Crown Land: Indicators and Statistics - Ministry of Forests

Discussion
Between 2003/2004 and 2008/2009 land revenue
accounted for 1.7% of total natural resource revenue
(1.0% tenures; 0.7% sales). The energy and mining
sector has been the largest contributor to tenure
revenue while the residential sector has been the
largest contributor to sales revenue. In terms of
tenure revenue changes over time, energy and
mining revenue has increased significantly, due
largely to increased royalty revenue resulting from
higher energy prices and production. By contrast,
utilities and pipelines revenue has fallen significantly.
From a sub-regional perspective, the Peace sub-region
has led the way in generating tenure revenue. The
South Coast sub-region has led the way in generating
Crown land sales revenue. In the last few years, other
sub-regions (primarily the Thompson-Okanagan)
have experienced increased demand for Crown
lands, which has resulted in higher government
revenue. The growth in the Thompson-Okanagan
has been driven largely by growth in the residential
sector, and the tourism and accommodation sectors.
There are a number of interesting contrasts between
the sector shares of tenure revenue versus sales
revenue. For instance, the residential sector made a
much smaller contribution to average tenure revenue
(8%) over the 2003/2004 to 2008/2009 period, than
it did to average sales revenue (50%) over the same
period. Similarly, agriculture and related activities
contributed 11% to tenure revenue and 21% to land
sales revenue.
By contrast, the energy and mining sector accounts
for a very small proportion of sales revenue at less
than 1%, but contributes a much larger average of
39% to tenure revenue.
Additional Information
• Policy documents outlining the rent and royalty structure for various sectors:
• Available: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/clad/land_prog_services/policies.html
Crown Land:
Indicators and
108 Statistics Report
Over the 2003/2004 to 2008/2009 period, 88%
of average sales revenue is concentrated in three
industries: residential at 51%, agriculture and related
activities at 22%, and manufacturing and commercial
at 15%. Tenure revenue is spread more evenly across
economic sectors, with the top three industries
accounting for 60% of average yearly revenue.
The contrasts between the composition of tenure and
sales revenue can be explained by the differing land
needs of sectors and sub-sectors of the economy.
For instance, sectors such as agriculture and related
activities and residential tend to require exclusive
use of most of their land, while other sectors do not
(see Section 3.6, Exclusive and Non-exclusive Use of
Crown Land). Sectors also differ on the length of time
for which the land is required. In general, sectors that
require the exclusive use of land for long periods of
time have a stronger interest in purchasing the land.