Alberta
‘Not as dramatic’: Saskatchewan farmers draining water demonstrate benefits
GRENFELL, Sask. — It’s an area of farmland Ryan Maurer says is worth as much as a Lamborghini.
High run-off flooded one of his fields in spring 2022, leaving shallow pools of water. This was before the farmer opened ditches to drain it.
“Would you take your Lamborghini and park it in a slough?” Maurer asked on his farm near Grenfell, Sask., about 125 kilometres east of Regina.
No, he says, he wouldn’t.
“But society’s asking us to do that,” Maurer added. “And then they turn around and tell us to grow more food.”
Maurer’s land is part of a drainage network known as the Tetlock Conservation and Development Area Authority. It’s where farmers work together to move water through each other’s land and out into a creek.
The farmers in the Tetlock network say the water is moved in a managed and slower pace when it’s released, helping mitigate potential flooding downstream. There are control gates, smaller culverts, tile piping and holding ponds.
In fact, the Tetlock normally only adds 0.5 per cent of water to the flow of the creek, indicates data provided by the farmers who oversee the network.
“It’s not as dramatic as everybody says it is,” said Owen Pekrul, a farmer who’s also part of the drainage network. “Because it’s a ditch or it’s organized, they think it affects a lot of things.”
But for some, drainage is a problem.
Farmers downstream of some other networks say huge gushes of water continue to wash out their fields each year.
Environmental groups also worry about the loss of wetlands, as some are drained to make way for more arable acres. They say this puts habitats at risk and causes water quality to degrade.
Rural municipalities have raised concerns about illegal works causing water to breach grid roads.
Rural officials have asked the Water Security Agency, which is in charge of overseeing drainage, to ensure illegal drainers get permits.
“The biggest concern that we have is that many ratepayers just are not following the rules that are in place, the laws if you will,” said Helen Meekins, a councillor with the Rural Municipality of Pleasantdale in southeast Saskatchewan.
“The rural municipality isn’t against drainage,” Meekins added. “But, if they go through the permit process, then at least we know where there’s going to be more water and how it’s going to affect the infrastructure that we have in place.”
Some farmers say managed networks, such as the Tetlock, could help address flooding issues as long as everyone upstream and downstream can work together.
Maurer, as well as others involved in the network, are members of the Saskatchewan Farm Stewardship Association, a group that has lobbied the province for managed drainage to promote soil health and crop production.
He said drainage helps him turn soil that’s too salty into something that can grow healthy crops.
It also allows him to be more productive with his time on the field. That’s because those working the machines don’t have to move around various sloughs when they apply fertilizer and spray chemicals.
“These little sloughs are a couple inches of water. There’s nothing major,” Maurer said. “So, we over-apply. How do we get around that? Well, drainage and management is the answer.”
Not all drainage has been done in a managed way in Saskatchewan.
For decades, producers have dug ditches to move water out without approval from the Water Security Agency.
In 2018, Saskatchewan’s auditor estimated there were up to 9,712 square kilometres of land with unapproved works.
The agency has said it’s brought many unpermitted works into compliance by working with landowners and making sure the stream, pond or lake can handle the amount of water flowing in.
Research projects have also been looking into best practices. In one, a farmer has been draining water from various sloughs into one larger consolidation pond.
Candace Mitschke, the executive director with the Saskatchewan Farm Stewardship Association, said different solutions are required for each farm because landscapes across the province aren’t the same.
But, she said, issues can be resolved when people work together.
In rare cases, farmers have expropriated downstream land so they can get a permit and manage the water appropriately.
“Sometimes you’re not going to get people to co-operate no matter what you do. In those cases, that’s when expropriation is that important piece and enables that network to function,” Mitschke said.
The Water Security Agency still has a ways to go to bring all unapproved works into compliance.
Since 2017, only about a third of land with unpermitted works, about 3,146 square kilometres, has been brought into compliance.
Saskatchewan’s auditor has recommended unpermitted drainage be addressed quickly. The longer people wait, it noted, the more frustrated they become.
The auditor has also recommended the agency establish a wetlands policy to ensure water quality doesn’t degrade, which the agency says it’s working on.
For Maurer, it’s all about water management. He again pointed to the Tetlock network as an example of good practices.
“If everybody did that, it would be managed going in,” he said. “Just by saying, ‘Quit draining water,’ it doesn’t help anybody. It creates the problem.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2023.
Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
Alberta
Fortis et Liber: Alberta’s Future in the Canadian Federation
From the C2C Journal
By Barry Cooper, professor of political science, University of Calgary
Canada’s western lands, wrote one prominent academic, became provinces “in the Roman sense” – acquired possessions that, once vanquished, were there to be exploited. Laurentian Canada regarded the hinterlands as existing primarily to serve the interests of the heartland. And the current holders of office in Ottawa often behave as if the Constitution’s federal-provincial distribution of powers is at best advisory, if it needs to be acknowledged at all. Reviewing this history, Barry Cooper places Alberta’s widely criticized Sovereignty Act in the context of the Prairie provinces’ long struggle for due constitutional recognition and the political equality of their citizens. Canada is a federation, notes Cooper. Provinces do have rights. Constitutions do mean something. And when they are no longer working, they can be changed.
Alberta
30 million contraband cigarettes valued at $25 million dollars seized in Alberta
New release from Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC)
Record setting contraband tobacco seizures result from AGLC investigations
Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) recently concluded several investigations which netted two of the largest contraband tobacco seizures in Alberta history. The combined total of the contraband tobacco seized was 154,800 cartons of contraband cigarettes (30.7 million individual cigarettes). These seizures are a result of the work conducted by AGLC’s Tobacco Enforcement Unit with the assistance of provincial law enforcement agencies.
- In a January 2024 investigation, approximately 43,500 cartons (8.7 million individual cigarettes) were seized. This equates to $7 million in retail value with a provincial tax avoidance of $2.4 million. This included the seizure of 15,000 grams of contraband shisha.
- In April of 2024, 60 wrapped pallets were seized from a warehouse setting netting a total of 111,300 cartons of contraband cigarettes (22 million individual cigarettes) which equates to over $18 million in retail value with a provincial tax avoidance of $6.6 million.
- Criminal Charges are pending in both cases.
“These are significant contraband tobacco investigations involving individuals that are part of organized networks whose proceeds defraud Albertans millions of dollars in tax revenue. AGLC will continue to work with our partners to investigate and disrupt the individuals and organizations involved in these illegal activities as part our commitment to a strong contraband tobacco enforcement program in Alberta.”
- Gary Peck, Vice President, Regulatory Services, AGLC
“Contraband tobacco hurts law abiding businesses that follow the rules, and it costs Albertans millions each year from lost tax revenue. Our government is committed to keeping illegal tobacco off the streets and ensuring that the sale of tobacco products comply with the law.”
- Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction
Over the last nine months, AGLC’s Tobacco Enforcement unit has seized an estimated 35 million contraband cigarettes and 115,000 grams of contraband shisha from across the province. The total potential lost tax revenue is estimated to be more than $10.1 million.
Contraband tobacco:
- is any tobacco product that does not comply with federal and provincial laws related to importation, marking, manufacturing, stamping and payment of duties and taxes;
- comes from four main sources: illegal manufacturers, counterfeits, tax-exempt diversions and resale of stolen legal tobacco; and
- can be recognized by the absence of a red (Alberta) or peach/light tan (Canada) stamp bearing the “DUTY PAID CANADA DROIT ACQUITTÉ” on packages of cigarettes and cigars or pouches of tobacco.
In addition to lost revenues that may otherwise benefit Albertans, illegally manufactured products also pose public health and safety risks as they lack regulatory controls and inspections oversight.
Albertans who suspect illegal tobacco production, packaging and/or trafficking are encouraged to contact AGLC’s Tobacco Enforcement Unit at 1-800-577-2522 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
Under a Memorandum of Understanding with Alberta Treasury Board and Finance, AGLC enforces the Tobacco Tax Act and conducts criminal investigations related to the possession, distribution and trafficking of contraband tobacco products. In 2022-23, provincial revenue from tobacco taxes was approximately $522 million.
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