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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

Governments - whether the previous BC Liberals, or the current BC NDP under Premier John Horgan - feels the need to use tax-payer resources to self-promote what they’re doing … OVER and OVER and OVER again!


In case you were not aware, the Land Matching program, under the auspices of Lana Popham’s Agriculture Ministry, has been cranking out story after story about this BC government program.

The last one coming out on June 28th, triggered that I’d seen mention of this before, so I checked my Agriculture file, and sure enough the government couldn’t get enough of telling us about Land Match; in fact, there was three stories alone on September 18th of last year.

Honestly, this is one of the things that really gals me … the government (whether it the previous BC Liberals, or now the BC NDP under Premier John Horgan) feel the need to use tax-payer resources to self-promote what they are doing … OVER and OVER and OVER again!

Since January 5th of last year, there has been six releases from the BC Government News department, all related to the same program – the BC Land Matching Program.  Now I’m sure they would use the rationale that many were because of being for specific regions of the province, however how does that fit for the September 18th three-peat?  That certainly was not necessary.

Here’s the stories, and timeline, over the past eighteen months:

January 5th, 2018 … land-matching project connects new farmers to farmland in Metro Vancouver

A pilot project that matches new farmers looking to get their start in B.C. agriculture with available fertile farmland in the Metro Vancouver area will kick off in 2018, thanks to a $25,000 investment from the governments of Canada and British Columbia … this investment will help create opportunities for young and beginning farmers, leading to economic growth and helping to strengthen our middle class…


September 18th, 2018 …. BC Land Matching Program supports new farmers in Columbia Basin

… new and young farmers in the Columbia Basin are receiving support and services from a dedicated land matcher, as part of the new BC Land Matching Program … this program will help young people enter into the agricultural industry, which might otherwise be a challenge because of the rising cost of land in some regions of BC


September 18th, 2018 … BC Land Matching Program supports new farmers in the Okanagan

… new and young farmers in the Okanagan are receiving support and services from a dedicated land matcher, as part of the new BC Land Matching Program that connects farmers looking for land with landowners wanting to lease their land for farming … program helps young people enter into the farming industry, which not only benefits retiring farmers, but also all British Columbians by increasing food security and access to locally grown foods…


September 18th, 2018 … BC Land Matching Program supports access to affordable farmland for young farmers

… BC Land Matching program aims to address a lack of affordable farmland in the province by connecting new and young farmers with local landowners … an innovative approach to one of the greatest barriers facing new and young farmers, which is accessing affordable farmland … the program will help new and young farmers…



… new and young farmers throughout BC are seeing results and getting agricultural land into production, thanks to the support of regional land matchers and the B.C. Land Matching Program … the challenge for young and new farmers entering the agricultural industry is acquiring affordable farmland that they can farm …

June 28th, 2019 … Land matcher to help new farmers in remote communities

… new and young farmers in northern and central British Columbia will have access to support and services to enter the farming sector following the expansion of the BC Land Matching Program (BCLMP) … land matchers are making it much easier for young people and aspiring farmers to find affordable, suitable land and enter British Columbia’s vibrant farming sector



There you go …. new and young farmers … Land Match Project … getting their start in agriculture … receiving support and services … create opportunities… enter the agriculture industry.  

 All of these word combinations show up in each one of the media releases, and pretty much the only change is the location, which creates another opportunity for government self-promotion.

Government news, in my opinion, should give the who, what, when, where, why of new – or changing – government programs … THAT’S IT!

Sadly, in moving back and forth between BC NDP, and BC Liberal governments, neither have felt they should undertake this change in philosophy, when it come to what they promote through news releases.

Is there anyone out there ready to take up the challenge?

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