Green Party leader Andrew Weaver says the province has to do a better job helping farmers and protecting farmland in B.C.

Weaver, who was in Kelowna Sunday and Monday, toured a small cidery in the Glenmore Valley on Monday and said he feels farmers have not been well-served by 16 years of B.C. Liberal government.

91裸聊视频淔armer91裸聊视频檚 can91裸聊视频檛 get on the land because the land value is so high,91裸聊视频� said Weaver. 91裸聊视频淭here is a role for government, to ensure (young farmers) have access to the land so they can farm.91裸聊视频�

The B.C. Green Party leader said B.C. has a problem with what it sees as agriculture land in this province being used in a 91裸聊视频渟peculative real estate sector.91裸聊视频�

And a B.C. Green government would address that, vowed Weaver.

He said foreign ownership91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频渂y people who do not live and pay taxes in Canada91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� should be limited to no more than five acres of B.C. agricultural land.

91裸聊视频淏.C. is the wild west in every aspect of everything,91裸聊视频� he said, adding there are limits to how much productive farm land foreign buyers can own in many other provinces.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 the right thing to do because ultimately, you cannot have your food-producing regions potentially at the whim of speculators in other areas.91裸聊视频�

Speaking at the Scenic Road Cider Company, a small two-year-old craft cidery in the heart the Kelowna-Lake Country riding91裸聊视频攁 riding represented for the last eight years by current B.C. Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick91裸聊视频擶eaver took direct aim at how the Liberals have handled agriculture while in power.

Asked if the Liberals had let down farmers Weaver, replied: 91裸聊视频淵es, I would say absolutely.91裸聊视频�

He called recent changes to the Agricultural Land Reserve brought in by Letnick that created a two-tier system, where development would be allowed on less productive agriculture land that is currently in the ALR 91裸聊视频渙utrageous,91裸聊视频� and simply a ploy to allow fracking and gas exploration on agricultural land in Northern B.C.

91裸聊视频淚t has nothing to do with the preservation of agricultural land in B.C.,91裸聊视频� said Weaver.

Speaking with B.C. Green candidate Alison Shaw by his side91裸聊视频攕he91裸聊视频檚 running against Letnick in Kelowna-Lake Country91裸聊视频擶eaver also said his party would focus on regional development offices to help young families get into farming in a similar way tech incubators help technology companies get off the ground.

91裸聊视频淲e have an aging farming population and that91裸聊视频檚 not healthy. We need to get young people back in to view farming as a career.91裸聊视频�

With federal plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana coming next year and the downloading of much of the responsibility for that onto the provinces, Weaver said B.C. must protect what he called its 91裸聊视频渃raft91裸聊视频� marijuana industry, in a similar way to how craft beer production and craft ciders are dealt with.

91裸聊视频淭here91裸聊视频檚 billions of dollars of revenue potentially,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚f those revenues are managed properly.91裸聊视频�

On Sunday, Weaver at a Kelowna hotel before attending the Kelowna Rockets-Seattle Thunderbirds WHL game at Prospera Place later that evening.

For more 2017 BC Election coverage