The minister responsible says 32 acres of land sold back to the family from which it was expropriated more than 40 years ago is “landlocked” and of no used to government, but the Opposition disagrees.

PC Leader Tony Wakeham believes Transportation Minister Fred Hutton is the “only one” in the province who thinks the land cannot be developed because it’s land locked.

The sale was discovered in a recent Order in Council.

The 32 acres, half of which is a protected wetland, was sold to Crosbie Group Limited for $176,000 or approximately $5,000 an acre. Crosbie Group is run by Tim Crosbie, the grandson of Bernard Parsons the man from whom the land was originally expropriated. The original purchase price when expropriated was about $25,000 an acre.

Wakeham told VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly the land was sold at an 80 per cent mark down from the original purchase price with no accountability.

He says Crown land is an asset belonging to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador “and when you dispose of Crown land, as you are doing in this particular case, you don’t get to resell it again, unless you’re this Liberal government who sells it at one price and buys it back at a higher price” he says referencing the recent land deal involving land at Kenmount Crossing that was sold and bought back by government.