Landowners groups face membership exodus

Ontario’s 18 landowners’ associations are suffering from membership haemorrhage as the number of members has plummeted to about 3,100 across the province.

While many landowner members continue to boast of 15,000 (see online encyclopedia Wikipedia) to 20,000 members, the numbers aren’t close. In fact, the Grey-Bruce Landowners Association is no longer operating, said its former president Paul Hallman. Hallman quit early this year saying he’s too busy running his own business and that no one has taken over. "There’s no one to call," he said.

The Toronto Landowners have 16 members and the newly formed Essex County Landowners have three members.

The largest landowners association, Carleton County, formed two years ago and claimed 1,300 memberships. But member Tom Black says membership has dropped to 700 to 800. Some groups, like Carleton County, include every family member as a landowner member when a membership is purchased. Conceding that they are a small organization, Black said that the landowner groups focus more on getting things done than on membership numbers.

Brian Hanna, a founding member of the Lanark Landowners Association told Farmers Forum that people problems have dogged the Lanark group for the past year-and-a-half. "Membership is going down," he said. "People think we’re a joke." He added that he believes the LLA has done more for farmers in Lanark than the combined efforts of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union and the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. A recent election of a new LLA president is a sign of rebuilding, he said, adding that he just renewed his membership after having quit.

Interviews with all 18 associations in November, reveal a total landowner association memberships of about 3,100. Here’s how the 18 association presidents, or those handling memberships, reported memberships last month:

1. Carleton County: 700 to 800
2. Glengarry: 450
3. Prince Edward, Northumberland: 275
4. Peterborough: 250
5. Oxford, Norfolk and Elgin: more than 200
6. Manitoulin Island: more than 200
7. Stormont-Dundas: 150 to 175
8. Durham York and Victoria: 136
9. Lanark: 133 (pre-November election as many who voted were landowner members in other counties. Others quit immediately after the election that included 161 voters.)
10. Leeds & Grenville: 100
11. Renfrew: 100
12. Peel-Halton: 85
13. Niagara: 70
14. Prescott-Russell: 50 to 60
15. Dufferin: 50
16. Toronto: 16
17. Essex: 3
18. Grey-Bruce: 0