UCP leadership candidate Travis Toews has committed to enforcing Alberta’s trespass laws should Trudeau’s climate agents illegally enter farmers’ premises to test nitrogen levels.
“These reports out of Saskatchewan are disturbing! The federal government has no right to trespass on private land. As Premier, I would ensure that Alberta landowners are protected and that trespass laws are enforced!” tweeted Toews in response to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.
Saskatchewan Minister Jeremy Cockrill and Premier Scott Moe have both sounded the alarm on reports of Government of Canada employees trespassing on farmers’ land to test the water in dugouts to measure nitrate levels.
Cockrill has since penned a letter to the federal government to tell Trudeau and climate minister Steven Guilbeault that such actions constitute a breach of the Saskatchewan Trespass to Property Act, further warning agents that these actions could carry serious penalties, including total fines amounting to $200,000 and a six-month prison sentence.
“Recently, Saskatchewan producers in the Pense, Mossbank, and Pilot Butte areas contacted the Government of Saskatchewan and raised serious concerns about Government of Canada employees, in clearly marked Government of Canada vehicles, trespassing on private lands. When approached by producers, these employees indicated that they were testing water sources for pesticide [and] nitrate levels,” Cockrill’s letter reads.
“The lands and water body, a producer’s dugout, are both privately owned. Government of Canada representatives did not request permission to enter from the landowner, nor did they seek permission to perform testing or advise landowners of any other purpose or attendance.”
Neither Trudeau nor Steven Guilbeault has responded to the letter or the Premier’s demands, with Guilbeault choosing to spend the day tweeting about caribou instead of addressing Canadians’ real concerns.
So far, Saskatchewan appears to be the only place where this is happening. However, given the Trudeau government’s proposed nitrogen reduction policy, farmers across the country are concerned and more people in positions of power, like Toews, need to speak out.
