Editor:

Re: Question boils down to one of control, letter to the editor, March 23

According to the arguments Robert Kristinsson puts forward, there should be no Agricultural Land Reserve to put this enviable piece of farmland back into. In fact, there probably shouldn't be building code or animal welfare protection laws or pollution control legislation. If the thesis is that we let people do whatever they want with their own land ...

There are a fair number of people who share that unenlightened view. Since the Agricultural Land Reserve was created 38 years ago, polls have pretty consistently shown that 10 per cent of the population shares Kristinsson's views.

The last such poll, conducted in the winter of 2008, just before the provincial election and commissioned by the Gordon Campbell Liberals, showed 90 per cent of British Columbians continue to oppose any development of farmland.

Kristinsson refers to "rights" of landowners around the world. While British Columbia was miles ahead of the rest of the world in protecting farmland, as we stand in the midst of a global food security crisis, jurisdictions around the world have created farmland or green space reserves.

The Southlands should never have been removed from the ALR. It has been well documented that the exclusion was the result of political insiders and was contrary to sound science and land use planning. The community has an opportunity now to right that wrong.

Delta polled its citizens and learned that 62 per cent of them want the land used for agriculture, and nothing else. There was no need for another hearing or the ridiculous cloak-and-dagger secret mayor's summit.

Donna Passmore

Campaign Director

Farmland Defence League of B.C.