WHEREAS The Weed Control Act has numerous provisions mandating that land owners, land occupants, municipalities and appointed weed inspectors take the measures necessary to control prohibited, noxious and nuisance weeds;

WHEREAS section 21 of The Weed Control Act provides authority for issuing an order on an owner or occupant of land if that owner or occupant has not taken the steps necessary to control prohibited, noxious or nuisance weeds in a fashion or timeline that the weed inspector considers appropriate;

WHEREAS once the date in the order has passed and if the owner or occupant of the land is still non-compliant, the municipality must then ensure that the provisions of the order are carried out pursuant to the order issued by the weed inspector;

WHEREAS this is done at the expense of the municipality until such time that the costs can be recovered through invoice or land tax payment, therefore causing the cost of controlling the prohibited, noxious or nuisance weeds to be borne by all ratepayers of the municipality;

WHEREAS the costs to a certain amount per acre can be recovered from the land owner or occupant for controlling, isolating or destroying the prohibited, noxious or nuisance weeds there is no provision in The Weed Control Act to allow for the recovery of the costs the municipality may incur prior to carrying out the order;

WHEREAS there are numerous provisions in The Tax Enforcement Act that provide for all costs incurred by a municipality relating to the tax enforcement process to be added to the land for which the costs are related;

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby the provincial government to amend The Weed Control Act to allow for all costs incurred by a municipality with relation to detecting, notifying, corresponding, controlling etc. prohibited, noxious and nuisance weeds to be recovered in the same manner as taxes pursuant to The Cities Act, The Municipalities Act or The Northern Municipalities Act.

View response from the Ministry of Agriculture