The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-05-03, Page 29Foreign investors big concern
BY
JACK RIDDELL
My article this week is
not about farmers going
broke and selling out, not
about drought or hard
times; but it is about
Ontario farmland being
sold for record price —
in many cases at prices
far above the going rates
and being bought by
foreign investors.
Next to rain, this has
become the leading topic
of conversation and
concern, not only in rural
areas but in the urban
areas as well, which was
obvious from the calls
which I received during a
CBC Radio talk show that
I wasasked to participate
in.
This,came about after I
raised the matter in the
Legislature and urged an
investigation of foreign
investment. I have been
contacted by many
people, of whom a good
number were farmers,
concerned that we are
selling out Ontario. Small
scale far-mers are
complaining that they are
being priced out of the
market and larger scale
farmers say they simply
cannot compete with the
special tax advantage
that foreign investors
have.
Yet no one knows how
much land foreigners
have bought and are
buying.
Let me make it per-
fectly clear that by
"foreign-owned", I am
referring to people non-
resident in Canada. I
certainly have no ob-
jections to foreign people
coming to this province
and competing with our
.own farmers in the
purchase and operation
of the farmland. For
many of these people and
I may use the Dutch for
an example, have made a
very great contribution to
the agricultural industry
in this country.
What I do object to is,
the foreign. capital being
transferred to this
country to purchase the
prime farmland, which
causes me a great deal of
worry in that large
amounts of foreign in-
vestment, frequently
concentrated in sizable
blocks of holdings, raise
questions about future
control of Canadian
resources and corn-
munities.
I don't think there is
' any question that enough
non-resident foreign
ownership in any one
area, can,affect the whole
social structure of a
community and in this
connection I may offer
such examples `as lack of
maintenance of
buildings, decreased
population for usage of
schools and hospitals,
limited buying support
for local businesses and
lack of support for
projects such as com-
munity arenas.
Apart from this, local
residents simply cannot
compete with foreign
capital under the present
economic circumstances.
The devalued dollar in
this country and lower
interest rates offered in
other countries, put
Ontario buyers at a
distinct disadvantage.
We could argue, I
suppose, that the foreign
investors are considered
people who often lease
the land back to
Canadians and pour in
development money to
introduce modern" srnall
farm techniques.
I am more inclined to
think that foreign in-
vestment will accelerate
the demise of the farm
family unit and I do know
that the rent being
Jack Riddell
charged in most cases for
the land which is foreign
controlled is unjustifiably
high from the standpoint
of ever hoping to make a
profit on that land.
The foreign investors
would like to think that
they could make five
percent on their in-
vestment, which means a
rental charge of $100 an
acre and that is $40 an
acre more than the tenant
farmers could pay in a
general farming.area and
hope to make a profit.
Foreign investors will
say that their aim is not
necessarily to make a
profit but rather to
preserve capital from the
ravages of inflation and
the spectre of creeping
socialism in their own
countries. All see such
countries as Canada and
the United States as a
bulwark of political
stability in a changing
world.
The main objection
from farmers is that
foreign buyers are paying
excessively high prices
for the land. That in turn
•pushes up the value of
land owned and prevents
young people from en-
tering farming or ex-
panding in the business.
What that really means
then is that the younger
generation of potential
farmers would be
reduced to nothing more
than tenant farmers.
Surely, we do not want
history to repeat itself in
this regard.
Some farmers feel that
their land is their pension
and they would like to be
able to sell it for the top
dollar, regardless of who
will eventually own the
land. Their point is well
-
taken if we choose to
disregard the future of
this country and if our
agricultural industry
becomes foreign con-
trolled, we can find
ourselves at the mercy of
other countries for the
food which we need for
our own domestic con-
sumption.
Should foreign in-
vestment continue to
escalate, we could con-
ceivably end up growing
crops totally unsuited to
our domestic needs but
entirely suitable to
foreign interest for their
own export purposes, a
well-known problem
which has existed and
aggravated conditions in
Third World countries.
Surely, we have
learned a lesson from the
energy situation which
we find ourselves in
today. We are so reliant
on the OPEC countries
for oil that we really have
very little say in the price
of even the assurance
that we will continue to
get this source of energy
which we cannot do
without at this particular
time.
Few people would feel
comfortable in arguing
that non -nationals should
be prohibited absolutely
from owning Canadian
real estate or farmland
but I think much of the
concern stems from a
lack of knowledge about
the extent of foreign
ownerships in an area,
the source and nature of
such large amounts of
ready cash, the long term
intent of foreign pur-
chases regarding the use
of the land and the lack of
any effective controls
over such purchases.
It was with this in mind
that I asked the Minister
of Agriculture and Food
to conduct a survey of
foreign investment of
Ontario farmland.
Other juris,8ictions
have become concerned
to the point that Prince
Edward Island and the
three Prairie Provinces
have taken legislative
measures to restrict
ownership of farmland by
non -Canadian residents
and last fall the United
States Congress passed a
law that will force all
foreigners to register
their land ownership. At
least 25 states have
enacted constraints of
some kind on foreign land
holdings.
Farmland in Ontario is
a prime and limited
resource and surely, it is
government''• respon-
sibility to see that the
farming industry does not
go the way of other in-
dustries throughout
Canada.
Speaking of foreign
ownership in general on a
national basis, the level
of foreign ownership in
Canada by 1971 had
surpassed that of all of
Western Europe ` com-
bined, including all of
Scandinavia, with all of
the foreign ownership in
Japan thrown in for good
measure. In every single
year since- 1971, the an-
nual growth of foreign
ownership in Canada has
set new records , year
after year as it did in
1977, as it did again last
year, as it will again this
year and again in. 1980,
not perhaps but for
certain.
Today, non -Canadians
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As a matter of fact, the largest com-
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that way by having a lot of people
working for themselves. That's right,
working for themselves. You see,
our representatives are independent
franchisees - they run their own
business, set their own hours, earn
as much as they're worth - no upper
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order. It's up Co the individual. And
they've been successful - very. That's
how we got to be the largest. But we
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We provide:
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control over 110 billion
dollars in Canadian
assets at book value. The
real market value is of
course, very con-
siderably beyond that
figure.
Today foreigner�
control 65 percent of all of
our combined
manufacturing, mining,
petroleum and natural
gas, 98 percent of our
rubber industry, 82
percent of our chemicals,
46 percent of pulp and
paper, 61 percent of
agricultural mach'bnery,
74 percent of electrical
apparatus industry, 59
percent of transportation
equipment, 96 percent of
the automobile and parts
industry and annually
increasing percentages of
wholesale and retail
business, food processing
and agricultural
distribution, grain
handling, forests
products and fishing.
Grim as they are, these
percentage figures are
actually under-
estimated. In reality
hundreds of important so-
called Canadian Cor-
porations are effectively
foreign controlled
through minority
ownership in widely held
companies.
There is so much talk
today about National
Unity but how can you
possibly have a country if
each and every day, you
sell off more of your
industry, more of your
land, more of your
resources to the
ownership and control of
people who live in other
countries.
I am convinced that we
must do things better.
I know that we can do
things better and I know
for certain that if we
don't soon make the
necessary changes, then
soon we can say goodbye
for ever to the dreams
and aspirations of so
many who have worked
for so long and so hard for
Canada. We can say
goodbye to the dreams of
Sir John A. MacDonald
and goodbye to the
dreams of Laurier,
goodbye to the dreams of
millions of immigrants
and goodbye to the op-
portunities for children
and their children.
If we corrtinue "giving
away the shop" and
giving away the country,
we can say goodbye to the
whole idea of Canada,
GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THUR3DAY, MAY 3 , 1979—PAGE 7A
Jennifer Whitely performs the Sailors' Hornpipe
during the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore staged at
Colborne Central School last week during
Education Week. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan)
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