VICTORIA – Internal government documents suggest that the Agricultural Land Reserve is at risk under the terms of The Trade Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) signed by the Alberta and British Columbia governments, NDP MLAs Michael Sather and Corky Evans said today.

Through a Freedom of Information request, the Opposition received copies of e-mails and correspondence that detail internal confusion about TILMA’s ramifications for the ALR. In those e-mails, senior civil servants recommended that BC and Alberta fast track their interpretation that TILMA does not affect the ALR.

But in a January 2007 letter to municipalities in both provinces, B.C. Minister of Economic Development Colin Hansen and Alberta Minister Guy Boutilier reject the advice of their advisors and state that they will not issue an interpretation until the ALR is challenged.

“It’s now clear that the Campbell government has ceded some authority over the future of the ALR to the Alberta government,” said Sather, the NDP critic for Intergovernmental Relations and MLA for Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows. “A joint interpretation means that British Columbia needs Alberta ’s consent to protect the ALR if it’s challenged under the agreement.”

NDP Agriculture Critic Corky Evans said the risk posed to the ALR by TILMA underscores the need for a full public debate about the agreement and its impact on British Columbia ’s future.

“Gordon Campbell signed this agreement on his own whim without consulting the public,” said Evans, the MLA for Nelson - Creston. “Now we’re seeing the result: confusion and growing concern about what it all adds up to for communities.

Evans and Sather urged the Campbell government to introduce a legislative amendment to TILMA in the fall to make the Agricultural Land Reserve exempt from the Agreement.