisition, divest himself of sufficient of land holdings to bring his aggregate land holding within the limit established by secti.on 2; (

d) any land, owned by a non-resident individual when, during any previous c.ontinu.ous five-year pe~iod the individual, at the same time (

i) was a resident, (ii) was a farmer the majO'rity of whose income derived from farming, and (iii) was actively farming the land either pers.onal ly or by agent, empl.oyee or lessee. (

e) any land held by a non-resident person who ac quired it on .or after June 1, 1977 while resident provided that the pers.on sO' holding land shall, within two years .of ceasing to be resident, divest himself of sufficient land holdings to bring his total holding within the limit established by sections 2 and 3. 5.

(1) The shall be established a Farm Land Owner ship Commission which has objectives and has power (

a) to advise the Minister on the administration O'f this Act; (

b) to provide f.or inspection of land claimed to fall within the definitiO'n .of clause (a), (b) .or (

c) of secti.on 3; (

c) to investigate land hO'Jdings of 'any person; (

d) to make recommendations to the Minister arisling out of investigations; (

e) to maintain such records as are necessary to ensure the pr.oper administrati.on of this Act; (

f) to' carry .out such other duties as the Minister may from time to time 'as'sign; 3

5. Farrm Land Ownership Co~mission. 3

(

g) to conduct hearings and make orders to secure compliance with this Act including orders to divest or transfer land or to produce documents; and ('

h) to make investigations and to conduct hearings to establish the areas referred to in

section 3 (3).

(2) The Commission shall cons'ist of such members as shall be appointed thereto by the Lieutenant Governor in Council and members may be paid such salary and expenses as are provided for by monies appropriated by the Legisla ture. 6.

(1) An order of the Farm Land Ownership Com mission may be appealed by originating notice of motion to the Supreme Court of Alberta, and the court may af firm, vary or reverse 'any such order or make any further order as it sees fit to secure cDmpliance with this Act.

(2) Where a nDn-resident fails tD comply with an order of the Commission within six months of the date the order is served on the non-resident, the CDmmission may apply to a Judge of the Supreme Court who shall enfDrce com pliance wi,th this Act and may order land held contrary to' this Act to be sold by public tender and make such other 'Order relating to the land and tD the CDSts 'Of the applica tion as he sees fit tD secure compliance with this Act. 7.

Every tf1ansfer 'Of any interest in re'al prDperty in the Province presented for registration by the Registrar of Land Titles shall be accompanied by a statutDry decl'ara tion stating whether Dr not the interest constitutes a land holding fDr the purposes of this Act a'nd if it does SD con stitute a land holding stating whether Dr not the transfe·ree is resident and if he is not resident, stating whether or not the transfer will C'ause the transferee's aggregate land hDlding to exceed that permitted by this Act. 8.

The Registrar of Land ':Ditles shall refuse to register any transfer of an interest in land unless it is accompanied by the statutory declaration mentiDned in sectiDn 7 and un less the declaratiDn shows that the transferee will not in fringe the prDvisiDns 'Of this Act as a result of such trans fer. 9.

(1) Any perSDn, being an indhnidual, whO' cDntra venes this Act, or being a director Dr 'Officer 'Of a corpora tion Dr partner in a firm that, with his prior knDWledge contravenes this Act is guilty of an offence 'and liable, on

summary cDnviction, tD a fine not exceeding $10,000 or im pr~sDnment fDr a term not exceeding six mDnths or to both fine and imprisonment. 4

6. Orders of Commission appeaol'able. 7. Transfers accompanied by declaration df residence. 8. No transfers registered without declaration or if in infringe ment of Act. 9. Offences; penalties. 4

(2) Any corporation, association, firm, body or author ity which contravenes this Act is guilty of an offence and liable, on

summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding $50,000. 10. This Act comes into force on the day upon which it is assented to. 5

10. Coming into force. 5 Title: 1977 (18th, 3rd) Bill 232, The Farm Land Ownership Act

Document details

Collection	Alberta — Bills
Citation	L18 S3 5837
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	L18 S3 5837
Language	en
Format	json
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	060987dad760bf25f7c1921ab37d26252ad1cb7a

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