Mo Rajabally - Council Candidate

[wanderer]

Hi Mr Rajabally

I appreciate you taking the time to come online here and talk with us.

I have you on my list of people to vote for, except for your comments about agricultural land.

I come from a farming background so I do understand that most farmer's wealth is in their land. That said, if they truly are farmers, they have gone into the farming enterprise in BC knowing their land is under the protection of the ALR. If they don't want that to be they should have gone into a different line of work and purchased another business as a source of income. What the ALR does, or tries to do when the Provincial politicos aren't screwing things up, is try to ensure farmland is not exploited by developers who could care less about the viability of the land as a source of food. I would suggest that right now there are people who own farm land who purchased it on speculation that in the future they will be able to pull it out of the ALR and develop it; paving it with asphalt and concrete so it can never be returned to use as farmland. These are not farmers although they may try to give the appearance they are.

Why don't people understand that when you pave over land, cover it with concrete, saturate it with oil and plastics, build row on row of houses on it, that you can never get it back to a source of food production that it originally was? It is just as non-renewable as oil, once it's gone it's gone and we need to protect it. Also valley soil is the richest and finest for producing food, once we use up this land we can't just go farm on a mountain top ... it's too cold for some crops and it is more rock than soil. When we come to the point of not having affordable transport to ship things up from California or Mexico do you think our grandchildren will be thanking us for paving over and destroying the resources we do have right here in our own community?

Ok ... sorry didn't mean to rant, and the rant was not directed at you Mr Rajaballly just to developers in general.

[onestop67]

I have you on my list of people to vote for, except for your comments about agricultural land.

Not sure what the problem is.

Mr. Rajabally SUPPORTS the ALR. Isn't that what you want, also???

[wanderer]

I have you on my list of people to vote for, except for your comments about agricultural land.

Not sure what the problem is.

Mr. Rajabally SUPPORTS the ALR. Isn't that what you want, also???

Don't get upset now!! As I said my concern was/is with Mr. Rajabally's initial statement about agricultural land not his later statement about supporting the ALR. I suppose for me that means as an example: If there is a piece of land in the ALR that goes to a public discussion or where the ALR governing body asks for input from the city before making a decision, I would like to know where the cousellor's thought process might be regards that.

I'm on both your sides really, and have the greatest respect for Mr. Rajabally so cut the defensive mode.

[onestop67]

Don't get upset now!! As I said my concern was/is with Mr. Rajabally's initial statement about agricultural land not his later statement about supporting the ALR. I suppose for me that means as an example: If there is a piece of land in the ALR that goes to a public discussion or where the ALR governing body asks for input from the city before making a decision, I would like to know where the cousellor's thought process might be regards that.

I'm on both your sides really, and have the greatest respect for Mr. Rajabally so cut the defensive mode.

What defensive mode? I asked a question as you seemed to be contradicting yourself.

Don't be so touchy. Cut the assuming mode.

[mrajabally]

Thank you wanderer for writing. When I filled every questionnaire I had received for this election concerning the ALR, to the best of my knowledge, I have said I have always supported the ALR. When I answered grumpy, I raised a question: Is it fair to tell a farmer he or she cannot sell his land? I have been so accustomed, as a retired university professor, to getting my students to think and to raise more questions that I unconsciously continue the practice. Simply, I do play the devil advocate. I believe my answer was as definite as it could be: I support the protection of every piece of land under the ALR. Both you and grumpy have raised very good points that will make those who thing otherwise to think again, if they held a different view.

Wanderer, I have known the odd persons who had deliberately not farmed their land and they were willing to forgo go all the tax benefits Grumpy mentioned so that they could speculate. But to do that, they needed help to do it: (a) from Planning Department, (b) from Council, and (c) from the Provincial Government. It is always up to the Provincial Government to give the final approval. But, as you well know, arms could always be twisted and they do get twisted. It is not a terribly uncommon practice.

Wanderer, I am not a saint, but I sure can differentiate between bad apples masquerading as good oranges and good apples!!!