A two-year moratorium on Crown land sales expired in August, and plans were made for an October auction which had already been advertised online. Nearly 4,500 acres of cultivated and grazing farmland was split into 18 lots.

That sale is being paused at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture. There has been opposition voiced by the NDP and Indigenous people.

Late last week, Premier Scott Moe told reporters “it was a case of where we just got a little bit ahead of ourselves in that process starting again.”

In a statement, the Government of Saskatchewan explained the parcels of land that were going up for auction had previously been leased agricultural land where the leases had been surrendered or cancelled.