OTTAWA — As Prince Edward Island calls for an RCMP investigation into allegedly suspicious foreign land acquisitions, The Bureau has learned that the prominent lawyer now chairing the province’s land regulator — the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC) — previously spent more than 20 years with the same P.E.I. law firm that represented Buddhist organizations IRAC was mandated to investigate.
The Bureau’s review, based on legal correspondence and public records, sheds light on a growing political firestorm in Prince Edward Island, where lawmakers and citizens alike are questioning whether the province’s tightly knit legal and political community has prevented necessary scrutiny of land dealings that could threaten Canadian sovereignty — according to explosive allegations aired at an Ottawa press conference last week.
Former Canadian solicitor general Wayne Easter, joined by authors Garry Clement and Dean Baxendale and former MP Kevin Vuong, told reporters that the situation requires independent federal intervention.
“There are too many interconnections within Prince Edward Island to really get to the bottom of the issue,” Easter said. “You need a federal public inquiry that can subpoena witnesses, trace bank accounts, and bring in people internationally to get to the bottom of this.”
The core question, according to Easter and a growing community of concerned citizens, is whether allegations from Clement and Baxendale’s investigation — that Chinese Communist Party entities appear to be entwined with major land acquisitions through a network of Buddhist groups with an increasing footprint in eastern P.E.I. — are accurate, and whether provincial or federal authorities have for some reason turned a blind eye. Their claims echo findings raised in a significant Canadian Broadcasting Corporation investigation earlier this year.
In response to that CBC report, representatives of the Buddhist groups strongly denied allegations of ties to the Chinese Communist Party or any improper dealings. In a related controversy, CBC later issued a controversial correction to its explosive story — a move that, according to a statement from the government of Taiwan, occurred under pressure from Chinese officials. That development, in itself, underscores how the situation in Prince Edward Island has resonated internationally, even as most Canadians remain largely unaware.
Documents reviewed by The Bureau — and a 2016–2018 IRAC file that was supposed to probe the Buddhist land dealings but, following a subpoenaed response from P.E.I. lawmakers, was revealed last week to have been quietly ended without explanation — raise new questions about oversight and governance in the province’s land regulator.
Proof of IRAC leadership’s former ties to the law firm that represented the Buddhist groups while they were supposedly under IRAC review comes from public documents and private legal letters on the matter obtained by The Bureau.