ontario conservation area

Province said to lack foresight in land development policy

Ag group says more proactive strategies are needed to stem farmland loss

Some members of Ontario’s agricultural and conservation communities do not think the provincial government is taking urban sprawl seriously enough. They say current provincial land development policy is detrimental to farmland, natural heritage and Ontario’s future. On the farm side, the rate at which land is being lost to housing and other developments is due […] Read more

File photo of a pumpjack in an Alberta field. (ImagineGolf/E+/Getty Images)

Alberta gives oil and gas drillers municipal tax break

Reuters — Struggling oil and gas companies in Alberta will get a three-year break on municipal property taxes for land where they are drilling wells or building pipelines, the provincial government said on Monday. The Alberta government said it would also lower property tax assessments on less-productive wells and eliminate a provincial tax on drills. […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Drought-hit tax deferral zones named

Ottawa has seen enough drought in parts of southwestern Alberta, southern and eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec to offer deferrals on their ranchers’ 2016 income tax from breeding livestock sales. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Tuesday released the federal government’s initial list of municipalities designated for the 2016 deferral. In Alberta, those areas include Clearwater, […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Drought-related tax deferral zones expand in West

More livestock producers in the West who had to sell breeding stock due to drought in the 2015 tax year will be able to defer some or most of that income at tax time. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Tuesday announced more designated areas in all four western provinces where producers will be eligible […] Read more