PLAN CANADA Institut canadien des urbanistes Canadian Institute of Planners JUIN 81 21:2 JUNE

Small Town Seaforth Ontario

The Citification of Small Towns The B.C. Agricultural Land Commission The Role of the Lands Directorate Settlement Policy-National or Provincial? Federal Land Policy - a Commentary VIEWPOINT Gerald Hodge The Citification of Small Towns: A challenge to 43 ADA Planning Institut canadien des urbanistes ARTICLE Canadian Institute of Planners John T. Pierce JUNE 81 The B. C. Agricultural Land Commission: A review 48 21:2 JUIN and Evaluation Plan Canada is published by the Cana­ dian Institute of Planners. Federal Involvement in in Land Policy: The opinions expressed herein are not Three comments: necessarily those of the Institute, the editors, or affiliations of authors. Doug Hoffman Plan Canada est publie par l'Institut The Role of the Lands Directorate 59 canadien des urbanistes. Les opinions exprimees dans ce document Nigel Richardson ne sont pas necessairement celles de l'In­ Settlement Policy - review of Canadian Urban stitut, de la direction, ou des affiliations des auteurs. Growth Trends, by Ira Robinson 61 ISSN 0032-0544 Harry Lash ©Canadian Institute of Planners, 1981 Editors/Editeurs Review of Federal Task Force Report on Land Henry C. Hightower, Ted Rashleigh and Federal Policy on Land Use 64 Editorial Board/Comite Editorial BOOK REVIEWS/CRITIQUE DES OUVRAGES 67 Vancouver Robert Burgess Peter Boothroyd H. Craig Davis Bowles: Social Impact Assessment in Small Communities Ted Droettboom Carley and Derow: Social Impact Assessment, Hugh Kellas William Rees A Cross-Disciplinary Guide James W. Wilson Tester and Mykes: Social Impact Assessment, Brahm Wiesman Theory, Method and Practice National Barry Clark*, Edmonton Mary Rawson Ron Cope*, Saskatoon Chibuk and Kusel: New Communities in Canadian Gerald Hodge, Queen's University Urban Settlements Claude Langlois, Universite du Montreal Jim Lotz, Halifax Hans Blumenfeld; Greg Mason Jim Masterton*, Victoria Bater: The Soviet City, Ideal and Reality Richard Morency, Sainte-Foy, Quebec Nigel Richardson, Toronto Mike Gunder James W. Simmons, University of Toronto Robert Smith, U. of British Columbia Maguire: Socio-economic Factors Pertaining to Jack C. Stabler, U. of Saskatchewan Single-Industry Towns in Canada - a Bibliography Paul Villeneuve, Universite Laval Murray Zides, Saint, John, N.B. Letter: Stop Spadina *GIP Publications committee/Comite des editions de l'ICV GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS Addresses/Adresses T. Rashleigh, Editor Plan Canada Changement d'adresse, demande d'abon­ Membres de l'ICU gratis GIP members P.O. Box 35367, Stn. E. nement, ou d'un seul numero, adhesion et Individus $15 Individuals Vancouver, B.C. V6M 4G5 affaires de l'institut: Institutions $25 Institutions (604) 263-9997 Canadian Institute of Planners/Institute Single copies, including back issues H.C. Hightower, Editor canadien des urbanistes Prix du numero, y compris !es numeros deja School of Community and Regional Suite 30, 46 Elgin Street parus: Planning Ottawa, Ontario KlP 5K6 Membres de l'ICU $4.00 GIP members University of British Columbia (613) 233-2105 Individus $5.50 Individuals Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5 Rates/Tarif Institutions $8.50 Institutions (604) 228-5977 Annual Subscription (one volume of four Advertising Changes of address, subscription: or issues) single copy orders, membership and In­ Abonnement annuel (quatre numeros par Enquires to/Demandes de rensignements stitute business: an) a T. Rashleigh, Editor The Citification of Small Towns: A challenge to planning

Gerald Hodge

It is neither very noteworthy nor provocative, Our images of the city are usually of the physical city, nowadays, to mention that Canada is an urban country: of the way it looks and is arranged or of the number of peo­ more than two-thirds of all Canadians live in cities (of ple who inhabit it. The physical city, whether we ex­ 25,000 or more); 55 percent of the nation's population live perience it directly or even vicariously through the media, in only 22 metropolitan areas; and these proportions will is what we primarily think of as urban. Thus, urbanization probably grow in future. is usually construed to be the process of adding more city It may, however, be more thought-provoking to ask forms to our landscape. This is a valid view of urbaniza­ tion, but only as a partial one. why these various facts and prognoses on Canada's ur­ banizatgion do not stir much interest? McLuhan's Urbanization of a countryproceeds along two dimen­ aphorism - looking at the future in a rear-view mirror - sions. 1 One is the physical dimension to which we have gives us an important clue. We already know all about ur­ been referring. The other is non-physical in nature and banization because we've all experienced it. The low densi­ refers to the spread of "the urban way of life." Cities can be ty suburb spreading out, sometimes incessantly it seems, very powerful influences on the operation and outlook of a from the high-density high-rise downtown is an image of nation, especially the largest ones, the centres of trade, the modern city that we all have, whether we live in such a government, and culture. The more they grow, it seems, city or not. the more these functions come to be concentrated there; people, capital for investment, and ideas for utilizing both .: ...... •:.:..•••n.;;,.,,....;~••·•·•·n••·+~/-·····-·····•¼ ····-- ····:·+:-=-+w-::-i::;:.~ ·:•x:·:·:·:·:·:·: •• ·················• .....;-,.:,,:;;;;;;;;···:··;· capital and human resources are drawn to cities. As large markets in their own right, cities become the model for GERALD HODGE has studied and written about small those who provide services throughout the country in com­ towns in all parts of Canada for over two decades. His merce, government, and culture, and for those who serve recent nationwide study, Towns and Villages in them - the professionals, including planners. Canada, in collaboration with M.A. Qadeer, is soon to Certain characteristic urban tastes, attitudes and be published. Dr. Hodge is Director of the School of Ur­ values also emerge and grow. Significantly, this non- ban and Regional Planning at Queen's University. Plan Canada 21:2 Jun 81 43 physical dimension of cities is transmitted beyond the city league, M.A. Qadeer, at Queen's University, in which we and its immediate environs. The city's tastes, attitudes, examined the current state of Canada's towns and and values, and also its styles of problem solving - imp­ villages. 4 inge on areas that we think of as non-urban. Citification In Canada today, there are more than 8,000 small centres is the apt name Jacques Paris coined, in this journal, for compared to about 100 small and medium cities and fewer 2 the non-physical influence of cities and their styles. than two dozen metropolises. Moreover a not insignificant Large areas, or even a whole nation, could become one-fifth of our population lives in towns and villages. citified. It is this prospect, indeed reality, for Canada Towns and villages are also the direct link to the dispersed which deserves close attention. 3 If Canada is citified, population who live in the countryside. In total the town what does this mean for professionals in the city-building and countryside hold one-third of our population. And despite the conventional citified presumpt,ion, small town realm - the planners, engineers, architects, and and countryside populations are not declining, they are surveyors? Is this a mandate to recreate city forms and growing - although the experience varies among pro­ styles in non-urban territory? Will small town planning vinces. simply imitate planning styles and solutions which have About 4,2 million people or 18 percent of the nation's developed in city situations? There is considerable population lived in small centres in 1976. Ontario has the evidence that it already has in many parts of Canada. largest number of towns and villages, just over 1,500 and The issue, it is essential to grasp, is not one of scale, of there are equally impressive numbers in Nova Scotia, size of community. It is rather one of appreciating that Quebec, and New Brunswick. In five provinces, one-quarter or more of the population live in towns and villages. small towns are different from cities, that as a group they are very diverse, and that their individuality is a fragile There are, clearly, lots of small communities in Canada thing in our urban society. If the citified planner does not and some interesting, and in some regards surprising, perceive the 'vital signs" of small town existence, the loss things have been happening to them. Here are a few of the could be irreparable. Yet myths and half-truths persist highlights from the study which bear upon the issue of about contemporary small towns. citification. The data are about all small towns, but it Thus, it is worth examining, first, the main dimensions should be remembered that there is considerable diversity of today's small towns and the citified milieu within which within these aggregates. they exist. Then, the ramifications of these conditions for Population Growth: In the 1960s, town and village planners can be more clearly stated. population grew by 440,000, or 13 penent; in the first half ********************************** of the 1970s, another 300,000 persons were added to the The extent of citification in Canada is not readily total. The 1971-1976 growth rate of towns and villages perceived for we continue to employ concepts, definitions, maintained its previous pace while the rates for urban and and terms that preserve the urban and rural distinctions in metropolitan places declinedfrnm those of the 1960s. Small our society. In order to provide a clearer picture of its ex­ places of all sizes, and in all regions, e::,.,"'Perienced growth. tent, let me draw on the recent study by me and my col- Over halfof all small places gained some population. ••••••••W••·•·••:::·:::::•·::••:·• ············, .. :•::;:;:;·~;':•: RESUME/ABSTRACT Le "citadinisation" des petites villes: un defi lance a la planification. L'influence qu'exerce une cite par ses choix, ses at­ les regions oil nous nous etablissons et sur leur titudes, ses valeurs et ses decisions, affecte des amenagement. Les petites villes se caracterisent par la regions que nous considerons comme non-urbaines. Ce vulnerabilite de leur societe et la dependance de leur processue de "citadinisation" offre un defi a ceux dont le economie. Les planificateurs possedent les moyens metier est de biitir les villes, comme les planificateurs. techniques de percevoir et d'analyser les differences et La planification des petites villes se contentera-t'elle les besoins parmi les 8000 petites villes du Canada. II d'imiter les modeles et les solutions qu'ont adoptes les faut neanmoins qu'ils se tiennent prets a examiner avec planificateurs dans le cadre des cites? Le "citadinisation" reigueur les normes et les objectifs de la planification. ne signitie pas que l'uniformite doit regner sur toutes

The influence of a city in its tastes, attitudes, values, Small towns are socially vulnerable and economically and its styles of problem-solving, impinge on areas we dependent. Planners have the technical capability to think of as non-urban. This process of citification poses perceive and analyze the differences and needs among a challenge to city-building professionals such as plan­ Canada's 8,000 small communities. But they must be ners: Will small town planning simply imitate planning prepared to examine rigorously planning standards and styles and solutions which have developed in city situa­ goals. tions? Citification does not mean there needs to be a uniformity among all our settlements or their planning. 44 Small Towns Housing and Capital Investment: Towns and villages Such numerical probes reveal two significant features added new dwellings at the rate twice their population about modern towns and villages in Canada. First, they growth in' the 1960s and at nearly three times population are a stable form of habitat for a large share of our popula­ growth rates in the 1970s. By our estimates, more than tion. They did not die out as many studies of the early 400,000 new dwellings have been built since 1962 in large 1960s predicted, including some by this author. Second, towns and small ones, in all regions, and in those places the social, economic, and employment characteristics of that are not adding population as well as those that are residents (except income) closely parallel those of city growing. The value of this housing and other forms of dwellers. Both these findings support the observation capital investment represents about 15 percent of the total made by Mellor in 1975 that communities do not so much of all Canadian construction in the past two decades. This differ by size, such as metropolis, city, or town, as they do share compares favourably with the small towns' share of by their base of experience 'and relations in the larger population. society. 5 Or, as Harry Lash further notes, "Just think of Social Development: Population characteristics of town the places that produce the durable goods in your home: and village dwellers on such as household size, sex ratio, That one can get them has nothing to do with the size of age distribution, employment composition, educational at­ (your) town, nor, beyond certain limits, with the size of tainment, and mobility show a great deal of similarity town that produces them." 6 with the same indicators for Canada's city populations in The evidence of Canada being a citified country even 1971. In each census since 1951, these data for small places in its small towns is, admittedly, circumstantial at this has progressively converged with those for large centres. point. But how to explain the nationally known super­ Only income levels continue to be lower, on the average, in markets, fast food outlets, and automotive establishments small centres compared to cities. that line Main Street in many small towns? Or what of the Economic Development: Town and village labour force way small towns greet visitors with welcomes from the distribution by 1971 was very similar to that for cities at local Lion's, Rotary, or other national service club? Can the same time; significantly, both had almost 50 percent these and the previous statistical observations be inter­ engaged in tertiary activities. Probably more important, preted in any way other than that towns and villages are small centres have smaller proportions of their resident an integral part of the framework of urban centres that labour force in professional and managerial occupations facilitates the delivery of material and cultural benefits to than do cities. Concommitantly there is a smaller share individuals in Canada? They are part of mass society, as ofmiddle and upper income residents in towns and villages Vidich and Bensman so cogently pointed out more than than in cities. two decades ago. 7 In case it might be surmised that these conditions and The Canadian economy operates essentially as a single trends of towns and villages are simply the results of market with nationally organized systems of production "metropolitan overspill," the study also shows that not to and distribution. Laws are relatively uniform and public be the case. There are only slight advantages, or disadvan­ programs are usually common from area to area. The tages as the case may be, for a small centre when it is means of communication and transportation - television, located within commuting distance of a metropolis. telephone, and automobiles - are almost ubiquitous throughout Canadian communities. Similarly, health, ********************************** education, and social services are available to small as well as large communities. These are the instruments of homogenization. They may not be equally available to all small towns, especially in remote areas, but the point to be stressed is that citification creates access to urban accountrements; levels of use vary according to communi­ ty circumstances. The tendency toward a uniform urban profile among villages, towns, and cities derives probably as much from the gravitation of people in small centres to urban tastes, attitudes, and phenomena as from the pressures of urban­ based institutions. But the role of the latter should not be discounted, especially the institutions of senior govern­ ments. In the past twenty-five years, provincial and federal authorities have promoted increased access to a wide variety of social services and programs for all sizes of community. Provincial governments provide and/or regulate education, health, judicial, and welfare services as well as underwrite many kinds of community projects in Hodge 45 recreation, libraries, industrial parks, water and sewer Towns and villages are socially vulnerable and systems, and senior citizen housing. The federal govern­ economically sensitive to trends, conditions and styles of ment's programs in unemployment insurance, manpower the larger society - they are in a dependent position. training, communications, and economic development in­ There are three areas of planning where this is sometimes centives have a direct bearing on the social and economic painfully obvious. One area is development planning by stability of communities small and large. senior governments: e.g. energy development projects and their transmission facilities, national and provincial parks, These services and facilities programs have played a or regional development programs. Usually large and major role in making it possible for small towns to become centrally-designed and controlled, these projects have ma­ citified without becoming cities. It is as if a huge social jor impacts on communities in their area yet seldom con­ matrix has been created within which communities of tain a very meaningful community impact analysis compo­ many different kinds can be sustained and encouraged. It nent. Lucky are the small communities where the project is crucial to appreciate that this matrix of citification does has a planner to help mitigate effects, as Jim Wilson did in not represent any organized, concerted effort to transform the Arrow Lake. 8 conditions for non-metropolitan regions, and is the pro­ duct of thought and action by professionals, not least the Another planning area that often impinges seriously environmental professionals. Through their social and on small communities may be called program planning: technological inventions professionals have transformed these cover the programs and services in the repertoire of rural life. That the citification has occurred without any senior governments which are meant for all citizens and grand policy design may be applauded in some circles as a communities such as for education, health, roads, and tribute both to reason and an open society. But when it recreation. Small communities experience a number of pro­ leads to uniformity and insensitivity to different conditions blems with such programs - all designed and ad­ in different communities, I cannot be so sanguine. ministered by professionals. One of the foremost concerns is with the standardized approaches of most programs. ********************************** As Harold Baker observed more than two decades ago, "what one community can do easily, another may find very g difficult." 9 For example, many programs for public utilities and housing call for matching contributions and many small communities cannot meet the initial cost of their share. Another concern is over the plethora of senior government agencies with which small towns must cope. The issue here is matching the complex professionally - dominated senior government policy delivery system with the rudimentary, but usually appropriate, administrative resources of small communities. And, as if the sheer number of agencies wasn't enough, there is the frequent lack of coordination, or even acquaintanceship, among senior government professional staffs serving the same communities. The final planning area where problems arise in regard to senior governments and small towns is com­ munity planning. Our profession has over the past seventy Wingham, Ontario years promoted elaborate planning frameworks in each province: they are comprehensive of all communities, Citification does not mean that there will be, or needs some are even thoughtful about planning objectives in ad­ to be, uniformity among our various settlements or their dition to land use regulations, all are rooted in the idea of planning. A diversity of community modes, as well as a primacy of an overseer professional staff at the provincial diversity of professional approaches to communities, is level. None distinguish small-community planning needs in equally possible within the citification matrix. But will this an explicit way. These universal provincial planning acts mode be pursued? The answer lies with the professionals enable all municipalities to prepare official plans and zon­ in society. Professionals embody the essence of our ing by laws, but in regard to town and village development modern society with its emphasis on reason, technical there are some notable flaws. First, since most small cen­ capability, and efficiency. They pursue these ends in their tres are not separately incorporated, the potential of the various functional areas. The way in which they discharge legilsation cannot be applied directly by the people in most this mandate can have profound effects on our com­ small communities. Second, the planning acts were devis­ munities, especially small ones. Their situation in regard ed to cope with urban land development and building oc­ to planning underlines this crucial role of professionals. curring under conditions of high growth and large volume.

46 Small Towns Yet most small communities face erratic growth trends These salutary efforts respect the differences between and relatively small amounts of development. Third, the communities and also do not try to impose a uniform planning acts assume the capability exists locally both to prescription for them. But they are not widespread and establish and to sustain a municipal planning function. distressingly few are the inventions of professional plan­ However, the vast majority of Canadian municipalities ners. Planners have the technical capability to perceive have less than 3,000 people, possibly three full time and analyze the differences and the needs among com­ employees and fitful arrangements for obtaining planning munities. But how to utilize it? Our provincial planning advice. agencies and planning legislation offer little incentive in These are serious handicaps to place on the achieve­ this matter. Further, their approach highlights the dispari­ ment of effective planning for small communities, especial­ ty in power over planning matters between local and ly when one considers the array of very real planning pro­ senior government planners, a disparity that is especially blems towns and villages have. That, I suppose, is a noticable when planning for small places. somewhat gratuitous statement since the development Citification can bring us uniformity among our small problems most small communities are concerned about are communities and the way we treat them unless the plan­ not within the normal purvey of professional urban and ners and other environmental professionals will take steps regional planners: achieving a potable water supply, better to prevent it. There is a relentlessness about the fire protection, improved sidewalks, street lighting, and technology in any field. It begets standardization. But garbage collection, safer railway crossings, enhanced shouldn't we ask: who formulates the standards? who recreation opportunities, and Main Street revitalization. Is implements the standards? Or, perhaps a more fun­ it that our professional planning services and planning damental question, in whose interests are the standards legislation are gratuitous? formulated and implemented? Usually, long before this point, someone will ask: But If this implies a tension among planners' ideas and aren't there any good things to say, some good examples of ideologies, it is intended. These are not easy questions to what we should be doing? There are and they're worth a answer, but the responsibility for answering them ·lies planner's time to investigate them: I shall only list them. almost exclusively with planners, individually and in their There are the sensitive planning field services provided to agencies. their communities by the Oldman River, Peace River, and Calgary Regional Planning Commissions in Alberta. There is the innovative effort in New Brunswick to deliver pro­ Drawings are by Niclwlas Hill, an architect and town vincial planning and other hard and soft services to rural planner, and principal of Hill and Borgal, Goderich On­ areas. The inter-municipal cooperative endeavour lead by tario, a firm which specializes in planning for smaller Hugh Bodmer in Regional Resources Project No. 1 in communities and architectural restoration. The drawings Alberta is, of course, exemplary. lO And in Ontario the come from a recently published collection Historical North Frontenac Community Services project in Sharbot Streetscapes in Huron County, which can be purchased Lake is commendable for the coordinating role it plays in for $5. 75, including mailing, from the Secretary, Huron getting a wide variety of services delivered to a 1,000 County Branch of Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, square mile area of small villages and countryside. 84 Arthur St., Goderich, Ont., N7A 2LB.

•·•••u~•;;•• ❖• .. • .. •••••·~ •••••• .. •• ...... ·•uu•y•u•y•y··••-···· ·••••····••·••••·••·::z:'l;:: ·•• ·• · ::::::::-:-:+:•:•~-- Vi...... ;;. "*•··········•·•····" :-:•:❖:•:•:•:•.•••.• ••••\.u"·•:-:-:-:•:-:•:•: ❖Z❖.•. NOTES 4 Gerald Hodge and Mohammad Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1 John Friedmann, "An Information Qadeer, Towns and Villages in 1973. Model of Urbanization, "Urban Affairs Canada (forthcoming 1981). 9 Harold Baker, "The Impact of Central Quarterly, Vol. IV, 1968, pp. 235-244. 5 R. Mellor, "Urban Sociology in an Government Services on the Small 2 Jacques Paris, "Citification: Prospec­ Urban Society." British Journal of Community," Canadian Public Ad­ ting a New Concept." Plan Canada, Sociology, Vol. 26, 1975, pp. 276-293. ministration, Vol. 3, 1960, pp. 97-106. Vol. 125, December 1975, pp. 134-141. 6 Lash, op. cit. 10 Hugh Bodmer, "Regional Resources 3 Harry Lash, "Where Do We Start on a A. Vidich and J. Bensman, Small Project No. 1: An Innovative Ap­ National Settlement Policy?" Plan 7 Town in Mass Society, Princeton: proach to Economic and Social Vol. 16, June 1976, pp. Canada, Princeton University Press, 1958. Development, Plan Canada, Vol. 20, 94-101. June 1980, pp. 81-90. 8 James Wilson, People in the Way,

Hodge 47 The B.C. Agricultural Land Commission: a Review and Evaluation John T. Pierce I ESTABLISHMENT OF 1965, an amendment to the Municipal Act authorized the AGRICULTURAL LAND RESERVES creation of regional districts which later were to serve as (a) Original Formation the organizational units for agricultural land reserves. And in 1971 the Environment and Land Use Act was pass­ Until 1973, regulation of the outward expansion of ed giving the Environment and Land Use Committee Canadian cities and protection of agricultural land was (ELUC) extensive powers in environment.al and land use limited to traditional planning tools, zoning bylaws and areas including · power to freeze the subdivision of subdivision controls. The transience of much of this farmland. agricultural zoning - because it permitted small-acreage parcels or because municipalities treated it as a holding Although the original Land Commission Act had category for future urban use - served to diminish the several objectives including the preservation of parkland, containment of urban growth and the protection of establishment of green belts and urban land banking, its agricultural lands. primary aim was to establish agriculture as a priority land use through the designation of Agricultural Land Recognizing these shortcomings the N.D.P. Govern­ Reserves (ALRs). 2 This focus was sharpened in 1977, ment of B.C. passed the Land Commission Act in May of when the name of the Act was changed to the Agricultural 1973. The quantity of farmland alienated and a number of Land Commission Act and its responsibilities limited to other events provided the necessary preconditions for the the preservation of farmland. 3 legislation. 1 Notable was the election in 1972 of the New Democratic Party which had actively campaigned for the The Act empowered the Land Commission "to preservation of agricultural land. Prior to this, increasing preserve agricultural land for farm use; encourage the net food deficits and the irreversible conversion establishment and maintenance of family farms and land of farmland, had fostered public support for farmland in an agricultural land reserve and a use compatible with preservation during the sixties and early seventies. In the preservation of family farms and the farm use of the land". 4 To accomplish this, the Ministry of Agriculture first proposed the ALRs or restrictive agricultural zones 5 Dr. Pierce is an Assistant Professor in the Depart­ for each regional district. These proposals were exposed ment of Geography, Simon Fraser University. His to public hearings at the local level and to reviews by the research interests include national and international Agricultural Land Commission and various provincial comparisons of urban land conversion, farmland government resource agencies. The recommendations of preservation strategies and rural development pro­ the Commision went through the Environment and Land grams. Use Committee for final approval by Cabinet (Figure 1).

48 Plan Canada 21:2 Jun 81 ABSTRACT/RESUME La commission sur les sols arables en Colombie Britannique: compte rendu et critique. Le decret de la Commission sur les sols arables de Col- Le systeme parait avoir relativement bien fonctionne ombie Britannique, et la Commission sur les sols qui sur le plan de la quantite des sols proteges, mais le administre cette legislation ont ete instaures en 1973 resultat n'est pas aussi satisfaisant en ce qui concerne dans le but de proteger les sols aptes a l'agriculture. la qualite agricole des terres soustraites, leur empla- Malgre l'importance de la portee et des objectifs de ces cent et la ca~on dont leur developpement a ete en- mesures, l'action de la Commission sur les sols n'a visage. obtenu que peu de resultats. On a examine de 1974 a L'article se termine par des directives sur l'ameliora­ 1978 des demandes pour soustraire des terres aux tion de la planification et de l'administration de la Reserves, sur le plan de la quantite, de la qualite et de Reserve de sols arables. l'emplacement des zones concernees.

The Agricultural Land Commission Act of British of the sites involved. The system appears to have work­ Columbia and the Land Commission which administers ed reasonably well in terms of the amount of land pro­ this legislation were established in 1973 for the pur­ tected, but the record is not as satisfactory with pose of preserving land suitable for agriculture. respect to the agricultural quality of land removed and Though the scope and intent of these measures is its location and intended development. The paper con­ significant, evidence of the success of the Land Com­ cludes with recommendations for improving the plann­ mission process is inconclusive. Applications to remove ing and administration of the Agricultural Land land from the Reserves from 1974 through 1978 were Reserve. examined in terms of the amount, quality and location b) The Need for Revision was not always consistent since large areas of grazing land 6 The original designation of the ALR was based were omitted from the reserves. The end product of the primarily on all class 1 to 4 land defined by the Canada designation was a collage of soil types, forms of ownership Land Inventory which was not irreversibly developed and uses ofland. regardless of its present use and tenure. The remaining In order to reduce uncertainty, this designation had to forty-eight percent of the ALR was composed of poorer be done expeditiously and often on the basis of relatively quality (CLI Class 5 and 6) lands which were either tradi­ small scale, in some cases incomplete Canada Land Inven­ tionally part of the agricultural economy (e.g. grazing tory maps of agricultural capability. This designation pro­ lands) or whose absence would disrupt the local cess was therefore not without inaccuracies and agricultural production system. However, the designation weaknesses. Anticipating this fact, the Commission in its First Annual Report recognized the need for a 'fine tuning' \,)Ji::",-~-~------... Figurel process "to correct oversights and to sort out anomalies in­ \JrJ! \ ------~------~" herent in a scheme of this magnitude".7 However, even though this process was expected to last for a year or two ~liil ---:~-11 following initial designation, a lack of in-house staff, budgetary constraints, as well as the need for technical ~v~ : ~ /N assistance from other government agencies meant that the •~.!K~ "'·,,_ ,i I iii J~ . PEACE RIVER Commission practiced a less systematic form of fine tuning by excluding and including land through the use of various applications as provided for in the Act. It wasn't until 1980 that the Commission finally received specific funding for '"::•;t~f.J •\,,,.m •~"~ official fine tuning. = , , • The elaborate mechanisms set up for the exclusion of rRINCEGEOl!GE'.11t-'Ni ( land were meant to facilitate the finalization (through fine PAC~:l;Atl CARIBO~,.• ••: _:\ tuning) of the ALR boundaries. 8 However the numerous private and governmental applications every year since 197 4 for the removal of land from the ALR have become a "' ,( .\ ,.. ('- ''\ formidable instrument of change to the original Land Reserves. In 197 4 the Commission acknowledged that "if V~NC~~:~~ 'il, (' l \. \~"/ \ \~\ ~ .;» i ,. \ \. ''Z,,j' 'nsvA>KOUV"/i. :.:! rnOW:.,\ > '---, the Land Reserve is to be maintained over the long haul it \_ "ilf., 1,.· J / I KOOTENAY ~ is obvious that it cannot be endlessly eroded",9 and that (~~~;-~•1~~l~~';-z.~~~~-f '"'" -t --\:...... ':::~ "short term economic or technological considerations must " be given little weight in evaluating whether a given parcel Pierce 49 of land should be included or excluded from the b) Design for the Evaluation Study Agricultural Land Reserve." J.O Thus the Commission must Information was collected from the files of the Com­ ensure that the instruments so necessary for the manage­ mission on all successful and amended applications for ex­ ment and improvement of the Reserves do not become the clusion of land from the ALR and from a twenty-five per­ source of the decline in the protection of agricultural cent sample of rejected applications. Approximately 1950 lands. It is this concern which forms the basic rationale for processed .applications initiated from 197 4 to 1978 were the study. examined. 16 II STRATEGYFOREVALUATION: The Land Commission Act permits several types of ap­ APPROACH AND DESIGN plications and appeal, which can be classified into four (a) Study Objectives groups: 1) Outright exlusion of land from the ALRs The aim of this study is therefore twofold. First, it will evaluate the performance and relative effectiveness of the Municipalities, regional districts or the Commission Land Commission in meeting its primary goal of preserv­ itself may, under section 9 (1) of the Act, apply to 17 ing agricultural land by analyzing the cumulative effects of Cabinet for the exclusion of land from the ALR. In exclusions of land from the Reserves. The assumption here all cases a public hearing must be held and, once com­ is that the outcomes from the application process offer a plete, the application is submitted to the Commission basis for assessing the consistency and effectiveness of the and forwarded along with its recommendations to decision making process of the Commission. Second, the ELUC and then to Cabinet. paper seeks to examine some of the conditions which were Under section 9 (2) of the Act private parties wishing largely responsible for those outcomes. The conclusions to exclude land apply directly to the Commission. consider possible improvements in the program. Since 1974 when the Commission first started receiv­ ing applications it has been estimated that one in Only the study, carried out by Environment Canada, every six is a reconsideration of a former rejection. 18 has attempted to evaluate comprehensively the success of the Agricultural Land Commission in protecting 2) Modification of use while remaining in the ALR agricultural land and stabilizing the farm economy. 11 Con­ This involves a request to modify use of the land for cerning the latter objective, the study found an increased non-farm purposes while still remaining in the ALRs confidence by farmers in the future of their properties (sections 9 (l)(b) and 11 (4)). which was being translated into higher levels of farm in­ 3} Appeals to ELUC by aggrieved parties Individuals vestment, formation of new farms and amalgamation of who are dissatisfied with a decision regarding a 9(2) land into larger production units. These findings attest to application are allowed to appeal the decision to the success of the Act, the Commission and the com­ ELUC (under section 9(7)) if the individual has the plementary Farm Income Assurance Act in providing the signatures of two members of the Commission and a requisite environment for farm production.12 copy of a resolution of the regional district or municipality authorizing the appeal. Under new provi­ Less clear, however, were its findings relating to the sions of the Act passed in 1977 an individual who was preservation of agricultural land. The study found a lower refused Leave of Appeal to ELUC by the Commission rate of subdivision for the sampled properties within the under a 9(7) application may now within 30 days of ALR than for similar properties outside the ALR. Unfor­ that refusal apply directly to the Minister responsible tunately benchmark data were unavailable for rates of for Leave of Appeal to ELUC. If the Minister gives subdivision in these sample areas before the establishment consent the appeal is heard by ELUC and "ELUC of the ALR. This factor, plus statistical evidence from the may then approve the application with or without Commission that large amounts of land have been remov­ terms and conditions, or may refuse the ed from the ALR, question Environment Canada's conclu­ application" .19 sions that the ALR has achieved "the reservation of 4) Inclusion of land in the ALR Applications under agricultural land for future agricultural use", 12 and that section 8(1) may be made to Cabinet by both private the "trend towards non-agricultural uses has been largely parties and public bodies, including the Commission, arrested" .14 to include land within the ALRs. In contrast to the Environment Canada study, this With respect to land under private application the present study seeks to test the success of the program study paid particular attention to five features: its from the perspective of the loss of land. It is guided in part agricultural capability, quantity, regional variation, date by Popper's philosophy of evaluation in which he argues of application and intended use. In this study the that "the implementation of every policy needs to be agricultural capability of the land under application is tested and this is to be done not by looking for evidence measured according to a scheme slightly modified from that one's efforts are having the desired effect but by look­ that devised by the Commission. All land within the 15 ing for evidence that they are not." Reserve is coded according to the Canada Land 50 Land Commission Inventory's agricultural capability scheme of seven major categories. This information provides the basis for classi­ fying each parcel under application into one of five groups: Group A - 100 percent class 1 to 3 (prime) land; Group B - major proportion of class 1 to 3 land, e.g., 60 percent class 2 and 40 percent class 4 land; Group C - even proportion of class 1 to 3 and class 4 to 7 land. Group D - minor proportion of class 1 to 3 land, e.g., 60 percent class 5 and 40 percent class 3 land; Group E - 100 percent class 4 to 7 land Intended uses were defined very generally as residential, commercial, industrial, recreational and institutional functions. Given the intent of the Act, these features provide critical measure of the performance of the Commission by examining how much land was removed under certain types of application, the quality of the land removed and to land were removed under private application and almost what extent future intended use was non-agricultural in three and one-half times this quantity of land (48,600) was nature, excluded under governmental application. This latter figure The results of this analysis and conclusions about pro­ was heavily influenced by fine tuning efforts in the gram effectiveness are summarized in Section III below. regional disti'icts of Cariboo and Powell River. c) Basic Problem and Questions Having said this, it should be observed that this total exclusion translates into an average yearly rate compar­ Innovative programs have little information to draw able to the loss of agriculturalland in the year preceding upon for development of a program strategy or internal the Order-in Council which prohibited subdivision of farm assessment of program effectiveness; there are equivalent 21 difficulties for any external evaluation of such a broad pro­ land. While the exclusion of land is to be expected, given gram, particularly during its formative years.20 the need for fine tuning of ALR boundaries, it clearly can­ not continue over the long haul. Moreover some regions The exclusion of land from the ALR does not have been experiencing a greatly disproportionate share of necessarily oppose the goals or mandate of the Commis­ land exclusions for both types of application. Notable are sion. The removal of land through the fine tuning process Vancouver Island, the Okanagan, Cariboo and Kootenays. is a case in point. What is lacking is an objective standard The first two of these regions were responsible for 40 per­ defining desirable levels of exclusion either for fine tuning cent of land excluded during the years 1974 to 1978. or for valid space requirements from both private and A high proportion of the exclusion applications came public sectors. Although it is not possible to provide from smaller centres and outlying rural areas. The precise limits it is possible and necessary to establish absence of the highly urbanized Lower Mainland region general criteria as a basis for evaluation. The following from this group suggests that the ALR boundaries were criteria were applied when examining the quantity, quality more carefully executed during the initial designation and distribution of land excluded: (they contain a higher proportion of prime land) and that 1) Is the total impact of the exclusions affecting the the Commission is particularly sensitive to the public issue integrity of one or more of the reserves? of ALR exclusions in this region. 2) Are trends apparent which are at cross purposes These findings suggest that the future growth of rural with the intent of the Act and the responsibilities populations, through natural increase and exurban of the Commission? development, could pose as much a threat to farmland 3) Is some development inevitable and is it more preservation as suburban development in the more highly efficient than would have been the case without urbanized regions. 22 the imposition of the ALR? b) Loss of High Capability Land III PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS 1) Trends a) Quantity of Land Excluded More serious are trends found when examining the ex­ To date the quantity of land excluded does not appear clusion of prime (Group A) agricultural land during the to pose a threat to the integrity of the Reserve. The brief history of the Commission's operation. Between 197 4 removal of land through 9(1) and 9(2) applications and 1978 an increasing proportion of Group A lands were represents slightly more than one-half of one percent of being removed under private application. On average 35% the acreage of the ALR. Approximately 14,200 acres of of all lands excluded were class 1-3 due to the large Pierce 51 DECISION Total Applications All 35 m Applications Approved Rejected Amended D Total Approvals Soil % % % % - Group I 2 3 4 30 - 29,6 41.6 29.3 A 35.4 30 40 30 100 i 25 ...0 15.5 21.2 16.4 0. B 18.3 0. 30 38 32 100 < "" 20 r:: - 3.4 4.4 3,5 ".,, C 3.9 r:: 30 38 32 100 :3 15 I- -~ 13,3 21.4 0, D 16.0 18.7 0. 35 24 < 10 41 100 3 0 32.8 19.5 29.3 E-< E 26.2 .... 5 0 40 23 37 100 sS: 100.0 100.0 100.0 m- - 100.0 34 32 A B C D E I 44 100 SOIL GROUP Table 1: Percentage Distribution of Private Applications by Soil Group and by Decision. Note in Col- umnl that !{fi.4l?i, of all applications involved GJ'oup A (high quality) lands. Column 2, left-hand figures,

sh<1w that :W.!)% ()f a1111n,vals involvefl (;nmp A lands, considerably more than the applications approved in Figure 2: Percentage of Total Private Applications and ttw next three, lower quality gToups. The highest percentage of rejections (Column 3) were also for Group A Total Approvals, by Soil Group. The variation in total ap• lands. Finally, note that the ratio between approvals, rejet'tions and amendments (right hand fibrures in each plications and total approvals, given in Table 1, is clearly <:olumn) is approximatl-'ly the same for (;roups A,B and C. A higher proportion of approvals and amend- demonstrated here. men ts Ol'l'Urtid for lower quality (Croups D and E) lands. Till' estimated number of private applications is 1400. Percentages may not add up to 100 because of roun- ding. number of applications for the exclusion of Group A and prime agricultural land (Table 3 and Figure 3). The Lower Group B lands especially in Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland accounted for only 10 percent of all exclusions, Mainland and the Okanagan (Figure 1). 30 percent of which were prime agricultural lands. How do these findings relate to the intent of the Act It is clear that while variations in the distribution of and the responsibilities of the Commission? Before ad­ prime agricultural land may influence the proportion of dressing this question it is first necessary to provide a prime land excluded, equally plausible explanations are more complete picture of the results and some underlying vigorous population growth, a large number of applica­ interpretations. tions and varying attitudes of regional districts towards exclusions. A large proportion of Group A land under application. Of the estimated 1400 processed private applications for Government Applications In general, governmental ap­ the exclusion of land from the ALR, 33 percent were ac­ plications had a higher success rate (53 percent of all such cepted by the Commission, 32 percent were rejected applications) than private; but they consumed a much outright and 34 percent were amended to 11( 4) status. The lower percentage of Group A lands (8 percent). These rate of success for applications increased as the capability rates reflect among other things careful preparation and of land under application decreased. A similar trend ex­ research by municipalities before submitting applications, isted for the 11(4)s or modified 9(2) applications (Table 1 & the application for removal of relatively poor quality land Figure 2). Despite this and the conservationist approach of (under fine tuning) and the inherent advantage of one the Commission, the actual area of prime agricultural land public body in dealing with another. The underlying (Group A) removed is almost proportional to the area motivations for municipal applications originate in the need under application (Table 2). This situ 'ltion arose because of for land to facilitate urban expansion, and the desire to the disproportionate share of Group A lands under applica­ enlarge the municipal tax base and earn supplementary in­ tion for exclusion (35 percent). The implication here is that come through the sale of lands. 23 even though the Commission is attempting to minimise the Variations Over Time Just as there is considerable loss of prime agricultural land, a high volume of applica­ regional variation in the exclusion of land so there is varia­ tions can offset this effort. tion in the rate and quality of land excluded over time. Regionally, applications were most often successful in There are two significant variations here. During the in­ the Kootenays, Central B.C., Vancouver Island and the itial years of the Commission approximately 10 percent of Okanagan and, with the exception of the Kootenays, at all land excluded was from Group A lands (100 percent least 40 percent of all land excluded in these reg10ns was class 1-3). This proportion consistently increased to almost

52 Land Commission 2) E::eplanations Changes in the Commission The trends discussed above Success Area under rate relate to changes in the political environment and to Private Percentage of acreage as% of all Applications appl'ns technical considerations in the design and operation of the App'vd R~'d Amend'd in the ALR. The appointment of a new executive of the Commis­ Soil Acres % % % group Group I 2 3 4 5 6 sion in late 1976 by the Social Credit government which succeeded the NDP in 1975 signalled a change in the A 7,502 14.2 15.2 14.3 13.4 29.3 character of the Commission. Wilson observed that "the second Commission does not have the unusual breadth of B 9,428 17.9 16.2 24.4 12.6 24.9 education, training, experience or association which characterized its predecessor. Nevertheless it has ex­ C 2,076 3.9 4.4 5.1 2.5 30.4 hibited the same concern for farmland conservation and sympathy with the basic thrust of the Act as its D 16,865 32.0 23.0 31.4 39.4 19.8 predecessor".24 Even though it is to be expected that the new Commission would support the Act, it is also to be ex­ E 16,851 32.0 41.3 24.8 32.1 35.6 pected that its perception of problems and corresponding behaviour would differ from its predecessor. Anything less 52,722 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 27.5 than this would be to deny its different composition. Cer­ tainly the higher success rate for processed private ap­ plications during the years 1977 and 1978 and the removal Table 2: Acreage under private application, by soil group and by acreage ap- of more land than in preceding years does suggest a proved, rejected and amended. Columns 1 and 2 show the arres and percentage of total acres involved in private applications for exclusion, in each of the five change in orientation of the Commission with, however, a agricultural capahility groups. Columns 3-5 show the percentage of land area in number of caveats. The initial year of operation of the first approved, rejected and amend~d applications, in each group. Column 6 shows the, area covered by approved applications as a percentage of all land under private Commission (1974) also witnessed a relatively high success application in each group. rate for applications suggesting that the relative inex­ perience of both Commission's led to a more liberal gran­ ting of exclusions. Moreover the higher success rates may 20 percent by 1978. Unfortunately what is not known simply reflect a continuation of a trend begun in 1976 about this land is its actual use at the time of exclusion. under the first Commission to grant fewer amended Was it being farmed or was it idle land? The other varia­ private approvals (i.e. 11(4)'s) and to rely upon outright ac­ tion occurring during 1977 and 1978 was an increase in the ceptance or rejection of a private application. It is also con­ success rate of private applications. 1977 alone accounted ceivable that individuals (like their municipal counterparts) for 42 percent of all land removed under 9(2) from 1974 to have developed a greater expertise in the art of applying 1978. for exclusion of land from the ALRs.

Table 3: Regional shares of applications to exclude land from ALR CLI Group A Class 1·3 land Class 1.3 35 Appro,,al exclus'ns exclusn's Acreage as% of rate as a % in each as a% asa % % in each % in each % of all Region of all of all all IIIIlill Total Applications Region Region appn's of all exclus'ns exclus'ns acr.eage 30 - of all of all in each acreage in in m D Total Approvals Region applic'ns approvals Region excluded Region Region Region 25 Vancr. 30.1 31.2 34.5 25.9 42.5 41.1 59.5 . Island : - ~ 20 1-- Lower -< 17.2 14.7 28.5 10.2 30.3 Mainland 5.2 42.0 " 1-- Cariboo­ 115 7.3 8.4 38.5 12.1 15.8 52.9 11.4 Thompson i 10 -< ~ Okanagan 22.2 20.1 30.3 14.8 25.3 44.9 ;34_5 • 5 ~• rt' Kootenay 17.4 22.1 42.6 30.8 7.1 17.1 24.4 ~ \"A:-.l"Jl l.OWEH (',\1{11100 Koon:.\"Al l'EAt'E (l. l'IIARI.OTTE ISI.A.'.ll ~IAJ:-.J.A.'-11 T11m1so:-. Of,;,\:,,,,1,1;,1,:,. mn:n 111 Uil.El Regions Peace R. 1.5 1.3 29.0 I. 7 3.8 59.6 33.9

Queen Figure 3: Percentage of Total Private Applications and Total Charlotte­ 4.8 2.1 16.4 4.3 4.8 4.0 10.0 Approvals, by Region. Vancouvl'r Island, the Okanagan and Bulkley Kootenay rect'ived the largest share of applications. Vancouver Island, the Carihrn1-Th!)mpson and Kootenay recorded the 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 highest approval rates.

Pierce 53 Administrative Problems The impact of the decisions of to the Commission - the preservation of agricultural land both Commissions upon the integrity of the Land Reserve - it must be remembered that the Commission must deal highlights two problems. The first is a problem of in­ with very real urbanization pressures and hence the cremental decision making, which has paid little attention demands by individuals, developers and municipalities for to the cumulative proportions of each class of land remov­ space. ed over the previous years. The germ of this problem is In the initial designation of the Reserve attempts were that information is not stored in a readily retrievable man­ made to set aside sufficient land to meet the needs of ur­ ner which can give an overview of the trends and impacts ban areas for a five year period. Unfortunately this was 25 of past decisions. As a result no limits have been set on not always possible. Some municipalities grew faster than land exclusions; the finiteness of the agricultural land expected. As well, the Commission lost its urban land resource base - particularly prime lands - has been ig­ banking function in 1977. The heavy demand for ALR nored. In fact, between 1978 and 1980, government ap­ lands for urban and exurban development is amply plications excluded 46,000 acres, approximately equivalent demonstrated by the findings that 60 percent of all land to exclusions during the previous four years, and private excluded under private applications, and 75 percent under applications removed 97,000 acres in 1978-80, about two­ government applications were for residential use. thirds the amount excluded during the previous four years. Mundie in discussing farmland preservation programs in the U.S. argues that a "city or county facing strong The second problem relates to the relative emphasis to development pressures cannot be considered unsuccessful placed on the criteria or guidelines for exclusion. Applica­ even if, despite its agricultural retention program, hun­ tions for removal of land from the ALR are judged against dreds of acres of land are converted to urban use. The test two sets of criteria; 1) the agricultural capability of the in this case must be: how much more agricultural land subject parcel and surrounding parcels; and 2) the would have been lost in the absence of the program". 27 suitability of the proposed development in terms of the Given the number of rejected private applications (Table 1) current agricultural base and wider area concerns. 26 it is certainly fair to assume that the rate of subdivision Hence the Commission is guided, in its decision to accept would have exceeded pre 1973 rates and would likely have or reject an application, according to the been more haphazard without priority given to capability/productivity of the parcel and the impact that agricultural land. From this viewpoint the performance of the exclusion would have upon the neighbouring the Commission can be judged to have had at least some agricultural base. Given the emphasis of the Act toward success. The problem of continuing urban pressures on the the preservation of agricultural land the first criterion Reserves remains, however. should take precedence over the second. However, suitability and/or impact must often have taken IV. POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF PAST precedence, otherwise little or no prime agricultural land PERFORMANCE FOR THE FUTURE would have been excluded. In a number of instances The effectiveness of any public policy during its for­ suitability for exclusion was a recognition of an original misclassification and over-designation of land during the mative years has a powerful and inertial effect upon its per­ creation of ALRs. In this regard, research staff at the formance in subsequent years. In the first six years, the Commission have argued that the scale of the agricultural Commission's operation was confronted with serious capability maps of the Canada Land Inventory was too challenges from both the public and private sectors, with small to permit accurate delineation in certain areas. successful governmental applications consuming the Other instances of "unsuitability" - lands in single owner­ greatest quantity of land and successful private applica­ ship but partially outside the ALR, of a shortage of vacant tions consuming the greatest proportion of prime agricultural land. If the long term purpose of the Reserve urban land and of non-agricultural uses within designated is to be served, these rates cannot continue. Despite the areas - have weakened the Reserves by acting as an im­ petus for change. finding of the Environment Canada study that the Com­ mission had secured an improved environment for The fine tuning process has been applied to resolve a agricultural production, this can be easily offset by further number of these problems and it goes some way toward declines particularly in the quality of land in the Reserves. explaining the lack of importance given to the capability criterion. But all of these changes cannot be considered to The study exposed a number of problems in the be due to fine tuning and the danger arises that in the management of the land resource which have a direct words of the Commission "short term economic and bearing on the ability of the Commission to meet its man­ technological considerations" which decide the fate of in­ date. By way of summary, five which particularly deserve dividual parcels may in the long term seriously undermine resolution are outlined below. the integrity of the land reserves. The challenge to the integrity of the ALR comes Urbanization pressures While these interpretations are primarily from residential subdivision (70 percent of all based upon the relatively limited terms of reference given land excluded and 72 percent of all approvals). To be effec- 54 Land Commission tive in the future, in areas where development pressure is excluded in the future. This can only be implemented when strong, the Commission will have to shift attention from a program is in place which permits easy retrieval of infor­ defense of the reserves to cooperative efforts with local mation about all past successful applications. districts in some form of area planning which reconciles the need for urban space with the need to preserve farm The fourth problem relates to the division of decision land. Certainly Oregon's successful attempts to preserve making. In practice there are three bodies which have the agricultural land base owes much to the comprehen­ power to affect the size and quality of the ALR: the Land sive and the integrative nature of its program. 28 An im­ Commission, through private applications, and ELUC and portant step in B.C. toward comprehensive and positive the Cabinet, through inclusions, governmental applica­ land use planning is the 1977 amendment to the Municipal tions and appeals. Recent evidence suggests that the 1977 Act which enables the Commission to review Community changes to the Act which allow aggrieved parties to appeal and Settlement Plans for compatability with the ALR directly to Cabinet (section 9(8)) are open to political 30 before the plans are referred for Ministerial approval. patronage. Also important is the multitude of depart­ ments and ministries both federal and provincial which A parallel concern is the overemphasis placed upon have their own land use interests to strengthen and pro­ preserving agricultural land by containing urban growth tect. These range from Provincial Ministries of Forestry, and underemphasis on making farming a viable economic of Lands, Parks and Housing, and of Environment, to pursuit. The Farm Income Assurance Act and differential Federal Departments of Fisheries and of Environment. tax assessment have improved the economic climate for Can the long term interests of the ALR be served with farming but there still remains considerable risk from such divided interests and, in some cases, loyalties? marketing imbalances, the cost-price squeeze, competition from imports and the high cost of land. The matter of a Lastly, the Commission itself must clarify its reasonable rate of return to farming and ranching enter­ guidelines or criteria for the exclusion of land from the prises is a separate issue from that of capital gains on land, ALR. Given the intent of the Act, why have suitability con­ be it agricultural or not. The Commission itself owns land cerns taken precedent over capability concerns? After the which it leases to farmers with an option to purchase but fine tuning process is complete what will be the terms and the scale of the ownership (10,000 acres) precludes it conditions for exclusion? from achieving more than a token impact. The shift in responsibility for the Commission from the Minister of the Some problems in the performance of the Commission Environment to the Minister of Agriculture offers promise are due to internal factors such as lack of experience and that some of the problems facing farmers and the Commis­ resources as well as inadequate planning strategies. These sion will be addressed more directly. are capable of resolution. Others are due to external The third problem is adminstrative. Until 1980 the economic and political forces which are essentially beyond lack of resources available to the Commission for use in a the control of the Commission: the division of decision comprehensive fine tuning program and the high propor­ making responsibility the genuine need by municipalities tion of reconsiderations of applications retarded the for space, and the often precarious economic position of finalization of the ALR boundaries. This has led to uncer­ farmers are important elements in the farm land resource tainty and to a continuing high rate of applications for ex­ equation. It is these external forces which will, in the clusion of land. Equally important is the need to set future, pose the most formidable obstacles to successful targets or limits on the quantity and quality of land to be preservation of agricultural land.

.;.:.:.;.;.::'.!:::·:· ..... • .. ·.... •: ... ::•::••·••:•:-:::·::::::::.:.-::·:·:· ww•-.-••.--.-----•-----•-•i 1. Between 1951 and 1971 an Act" and the body primarily 8. Personal communications with estimated 25 percent of the arable responsible for its administration Gary Runka, former Chairman of land for agricultural production will be referred to as· "the Commis­ the Land Commission. was consumed by urban develop­ sion." 9. Province of British Columbia, An­ ment in the urban regions of Vic­ nual Report of Provincial Land toria and Vancouver: Gibson, E.M. 4. Province of British Columbia Land Commission, Victoria, Ministry of Urbanization in the Straits of Commission Act, (Chapter 46, Environment, 1974, p. 1. Georgia Region, Ottawa, Environ­ 1973.) ment Canada, 1976, p. 39. 5. Restrictive agricultural zoning was 10. Ibid, p. 5. 2. For a discussion of the events applied within each regional 11. Environment Canada, The leading up to the passage of the district to lots greater than two Agricultural Land Reserves of Act and of the period shortly acres m size. British Columbia: An Impact thereafter see Baxter, D., The B. C. 6. This was the case in the Nicola­ Analysis, No. 13, Land Use in Land Commission - A Review, Thompson, Okanagan-Smilka­ Canada Series, Ottawa, Minister of Faculty of Commerce and Business meen, Bulkley Valley and Cariboo Supplies and Services, Canada, Administration, University of Regions. 1978. British Columbia, 1974 Report No. 7. Province of British Columbia, An­ 12. The Farm Income Assurance Act, 8. nual Report of Provincial Land passed in 1973, was designed to 3. Unless otherwise noted this legisla­ Commission, Victoria, Ministry of stabilize farm incomes by paying in­ tion will be refered as "the Environment, 1974, p. 3. demnities to producers when prices Pierce 55 were less than a predetermined Environmental Impact Assesse­ formation sheet Points for Ap­ cost of production. ment ·in Canada: Prospects and plicants to Consider. 13. Environment Canada, Op. Cit., Problems. Publication No. ES 5, 27. Mundie, R., Farmland and Preser­ 1978, p. 99. edited by J. Whitney and M. vation Programs: Evaluating Ef Plewes, Toronto, University of fectiveness, a paper given at the 14. Ibid,, p. 91. Toronto, Institute for Environmen­ APA Convention in San Francisco, 15. Magee, B., Popper, Glasgow, W. tal Studies, 1977, p.171. April 13, 1980, p. 3. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1975, p. 21. British Columbia Land Commis­ 28. For a discussion of Oregon's ap­ 77. sion, Keeping the Options Open, proach to farmland preservation 1975,p. 5. 16. Although the Commission was see: O.J. Furuseth. "The Oregon created in 1973 the analvsis does 22. For a discussion of this problem in Agricultural Protection Program: not begin until 1974 since the first the U.S. see Conklin, H.E. Preserv­ A Review and Assessement". year of the Commission's existence ing Agriculture in an Urban Natural Resources Jom·nal, Vol. was taken up with the establish­ Region, Cornell University 20, 1980, pp. 603-614. ment of the Reserve. All land dur­ Agricultural Experiment Station, 29. A draft B.C. Planning Act, cir­ ing this period which was taxed as Ithaca: New York's Food and Life culated for discussion late in 1980, farm land was prohibited by Order­ Sciences Bulletin, No. 86, 1980. required that regional resource in-Council from being subdivided. 23. For example, the municipality of plans be prepared to ensure com­ The Commission therefore did not Delta sought to expand its tax base prehensive and co-ordinated land hear appeals until 1974. by applying to Cabinet (on behalf of use management. The necessary 17. In 1979 the section numbers of the the owner George Spetifore) for bill has not yet been introduced in Agricultural Land Commission Act the exclusion of 523 acres of land the B.C. Legislature. of 1973 and 1977 were changed. from the ALR for a housing 30. The most publicized case involving For the new section numbers see development. It was accepted by the direct interference of the the Agricultural Land Commis­ cabinet but permission to rezone Minister of Environment is sion Act, R.S. Chapter 9, 1980. was refused by the Greater Van­ Gloucester Properties' bid to couver Regional District. As the remove 626 acres from the Land 18. This study does not make a distinc­ situation stands the land has been Reserve near Langley in 1979. The tion between those applications excluded but cannot be developed Minister granted Leave to Appeal which are heard for the first time because it is still zoned to ELUC and ELUC gave permis­ by the Commission and those which agricultural. sion to exclude the property. The are reconsidered. 24. Wilson, J.W., The Agricultural Premier however intervened to 19. Province of British Columbia, An­ Land Commission of British Col­ prevent development permits or mwl Report of Agricultural Land umbia, Dept. of Geography, Simon land use contracts from being Commission, Victoria, Ministry of Fraser University, 1980, p. 22. issued until Cabinet could reach a Environment, 1978, p. 11. 25. The Commission does have maps decision on the issue. The Commis­ 20. For a discussion of evaluation summarizing the impact of past sion then tried to have the land research see: White, G.F., "En­ decisions but these are not in a returned to the Reserve but the vironmental Impact Statements", form to provide large scale two companies involved blocked Professional Geographer, Vol. 2-i, cumulative overviews. this bid with a prohibition order 1972, p. 302; and Day, J.C. et. al., 26. These criteria are take from an in- from the B.C. Supreme Court. The "A Strategy for Hindsight Evalua­ issue is before the B.C. Court of tion of Environmental Impacts," in Appeal.

5 6 Land Commission FEDERAL INVOLVEMENT in LAND POLICY The federal role in the history of Canadian planning national land policy, led to the commissioning of three and land policy has had its ups and downs, to say the essays - with apologies to their authors for the rather least. Perhaps the constitutional assignments of tight deadlines imposed on them. powers to federal and provincial governments make Nigel Richardson was asked to review the very time­ federal indirection and uncertainty inevitable,CMHC's ly book by Ira Robinson on Canadian settlement trends support of planning in the 1950's and the hopes and their policy implications, and Richardson took this engendered by MSUA in the early 70's were at least opportunity to debate Robinson's suggestions about a relative high points. More recently there has been a national settlement policy. Doug Hoffman was asked to downturn; MSUA disappointed and then disappeared, review the mandate and products of the Lands Direc­ and the mandate exercised by CMHC has shrunk torate, up to the most recent outputs. These, the seriously. From this vacuum, the Lands Directorate of recently announce Federal Policy on Land Use and the Environment Canada has become the leading federal Munn report which forms much of the basis for this agency with respect to land planning, or, as Harry policy, were given to Harry Lash for review and com­ Lash says, planning which is broader than the concerns ment. of a single ministry. It is the editors' hope that these statements will stimulate debate and analysis suitable for presentation Recognition of these changes and concern about the in the future issues of Plan Canada; surely they should possibility of an Institute position on both federal and not be the last words on the subject.

Plan Canada 21:2 Jun 81 57 L'iinplication du Federal en matiere de politique des Terres.

Pendant des annees, le role du Federal dans l'histoire de petite aux moyennes villes dont la population augmente l'amenagement du territoire au Canada et de la politique des rapidement et les petites villes dont la population baisse. Dans terres a connu ses hauts et ses bas. Recemment, un certain ces quatre cas, les besoins de la population et du logement declin s'est manifeste avec la disparition du MSUA et le retrait seront modifies. Richardson pense que ce genre d'analyse est du mandat du CMHC, mais ii n'empeche que la Direction tres utile. generale des terres d'Environnement Canada est devenue la C'est lorsque Robinson se prononce en faveur d'une politi­ principale institution federale s'occupant de l'amenagement que nationale de peuplement pour diriger ces changements, des terres. que Richardson trouve a redire: une telle perspective est peu La direction de cette revue a prie trois planificateurs de realiste. "Pour le moment, ce que nous pouvons esperer de commenter divers aspects des derniers amenagements mieux est une serie de politiques provinciales du peuplement federaux. Doug Hoffman a pu ainsi presenter un compte rendu ou des plans provinciaux" du mandat et des decisions prises par la Direction generale On a prie Harry Lash de faire un compte rendu du rapport de la des terres. Le role de la Direction tire son origine de la Loi sur Direction generale des terres sur l'utilisation des terres au la rehabilitation et le redeveloppement de agriculture et de Canada, et sur la politique federale d'utilisation des terres qui l'Inventaire des terres du Canada, du Ministere de l'expansion en resulte. Lash estime que le rapport est bien ecrit, et denote economique regionale et d'autres programmes federaux 'tie un sentiment pour la terre, et un interet pour la fa~on dont on developpement fonctionnant dans diverses parties du pays. En tend a utiliser les terres et a en resoudre les problemes. 1970, on a mis sur pied un nouveau ministere, Environnement Cependant, les conclusions et les recommandations du rapport Canada, et dans le cadre de celui-ci, on a donne a Direction sont decevantes. Elles se concentrent sur une position politi­ generale des terres la responsabilite de l'ARDA et du CLI. La que federale qui abordera les ressources foncieres. Ace point, Direction a surtout concentre ses efforts sur les problemes des la critique est possible: les suggestions proposees ne sont que terres, et a dirige des travaux approfondis dans ce domaine. negatives ou regulatrices; elles impliquent un systeme de En 1975, la Direction a organise un Groupe de travail inter­ plans completement hierarchises et ignorent les problemes ministeriel sur la politique d'utilisation des terres qui, en souleves par les actions ministerielles individuelles et dont ii 1981, a presente" un rapport en cinq points sur les politiques est necessaire de traiter les repercussions avec des foncieres du Federal". Peu de temps apres, le Cabinet federal gouvernements locaux. a adopte cette meme politique (voir plus loin le compte rendu Le rapport n'aborde pas non plus completement le style de de Harry Lash). vie et les autres changements que connaissent deja les Cana­ II est facile de reconnaitre la contribution de la Direction diens, et qui deviendront plus spectaculaires dans l'avenir generale des terres, en particulier son lnventaire des terres, a pourtant, ils entraineront certainement des consequences sur la protection des zones rurales et aux programmes de soutien l'utilisation des terres. Quant a la declaration du Federal d'in­ entrepris par la Colombie Britannique, l'Ontario et les stituer une politique d'utilisation des teres, Lash y voit plus Prairies; ii est plus difficile de determiner l'influence exercee une promesse qu'une base possible pour l'engagement a par ses autres programmes; de meme qu'il est malaise realiser l'objectif adopte: a savoir la garantie que les politi­ d'estimer l'importance de son role dans l'avenir, mais le Pro­ ques federales et la gestion des terres federales contribuent a fesseur Hoffman considere que les problemes des ressources une exploitation prudente des ressources foncieres du naturelles et de l'environnment ne cesseront d'influencer la Canada. Tres peu dans cette declaration garantit qu'elle sera politique du Federal. executee, et beaucoup laisse supposer qu'elle ne sera executee On a prie Nigel Richardson de donner le compte rendu d'un que "lorsqu'on le jugera adequat". Lash conclut: "Nous livre recent d'Ira Robinson sur les tendances du peuplement devrons done attendre la suite des evenements". au Canada et leurs implications politiques. Cependant la declaration d'instituer une politique est un Le Professeur Robinson fait remarquer que la prudence fait, elle promet d'offrir un programme d'etudes corrdonnees, classique de l'apres-guerre qui a caracterise le peuplement a de coordonner les programmes federaux a ceux des Provinces ete mise en cause des le debut de la publication du Recense­ et de rattacher les decisions du Federal concernant les terres ment de 1966. Puis, les taux de croissance de la population ur­ aux projets des autres niveaux du Gouvernement. baine de Montreal, Toronto et Vancouver ont ralenti. Pendant Lash se demande aussi jusqu'a quel point le coordination la decennie suivante, l'accroissement de la population, le des programmes ministeriels fonctionnera; ii se dit gene par pourcentage urbain de cet accroissement et les changements les principes directeurs d'une des politiques, a savoir celui du intervenus dans la composition de la population sont devenus libre marche dans les transactions entourant les terres evidents. Robinson en conclut que l'amen~gement des villes privees. Ceci implique-t'il un retour a l'epoque oii. l'on desap­ devra desormais affronter quatre situations distinctes: les prouvait la planification et oii. on la jugeait antidemocratique, villes moyennes s'accroissant rapidement, les grandes villes ou bien cela n'a-t'il ete insere qu'afin de faire du document un dont la population augmente lentement ou meme baisse, les tout politiquement acceptable?

58 Federal land use I• Federal Involvement in Land The Role of the Lands Directorate Doug Hoffman

Land policy planning in Canada is complex and unclear. No national land policy has evolved due to various con­ straints, not the least of which is the traditional approach to privately owned land which treats it as a commodity to be bought, sold and used in such ways as to achieve max­ imum return. It is being realized, however, that land is a finite natural resource which must be preserved and main­ tained for particular uses. For example, agricultural land is important not only as an economic determinant of the quality of life, but for life itself. Decisions on land use can have implications that go far beyond municipal and provin­ cial boundaries. Hence, the interest on the part of federal agencies to have some input into the decision making pro­ cess and the need to organize institutions like the Lands Directorate to influence land policy in Canada. A measure unemployment and environment is further complicated by of the success of federal government in land policy issues jurisdiction. can be attained by examining the role and effectiveness of Policy matters are confused by the constitutional reality the Lands Directorate. The results of an all too brief study that most natural resources, property and civil rights are follow. controlled by the Provinces. Thus, the centralized taxing THE INFL DENCE OF TRADITION powers of the Federal government are offset by de­ The history of Canadian economic development has been centralized provincial powers over resources. Some key dominated by trade in natural resources. Growth and areas, such as agriculture are split jurisdictions. The development of the nations has been based on the Federal government has limited powers inside provinces. resources of the land - minerals, timber, natural gas, Consequently, resource development and use are uniquely petroleum, fish, fur and even hydroelectricity, if rivers are dependent on Federal-Provincial-Municipal co-operation included in the definition of land. These staple products and national policies are difficult to evolve. As a result, have been our main source of wealth and stem from a there is an attempt to negotiate a division of roles whereby seeming abundance of land. Conflicting estimates about the Federal government does most of the research and the Provinces, either directly or through their municipalities, our land and its resources have hampered attempts to devise a model which maintain a compromise between ex­ do most of the local regulation and control. These latter ploitation and preservation of natural resources. Indeed, powers are maintained by the Provinces under the British North America Act which, as generally interpreted, em­ the relationship between exploitation and use has never been fully explored or understood. powers the Provinces to: (1) develop laws concerning the purchase or expropria­ Until a few years ago, government policies were tion of land for public recreational use; directed to facilitating the harvesting of these resources to (2) implement differential tax structures so that local provide the greatest benefit. Each resource was exploited landowners using land for specific purposes such as for its highest and best use. As a result, Canada moved in agriculture do not bear the burden of increased pro­ less than 100 years from a pioneer frontier society to one perty assessments, resulting from non-resident with post-industrial status. This has been a patchy process purchases; with little planning evident. Rural regions with low (3) establish land use and zoning controls; and economic returns co-exist with wealthy urban areas, (4) require disclosure of place of residence, citizenship, various forms of pollution occupy both city and country, and other pertinent information concerning persons and unemployment is a major concern. These issues along owning or purchasing land in the Province. with those of conservation and preservation have com­ plicated the role of the decision-maker. And the struggle These then are the rules of the game and the system under for priority amongst issues of economics, conservation, which the Lands Directorate operates. Plan Canada 21 :2 Hoffman 59 ROLE OF THE DIRECTORATE version and, as might be expected, policy matters. In 1974, a federal study paper concluded that the envir­ The role of the Directorate is a little difficult to define onmental, social and economic consequences of competi­ largely because of its past history and changes in its objec­ tion for the use of land resources was becoming a national tives. It probably got its start, but not its name, when concern. An Interdepartmental Task Force on Land Use Agricultural Rehabilitation and Development Act (ARDA) Policy was established in the fall of 1975 with represen­ and the Canada land Inventory came into being. ARDA tatives from sixteen federal departments and agencies to was originally directed to the improvement of low rural in­ address this concern. In its first public report (1981), the comes and marginal lands. Various projects implemented Task Force "urged the adoption of a five-point framework by the Provinces, but funded to some extent federally, for federal land policies." 1 Adoption would result in: have led to a great diversity of regional plans for resources (1) a federal view on the wise management of Canada's development. The Canada Land Inventory, although a land resources; part of the ARDA program, was financed wholly by the (2) an Interdepartmental Committee to co-ordinate Federal government. Its major directive was to obtain a federal research and land use activities at the federal measure of the land resources for agriculture, forestry, level; wildlife and recreation. (3) a set of land use guidelines for federal departments In the beginning, ARDA was part of what was then the and agencies; Department of Forestry and Rural Development, but soon (4) greater recognition and support of provincial land use became a part of DREE, the Department of Regional responsibilities, policies and activities; and Economic Expansion. Funds from such sources as ARDA, (5) continuing federal support of sound land use planning FRED (Fund for Rural Economic Development), and the through the provision of basic information on the Atlantic Development Board achieved such provincial characteristics, capability and use of the Canadian agencies as the Industrial Estates Limited (Nova Scotia), land resource base. the Manitoba Development Corporation, the Ontario The report2 points to a number of concerns including the Development Corporation and the General Investment depletion of prime farmland, inflationary pressure in land Corporation (Quebec). In addition, the Prairie Farm markets, environmental impacts of large developments, Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) and the Maritime prospects for energy conservation through improved land Marshland Reclamation Agency (MMRA) were taken use planning, conservation of special lands, use of hazard under the wing of DREE. These agencies and others made lands, native land claims, and foreign ownership. The a strong impact on land planning in Canada. For example, report also pays attention to jurisdictional responsibilities PFRA was set up to resolve erosion in the Prairies, and can be considered to outline the broad interests of the MMRA was organized to reclaim Alantic tidelands, and Directorate. This should not be taken to mean that the the Newfoundland Bog Reclamation Authority was funded Directorate plans to assume the responsibilities of other to create farmland out of organic soil areas. federal units such as those concerned with airports, In 1970, a new federal department, Environment railways, and other government properties. Perhaps it can Canada, was formed to deal with natural resources and en­ be said that its major contribution will be in influencing vironmental issues and the Canada Land Inventory and knowledge and attitudes about Canada's land base. certain other aspects of ARDA were transferred to this department to become known as the Lands Directorate. The Directorate's main focus is on land use issues and EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROGRAM although the work undertaken is most often of a research For the past few years, the Directorate has, on occasion, nature, it is frequently drawn into controversies surroun­ undertaken projects to monitor its program. Interest is ding local government land planning. high in determining who is using the information The course of the Directorate is certainly influenced by disseminated and in what ways. Again the emphasis seems early interests and concerns. It has, for example, funded to be placed on the uses of the Canada land Inventory par­ several studies which assess the use and effectiveness of ticularly for agricultural land regulation. Everyone is the Canada Land Inventory and has undertaken other familiar with the use British Columbia has made of the research into problems of farmland conversion, public land capability for agriculture classification and maps to lands and environmental quality. Most obvious is the pro­ set up the agricultural reserves. Ontario municipalities in­ minence afforded to the Canada Land Inventory data. corporate the same data in their official plans to preserve Maps have been produced which show the size and location farmland by designating classes 1 to 4 land for agriculture. of land capability classes for forestry, agriculture, wildlife The list of provincial govenment departments and agen­ and recreation, other publications show land capability by cies in British Columbia and Ontario, using CLI data is province and census division, analyse critical areas and so long. forth. There are publications that deal with land classifica­ Programs implemented by the Prairie provinces deal tion systems, farmland values, and rural to urban land con- with perceived problems relating to land tenure. Their 60 Lands Directorate governments plan to perpetuate the owner-operated farm of the seventies and the Federal Government met these and so have programs utilizing land banks and other land problems with the development of the Canada Land Inven­ tenure regulations, which aid local young farmers and tory and the Lands Directorate. These programs mobilized discourage foreign ownership. Canada Land Inventory data public awareness and underlined a need for natinal policy. have been used to assist with regulating land tenure, However, the issues they tackled are not as pressing as although not to the same degree as in ai·eas where policies they were. They have been superseded by the "energy regulate land use. In either case, the CLI data are the best crisis", repatriation of the Consitution, and the isses of in­ available when making land use decisions and must be ef­ flation. fective since their use for various purposes is increasing. But problems in natural resources and the environment The influence of other Directorate programs on land use will continue to influence policy making and it is useful to and planning is more difficult to determine, perhaps due to consider the desirability and feasibility of an overall na­ its relatively recent involvement in matters other than tional policy relating to natural resources and the environ­ land capability and land data systems. Interesting to note ment. Such a national policy must not be segmented in is a recent report in which the effects of federal programs character and must provide a focus and framework for in­ on land use in the Windemere Valley of B.C. were assess­ tegrating diverse and wide-ranging concerns. The Lands ed. 3 It concludes that the Federal Government has a Directorate has a role to play in developing national policy. substantial cumulative impact on land use and land plann­ The size of that role will depend on its ability to act as an ing in Valley through its financial and regulatory pro­ integrating and co-ordinating unit. 4 grams and from federal ownership of land. Nothing, however, is said about the impact of Lands Directorate Professor Hoffman is Director ofthe School of Urban and programs on land use in the area. Perhaps it is next to im­ Regional Planning at the University of Waterloo. possible to determine the effects of one division's program on growth and development where many departments are NOTES at work. Perhaps, also identification of the effectiveness of 1 Lands Directorate, Land, 2:1 Environment Canada, 1981. individual programs on planning would reduce co­ (Since this article was written, a federal land policy has been ordination even further than now exists. In any case, it is adopted; it is reviewed in the accompanying article by H U1'1'!J Lash. -Ed.)" evident that program monitoring is needed and the Lands 2 Lands Directorate, Land Use in Canada, The Report of the Directorate has made some progress in this direction. Interdepartmental Task Force on Land Use Policy, Environ­ CONCLUDING COMMENTS ment Canada, January 1980. 3 Lands Directorate, The Effects on Land Use of Federal Pro­ The future role of the Lands Directorate and the effec­ grams in the Windermere Valley, Working Paper No. 6, En­ tiveness of its programs is difficult to estimate because of vironment Canada. September 1980. the complex and disjointed character of natural resources 4 Editor's Note: The Federal Policy on Land Use statement appeared after Professor Hoffman completed these remarks; policy making at the national level in Canada. The issue of the current mail strike made it difficult for him to make low rural incomes in the sixties became the "land crisis" subsequent revisions.

I• FederallnvolvementinLand "Realistically, the best we can hope for at present is a set of provincial settlement policies"

Nigel Richardson reviews Changes in Growth and Composition Some folk-sage of literature, whose identity and exact Canadian Urban Growth Trends: Implications for phraseology I have forgotten, is credited with pointing out a National Settlement Policy that there is less danger in what we don't know, than in IraM. Robinson, Vancouver, B.C., University of what we do know that ain't so. Not so many years ago, we British Columbia Press in association with The Cen­ knew that economic and population growth would con­ tre for Human Settlements at the University of tinue indenfinitely in Canada, concentrating more and British Columbia, 1981, 154 pages, $15.95. more in the central Canadian heartland and in the country's cities, particularly the largest metropolitan Nigel Richardson is a consultant working out of areas, leaving rural Canada depopulated and small towns Toronto doomed; that, swollen by a steady flow of new two-and-a- Richardson 61 third child families, the suburbs would continue to flood the farmlands; that the central· issue in planning was the control and containment of inexorable big-city growth and "urban sprawl". But, as Professor Robinson points out, some of the facts began, almost unnoticed, to challenge the conventional wisdom as early as the publication of the 1966 census data. For example, the growth rate of each of Canada's largest three metropolitan areas (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver) between 1961 and 1966 was appreciably lower than between 1951 and 1961. When the 1976 census results became available, it became clear that the demographic trends of 1966 to 1976, and particularly of the latter five years, were significantly different from those of the argument that suburban populations seem to be stabilis­ previous two decades. The population growth rate as a ing. The trends in small-town growth vary considerably whole in the early 'seventies was less than half that of the among size groups (some actually seem to be declining), 'fifties. The urban proportion of the population actually and this warrants a closer look at what is really happening. dropped, though only slightly, between 1971 and 1976. But to raise questions about some of the details is not to The growth rate of the Big Three had continued to drop, challenge the central thesis: that the assumptions of the while some of the CMA "central cities" and all of the so­ quite recent past about what we have to plan for (or called "inner cities" actually declined in population. Mean­ against) are simplistic and urgently need to be re­ while, the proportion of Canada's people living in towns of examined. less than 100,000 rose significantly, with particularly high That is not to say that Professor Robinson is suggesting rates of growth in those between 30,000 and 100,000 and that we can now safely forget about metropolitan growth, between 2,500 and 5,000; and while the farm population urban sprawl and the kindred bogies of the ' sixties. Wisely, continued its steady decline, this was more than offset by he goes to some pains to point out that the citites are still the growth of the rural non-farm population. growing (Canada's urban population grew by about a million between 1971 and 1976), and some of them, in the Changes in the composition of the population were size range just below the Big Three, are growing very perhaps even more significant than the trend shifts in its rapidly. His message is that urban planning in Canada will overall growth and distribution. Professor Robinson notes in fact have to deal in the future with four quite distinct a marked reduction in fertility rate and in family and situations: medium-large cities still growing quickly; large household size, coupled with a rapid increase in household cities growing slowly, not growing, or even declining in formation (which he expects to continue through the population; small to medium-size towns that are growing 'eighties until it starts to decline sharply in the quickly; and small towns that are declining. And in each mid-"nineties) and a growing proportion of non-family case, a changing population mix and changing housing households. These changes are related in part to changes needs. Each of these conditions he examines in some in the age structure of the population. This at least is one detail, pointing out the problems - and the opportunities element that can be forecast with some confidence, and - associated with each. Again, one may not agree with Professor Robinson gives us figures from the Science every particular, but as such an evaluation is necessarily Council of Canada for the year 2001, according to which judgmental, this is both inevitable and largely irrelevant. nearly 12% of the total population will be 65 or older, com­ The essential point is that each situation needs to be ex­ pared with less than 9% in 1976; while less than 27% will amined on its merits, both objectively and creatively, unen­ be under 20, compared with nearly 36% in 1976. cumbered by stereo-typed attitudes and assumptions, in By now, most planners and probably some politicians are order as far as possible to mitigate the problems and ex­ aware of these demographic changes at least in a general ploit the opportunities that it presents. way. Professor Robinson has nevertheless done an impor­ So far, so good. We have been presented with a very tant service by setting them (and others) out systematical­ useful account of the demographic conditions which are ly and lucidly, so that we have a clear overview of the im­ likely to characterise the closing decades of the twentieth portant shifts of the past decade and of the prospects for century; and the 1981 census will soon be confirming, the rest of the century, so far as these can be foreseen. Of elaborating or modifying this account. We have been of­ course there are points in his exposition at which one may fered an interesting discussion of the likely reasons for cavil. One may, for example, question whether a low fer­ some of the trends shifts, in particular the apparent new tility rate will necessarily continue, though Professor vigour of the small and medium-size town. We have receiv­ Robinson's arguments in support of this presumption are ed some useful suggestions as to how the new cir­ undeniably strong. The decline in inner-city population cumstances will translate into conditions with which we as does not seem surprising and I am not convinced by his planners will have to deal. We have even had set out for us 62 Urban Growth an account of the various forecasts and suppositions as to fluence the distribution, scale, nature and pace of growth the effects of the energy "crisis" on urban form - a discus­ of Canadian settlement. Borrowing from Rodwin, Berry sion whose conclusion, reasonably enough, seems to be and Bourne, he analyses with some care the preconditions that we really don't know yet. It is all valuable, even in­ for devising, and perhaps even more to the point, im­ dispensable, reading for any Canadian planner. plementing, a national settlement policy in Canada. With obvious and understandable regret, he concludes that the The Policy Response auguries are not favourable. In the end he pins his hopes It is only when Professor Robinson moves from his on strong political leadership and on constitutional reform. carefully set out premises to his major conclusion that But this is manifestly clutching at straws. As this review is serious doubts begin to set in. For his facts, forecasts and written, in the very heat of the Great Constitutional evaluation culiminate in the argument that Canada must Debate, it is notable that the management of the national have a "national settlement policy" to govern " ... the overall estate has not emerged even in the most tentative fashion rate of urban growth, the spatial distribution of population as an issue in that debate, and all the indications are that throughout the country, and the rates of population any federal initiative in that area would merely have added change among the different size communities." (Careful as fuel to an already serious conflagration. As to political ever, he distinguishes between a national settlement leadership, given the unhappy history of Ottawa's efforts policy, and national policies for population distribution, ur­ in the 'seventies and the political and economic climate of ban growth, and cities.) The meaning of "national" in this the 'eighties, it is only an idle dream to suppose that any context is more flexible: it could connote a comprehensive political leader is likely to charge into the electoral and policy imposed by the federal government; a policy ap­ parliamentary fray with "national settlement policy" plicable only to the activities of the federal government; a emblazoned on his banner, at least in the foreseeable policy arrived at via federal, provincial and local consen­ future. sus; or a "bundle" of provincial and local policies. Professor There is another good reason why such a policy is at best Robinson opts for a combination of the second and third a distant vision, and it lies precisely in the range of federal (and indeed, for different reasons, the other two hardly responsibilities and programs which Professor Robinson merit consideration), though in his preface he asserts that so fully sets out. Regional economic expansion, housing, "In the development and implementation of a national set­ manpower training, transportation (several different em­ tlement policy for Canada, it is clear that the federal pires under that heading alone), foreign investment, im­ government should have the key role." migration, to mention only the leading items on the list: Professor Robinson does not, of course, argue for a sort how on earth to reconcile all these disparate policy objec­ of National Master Plan, but rather for a broad policy tives, programs, and political and bureaucratic vested in­ framework which would be detailed and implemented at terests with each other, and with ten other sets at the pro­ the provincial and local scales. His case rests on two main vincial level, in the framework of a national settlement arguments. The first is that rational provincial and local policy? Yes, it should be done, and yes, in a technical sense settlement planning must be related to a national settle­ no doubt it could be done; but to suppose that it will be ment system. In an ideal world this would be self-evident, done is to seek the millennium. but planning is not done in an ideal world, unfortunately, and it is hard to see why this argument applies to present Realistically (and I regret it quite as much as Professor and prospective conditions with more (or less) force than Robinson), the best we can hope for at present is a set of to the big-growth postwar era. The second argument is provincial settlement policies, or provincial plans, Even that slackening population growth and tightening here, the auguries are very mixed (vide the inconspicuous economic constraints increasingly limit choices, sharpen demise of Ontario's once-vaunted Design for trade-offs and reinforce the need for wise allocation of Development), but at least it is not entirely hopeless to en­ resources. This is more convincing. As Canada's settle­ visage the possibility of gradual progress towards a set of ment pattern evolves through the 'eighties, it is determin­ provincial land use and settlement strategies. Such ing the shape of Canada not just at the end of the century strategies might even evolve with discreet federal but for the indefinite future; and it would make a good deal cooperation and support, related to national concerns and of sense to undertake some kind of evaluation of the objectives as perceived by the federal government. But the emerging pattern and of the expenditures of many kinds action, if any, will be at the provincial level. Had Professor that go to underwrite it. Robinson accepted that as an inescapable fact for some time to come, rather than pursuing the chimaera of a na­ Professor Robinson chronicles the sequence of events in tional policy, I am sure that he could have directed the lat­ the late ' sixties and early 'seventies, such as the fourth and ter part of his book to useful suggestions of practical ap­ fifth annual reviews of the Economic Council of Canada plication at that level. It would have added greatly to the and the Hellyer and Lithwick reports, that culminated in value and interest of an already valuable and interesting the creation of the Ministry of State for Urban Affairs. He contribution to the rather meagre stock of Canadian plan­ catalogues the imposing array of federal programs that in- ning literature.

Richardson 63 Federal Involvement in Land Policy "honest and sincere ... a promise rather than a commitment" Harry Lash reviews it may be, "This is nothing but motherhood", or, "This is a primer in land-use that belongs in a first year course, and Federal policy on Land use tells me nothing I didn't know already", Those were, in­ Government of Canada, Ottawa, Ministry of Supp­ deed, some of my first impressions. ly and Services, 1981. Further information from the But it is more: it is honest and sincere, and manages to Lands Directorate, Environment Canada, Ottawa, make clear that the authors care for the land and believe KlA 0E7. (6pp, unnumbered). Canadians generally must come to terms not only with Land use in Canada: Report of the Interdepart­ present issues, but those that will arise or become more mental Task Force on Land-Use Policy pressing in next two generations. In the short section on The Task Force, (L.C. Munn, Lands Directorate, Stewardship, the report brings that point home most Chairman), Lands Directorate, Ottawa, January forcefully. It is a challenge to the Institute and the profes­ 1980, 51 pp., maps, photographs. sion because it deals with the purpose of planning as the In­ stitute has defined it: land, its human occupation and the purpose of its use by man and his works and activities, the Tne Interdepartment Committee on Land Use Policy was creation of harmony between man and his environment. established in the fall of 1975, with representatives of six­ teen federal ministries or agencies and a membership ap­ In light of what I have said, the Report's five conclu­ proaching 30 persons. A secretariat of a dozen was provid­ sions and recommendations are an anti-climax. It recom­ ed by the Lands Directorate. mends that the federal government should adopt a policy to establish its approach to the land resource; establish an THE REPORT: LAND-USE IN CANADA Interdepartmental Committee to coordinate federal land For those who may not have seen it, the Munn Report of research, federal land-use, and implement the policy; 51 pages is a well written and remarkably lucid and suc­ establish a set of of guidelines for its own departments and cinct report. In its 40 or so pages of text (the remainder agencies, and continue to provide Canadians with basic in­ consisting of chapter dividers and well chosen formation on the "characteristics, capability and use of the photographs) it somehow manages, for me, to evoke in land resource". It may be of great importance - only time words and graphics that profound sentiment for the land and experience will tell - that the Report recommends and landscape of Canada: the image held in many Cana­ recognition of the legislative jurisdiction of the province dian minds which perhaps expresses better than anything "and endeavour to support the provinces in their land-use that elusive notion of Canada indentity. policies and activities wherever these are compatible with Ostensibly, its concern is not with national but with the interests ofthe Federal Government." (my italics) federal policy, but the national view is inescapable. In describing the ways available to government to control The main chapters deal with the Land Resource, Trends the use of land there is an exclusive reliance on negative, in Land Use, and Jurisdiction; the longest and perhaps regulatory measures: ownership, regulation, taxation, most important chapter is that concerned with Land Use subsidization - and delay, for heaven's sake. The only Issues. It deals not only with the more familiar issues (such measure which I would call positive or action-oriented is as continuing urbanization and the outspreading influence, that of investment. There is no mention of the notion of like ripples on a pond, of this phenomenon on problems of strategic planning, positive programmes, joint efforts on a land use) but the conflicts between land-use issues and provincial or regional basis to cope with the inter-active ef­ others: Land and Economic Goals; the Land Market; Infla­ fects of the various issues. tion; Land and Energy. It discusses those elements of in­ The report seems to imply fairly strongly (see my italiciz­ ternational development that may, in the future, lead to in­ ed repetition of one of the five recommendations above) a creasingly difficult conflict between domestic needs (that top-down, heirarchical arrangement of plans and controls, is, keeping for ourselves what is required to maintain our which to my mind is contrary to present reality. What I "accustomed lifestyle") and the needs of the rest of the think we have is (federally) a ministerial or departmental world. view of problems and usually the development of single­ I will not go beyond this very brief summary: my pur­ purpose programmes or policies for their solution with lit­ pose is an appreciation of it. I suspect that you will want tle appreciation of cross-impacts; this is combined with your own copy even though your first reaction on reading local and regional efforts to deal, through municipal and ,:,,:,,:,: ... :.. :,:,:,,:,;:,:,:,,,:,:,:,,:,:,,,,,:,,,,,:,:,:,,:,:,:,:,:,:,m:,:,:,:,,,,,:,,,;,,,:,,,,;,,,,,:,,,:,:,:,:,:,:,,,:,,,:,:,;:,:,,,:,:,;:,:,:,:,:,:,:,:,:,:,,,:,,,,,;:,:;,:;,:,,,,,.,,,,,,:,:,,,,,,,:,,:,:,,;,,:,;:::,::':M regional plans, with just those crossimpacts. Harry Lash, a Fellow of GIP, is a consultant working out However, dealing effectively with these impacts at local of Vancouver. levels is difficult because of lack of understanding by local Plan Canada 21:2 June 81 64 Federal land policy elected officials, insufficient power, financial limitations or short-term gain must never take place at the expense of the imposition of schemes and proposals by senior govern­ "the long-term maintenance of the quality of land and the ments despite local objections. All this usually occurs in a environment". provincial context which lacks a policy framework pro­ To my mind, this concept can never be effectively ap­ viding guidance. Provincial governments, when it comes to plied merely as a policy or by calling upon all levels of the crunch, put ministerial responsibility and departmen­ government to be cognizant of their responsibilities. It is a tal autonomy first; coordination, cooperation and the concept that has to become rooted in Canadian con­ recognition of complexity are too troublesome. sciousness so that it becomes a given; so that courses of ac­ The Munn Report places considerable emphasis on the tion contrary to it become unthinkable. Although I see en­ issues of urban development, the urban fringe couraging signs of the growth of this consciousness, the phenomenon, and the growing pressures on the hinterland notion has a certain fraility. In times of economic stress, for recreational development, but does not deal with the until the concept takes deeper root, it is liable to be tramp­ emergence of the new settlement pattern that elsewhere led under by our concerns with the bread-and-butter issues in this issue Richardson suggests is occurring. of today's economic life. The Report speaks gently of lifestyles and changes in THE POLICY STATEMENT: FEDERAL them to expect in the future. But it does not really deal POLICY ON LAND-USE with the fact that for many Canadians in recent years the The official federal policy statement on land-use, releas­ lifestyle which they have expected is not what they're get­ ed at the end of March this year, is clearly derived from ting. What is not faced squarely, although implied, is that the Munn Report, but although it follows its recommenda­ Canadian expectations about lifestyles may have to change tions, it does so without forceful recognition of the basis on sharply: which those recommendations were made. This statement Present land use is based on the conceptions about land and the of federal, as distinct from national, policy on land use "im­ lifestyles of past generations, because the social, economic, or plements" the recommendations of the Munn report. But a environmental actions of the population have repercussions on few strange things happened on the way out of the land use for decades. Canadians have had (my italics) par­ Minister's office: the Munn report lost its juice. ticular expectations about their lifestyles; these have included a single family home, often a cottage or second house, cars, The statement consists of five elements; a preamble vacations, and higher levels of service in all areas. The attain­ (containing most of the Munn philosophy), a goal ("to en­ ment of these expectations has been predicated upon cheap food, abundant energy, inexpensive consumer goods, and an inex­ sure that federal policies and programs and the manage­ haustible supply of land. (p. 17} ment of federal lands contribute to the wise use of That "have had" is the only clue to future changes for in­ Canada's land resources"), and a set of six "guiding prin­ dividuals, yet the implication is that there will be many. ciples" followed by eleven policy statements and ten Land­ One would expect to hear about these in the chapter on Use Guidelines. Issues, but the warning is low-key: The statement can be summed up, perhaps a bit unfairly, The lifestyle that Canadians can expect to enjoy in fut1tre as at best a promise rather than a commitment to pursue depends upon the availability of adequate land of sufficient the announced goal. The statement says this will be done quality to satisfy the needs for living space, food, fibre, transport and recreation ... Decisions taken now regarding the by the way the government will acquire and manage its use of land and the levels and distribution of population will lands and review its policies and programs and all of its have profund effects on the lifestyles and the standards-of living offuture Canadians. (p. 27) "significant", federally-initiated projects. It will also iden­ tify where and how its activities influence the use of What might these effects be? The issues put forward place private and public land and the evolution of land-use pat­ a host of difficulties in the way of maintaining present terns. The guide lines state what impacts will be con­ standards but the hope seems to be that in spite of sidered when government agencies implement their own everything it can be done. policies and programs; there is very little in the statement The concept of Stewardship appears as the last of the that guarantees that the statement itself will be im­ issues. But it is referred to variously as a policy, a plemented, and much to suggest that it will be im­ necessary public attitude, and a concept. It is, in fact, a plemented only when "appropriate" and "where possible". summary of the Report's philosphy; the whole ball of wax. In fact, the statement is loaded with what I can only im­ The section - which might have been a chapter of its own politely call "weasel words" that could easily enable the - contains an implied warning that we are reaching a federal government to avoid action under the policy, or let stage where maturity of judgement is required, perhaps it take action contrary to the intent. Consequently, because the southern reaches of the country are expected, whether the statement will be of importance to land-use within a relatively short time, to become maturely settled. planning throughout the range of federal activities is If this is so, southern Canada is soon to become an "old" doubtful. We shall have to wait and see what happens in in­ country, like most of Europe, where stewardship is an ac­ dividual cases and actions, and then draw our own conclu­ cepted idea, a guiding "spirit of the age". It means that sions. Lash 65 On the positive side, however, there are a number of tance on departmental and ministerial prerogatives of in­ reasons to praise the emerg·ence of the document: dependent action. In this case, one suspects that the poten­ tial role of the Lands Directorate has been curtailed from First, the policy statement exists, and can be used to try and prod departments into cooperative attitudes. It is to the start. be hoped that the promised reviews of programs and It worries me that reference of matters to the In­ policies will indeed be done, and that land-use impacts will terdepartmental Committee on Land is apparently volun­ be considered. tary: "The responsibility to conduct such reviews rests Second, the statement is unequivocal in proposing a with individual departments, with guidance as required coordinated program of surveys and technical research, (my italics) from the Interdepartmental Committee on covering a broad range of subjects from the traditional Land. Who determines when guidance is required? Can geological surveys to newer ones such as land-use monitor­ local and regional authorities request that reference to the ing and the collection of socio-economic data which are of Committee be made when contentious matters are on the importance in land-use decisions. table? Third, the document states that the federal government Finally, I am particularly concerned by the inclusion, as will pursue a cooperative federal/provincial approach but the second Guiding Principle, of one which has no real with the qualifier that it will support "those provincial origin as such in the Munn Report: land-use objectives, policies and programs that it views to The free exercise of a) private rights and obligations be operating in the national interest". associated with land ownership; and b) the operation of the market as the prime allocator of privately-owned land must Finally, it states that local, regional and provincial con­ be preserved unless clearly demonstrated to be contrary to cerns, plans and zoning will be considered, and that ap­ the public interest. propriate action will be taken to ensure "that the federal To me, this principle is superfluous and incongruous in the influence on land and local environments has a positive im­ light of the concerns of the Munn Report, as well as with pact". the resounding ideal expressed in the statement's pream­ But clearly the federal view, from the general tenor of ble: the document, is that the determination of good land-use Land is the basis of national sovereignty ... its use a determi­ nant of the quality of life for present and future policy is a top-down matter. The idea that bottom-up con­ generations ... Sound land use is fundamental to achieving cerns can be combined with top-down ones and a form of the political, social and economic goals of a society ... Conse­ joint planning and decision-making emerge, is not present. quently the way in which land is used will shape the way in which a society functions. One fears, for example, that the question of whether a federal action has a "positive impact" on local en­ I am not particularly concerned about the market vironments is going to be determined by the federal rather mechanism for the allocation of privately-owned land and I than the local or provincial view. Again, it is a question of am even sympathetic to the complaints of developers waiting to see what happens, because no mechanisms for about restrictions, charges, regulations and delays. But it ensuring consideration of local, regional or public views has been a long time since the operation of the market was are set up. the prime allocator of privately-owned land. I am afaid that this statement of principle could lead us back to the It also adds some incongruous notes in its statement of time when planning was thought reprehensible and principles, which may well make its guidelines difficult to undemocratic; back to the days of the worst excesses of apply. In addition, it makes the application of one policy the market. Are we to pretend that abandonment of the statement a function of individual departments: planning function of making rather basic land-use alloca­ 3 The federal government will review its policies and pro­ tion decisions, is essential to the achievement of federal grams in order to identify where and how its activities in­ fl1lence the use of private and public land and the evolution of and national objectives? Has the private market served us land-use patterns... The responsibility to conduct such well in the present housing situation, or helped preserve reviews rest with 1:ndividual departments, with guidance as our cherished lifestyle? Has it helped preserve the required.from the Interdepa.rtmental C01mnitte. farmland for the future, and done much to safeguard In view of this statement, I am afraid one must be most heritage lands and buildings? Has it had much concern for skeptical with respect to Hoffman's implied hope that the the integrity of the environment and the beauty of our Lands Directorate will play a role in developing national natural surroundings? land policy by acting as an integrating and coordinating Possibly I am unduly concerned. In a political document, unit. Agencies of both federal and provincial governments strange statements are often thought necessary. The which have attempted coordination between departmental perpetuation of the myth that the important land-use deci­ activities, from the time of Thomas Adam's Commission sions of national importance require the operation of the on Conservation, through the MSUA and B.C.'s Environ­ market as the prime allocator of privately owned land may ment and Land Use Secretariat, no matter how softly they simply have been thought necessary for the policy state­ tread, never seem to last long. We continue to suffer the ment to be politically acceptable enough to be publishable. heritage of a political system which places great impor- I hope that is so. 66 Federal land policy Book Reviews Critique des Ouvrages

Social Impact Assessment in Bowles offers a partisan, almost poig­ Bowles thoughtfully pulls together a Small Communities nant, case for respecting the rural or large number of empirical studies but for remote community. He is "convinced that some reason there are major gaps. For in­ Roy T. Bowles, Toronto, Butter­ community vitality is an important stance, the abundant material flowing from worths, 1981, 129 pages, $8.95 renewable resource whose development can the Berger inquiry and its reviews has been contribute substantially to the quality of totally ignored. There are also some flaws. Social Impact Assessment: life." Despite his own community ex­ The first third of the book which deals with Theory, Method and Practice perience telling him that "it is much easier the process of SIA is too heavily reliant on to intuitively grasp the significance of com­ the thinking of other writers, adopts a cut­ Frank J. Tester and William munity processes than it is to empirically and-paste approach to their work and Mykes, editors, Detselig Enter­ demonstrate them," Bowles goes on to try. comes up with an odd selection of clippings. He does a very good job. With ample This is not where Bowles' heart lies. His prises (6147 Dalmarnok Cr. N.W. reference to the literature he gives defini­ feeling is for the richness of community, not Calgary T3A 1H3), 1981, 380 tion to the concepts of community social the dryness of methodology. His book is vitality and economic viability. The highly relevant to SIA but not so good in pages, $19.75 theoretical references are largely dealing with it. SIA is the hook he has used Social Impact Assessment: A American, the empirical, Canadian. to get the work done and published. Given The socially vital community is found to the general usefulness of the book to com­ Cross-Disciplinary Guide to the enjoy many collective events, high levels of munities, planners and development Literature participation, internal organization and theorists, as well as impact assessors, this Michael J. Carley, and Ellan control of events and services, informal has turned out to be as good a use of the social networks providing services and sup­ concept as any. Odiorne Derow, London, England, port, integration of almost all members, Policy Studies Institute (available capability for response to external impacts, in North America from Cor­ and community consciousness. The book edited by Tester and Mykes is nerstone Planning Group, 22 The economic viability of a community is the result of a 1978 Banff conference billed determined not only by availability of jobs as "The First Canadian Symposium on Creekhouse, Vancouver, V6H and magnitude of cash flows. Subsistence Social Impact Assessment." The second 3R9), 1980, 183 pages, $12.00 activities, mutual aid and non-cash has yet to be held. The tenor of many of the transfers can be equally important­ 26 papers suggests why: many, if not most, Remember the old days when we used to especially in the small remote community. of the presenters do not really believe in talk about Canadian indentity? Three new Development approaches or economic im­ SIA - at least as it is presently practised Canadian books on social impact assess­ pact analyses which fail to take this dimen­ and understood. According to them, SIA at ment indicate what that identity may be. It sion into account may lead to bad the present time tends to be "new wine in is internationalist with a tinge of col­ judgements about a community's present old bottles - the latest so-called onialism, conservative and suspicious viability which in turn can lead to actions methodology to be foisted onto the Cana­ rather than optimistic about change, having a disastrous impact on the future dian scene," a "charade" and a "mockery" theoretically critical rather than social vitality of the community. Case designed to co-opt impacted citizens, a "rip­ positivistic, substantial rather than studies of the Newfoundland outport reset­ off" by unscrupulous, unethical or technical in its analysis, rural rather than tlement programs and of northern Inuit and uneducated consultants, " just another urban in choice of lifestyle, beleagured and Indian communities are proffered in research exercise," "in danger of raising ex­ survivalist in its orientation to the outside evidence. pectations and making promises which can­ world, and a reluctant follower and ex­ not be fulfilled," "piecemeal...with predic­ ploiter of fads rather than an inventor. Bowles' short concluding chapter is a wor­ tably chaotic results," "not likely to be that Some of this I like and some I find depress­ thy essay in its own right. It is balanced and influential in most cases," "destructive" ing but with all of it I feel quite comfor­ instructive. He concludes that "integration of because it is "adversarial" or alternatively table. wage labour and traditional local economic is too concerned with avoiding conflict, in­ Social Impact Assessment is a valuable activities is feasible in most instances." But sensitive to the particularities of individual linguistic and conceptual fad which Cana­ "one essential requirement is that communities in establishing categories and dians have latched on to with the usual employers and planners relax their own interpreting meanings, "tokenism ... playing reluctance and suspicion. The idea of traditional conceptions of the schedule and around the edges of a policy or project," investigating the social consequences of rhythm of wage labour" (emphasis in overly quantitative, "technocratic", or development has now been legitimated as original). Secondly, the community itself falsely attempting to be objective through "SIA" by politicians and industrialists fac­ must determine how integration should pro­ detachment. Would you really want to rub ing increasingly well-informed, aggressive ceed. "Hire native" programs, he notes, are shoulders again with people holding such and protective citizens. Many Canadians not enough. Finally, attention must be negative attitudes? Actually, yes, you see SIA as offering a good opportunity to given to the danger that we may be "incor­ should. undertake the kind of research, planning porating hinterland residents into a culture and writing that should be going on anyway and lifestyle which presumes a continuous in a developing society. But the opportunity cash flow, but locating them in a [boom-bust As a collection, the symposiµm papers is embraced with an anxiety that technical resource industry economy], that provides represent profound thinking by the Cana­ positivistic SIA could wind up devouring an erratic or only temporary cash flow." dian SIA community on the nature and pur­ democratic planning rather than being its This suggests that wage income should be pose of SIA. By 1978 there had been tool. This is the spirit one senses in all three used to upgrade the potential of traditional several years of experience with it in of these books. economies rather than supplant them. Canada. The academics, consultants and Plan Canada 21:2 Jun 81 67 community people at this conference had Revelstoke. "The actual construction decision-making at the government rather determined two things from this ex­ workforce is not the group of young than community level. Hence they use such perience. First, SIA is a good idea insofar railroad-building type hellions that was an­ phrases as "good SIA, like good policy as it points to the need to evaluate com­ ticipated". Of a sample of 662 new workers analysis in general" and tend to structure prehensively different forms of develop­ 81 % were over 30 and 53% over 40, 69% their thinking in terms of scientific ment. Second, there is a danger of being were married of whom half had children. methodology rather than planning conned by this latest American import. "In other words, the workforce ... has con­ process. Despite this, in their relatively am­ We'll take the idea, but we'll define it in our cerns similar to the community about stable ple coverage of Canadian writers (many of terms, thank you very much. For most of environment, job security, education of the whom are contributors to the Banff sym­ the authors it seems that this redefinition is children, etc." Family responsibilities con­ posium) they give significant attention to towards the notion that subjective" 'social straining spending habits and economic the participatory (vs. scientific) approach to meaing' has a central position in a theory of leakages partly caused by perceived high SIA. social impact assessment," as the editors local prices have led to an "anti-boom" - "the While the book provides much theoretical put it in their introduction to the theory sec­ greatest immediately identifiable impact on discussion, its primary utility lies as a tion of the book. Or as Jim Wilson, author the community." source book on the literature relevant to of Canada's first celebrated social impact Another particularly interesting paper, SIA. In this, it is very useful. Under 22 assessment (People in the Way: The by Wes Shera, is concerned with applying headings such as "General Methodologies Human Aspects of the Columbia River SIA to human services planning. It is a and Approaches to SIA", "SIA in Develop­ Project, 1973) puts it in his introductory refreshing change from the predominant ing Countries," and "Visual and Landscape paper: "Of ... fundamental significance is the orientation to physical development pro­ Preferences," basic readings are first recognition that SIA must operate within jects. Case studies of SIA's on a corrections discussed then further readings suggested. the context of the different perspectives program and on a proposed Family Rela­ This is more than an annotated and value sets of the various actors." tions Amendment Act are provided. Even bibliography: it is a literature review and Though this is most emphasized in the more radically new lines of thought are in­ solid reference work. (What's more, the theory section, through papers dealing with troduced by Greg Michalenko's paper which authors intend to issue supplementary such concepts as sociology of knowledge, advocates that SIA include assessment of pages at approximately two-year intervals.) symbolic interactionism, social condition proponent corporations in terms of their and social stucture (power relationships), performance as corporate citizens because throughout the book the idea is maintained "the outcome of a project can depend on Actually, the three books together form a that SIA must be seen not as detached particular characteristics of the useful reference set on community process, research, but as part of a social develop­ proponent." He also provides two case SIA theory, method and practice, and ment process in which facts are separately studies. policy analysis. Besides containing useful interpreted and acquire special meaning for substantive information, they provide each actor (researchers, citizens, planners, This long-awaited book is better than valuable bibliographies. And, wonder of decision-makers) through changing and most conference paper collections in that wonders in this age of the fast-buck publica­ often conflicting values. for each section there is an integrative in­ troduction to the papers and for the book as tion, they each have what is the sine qua At the risk of appearing to be some a whole there is concluding "Overview of non of any good reference book: an index. bizarre kind of chauvinist, I note that the SIA" by Louis J. D'Amore based on the All three books deserve to be on the library three papers by American contributors did papers and on material provided by shelf of the planner, teacher, consultant or not share this approach, or the anxiety observers and recorders at the symposium. active citizen. about current SIA. They offered valuable substantive information on the social im­ Appropriate graphics are provided with Peter Boothroyd is a consultant in social pacts of coals mines, expanding urban many papers, though the reader would be planning, lectures on social policy and im­ fringes and water management projects (in­ aided by more maps. Final proof-reading pact assessment at the University ofBi·itish cluding such "soft" impacts as perceptions, should have been more diligent: in one in­ Colilmbia, and is a freqwmt contributor to leadership changes and community stance the Maritimes are located in this journal. conflict), but they did not question SIA Western Canada and in another, a paper in­ troduced as providing "a thoughful list of itself. What came closest was the paper ex­ ·:;.;.;:;~ :-:•:•:•:-:-·.·•·••❖'.•"·:·•Y- ...... ·<.:,; horting SIA to "take its first few steps principles and policies which address the beyond the cradle" by doing more and bet­ concepts of mitigation and compensation" is ter retrospective research and using the missing. Why do publishers do that to us? results intelligently. This is criticism but it The third book, actually in report format, New Communities in Canadian is criticism of the lack of activity within the represents an immense bibliographic effort. Urban Settlements dominant paradigm. It is constructive Carley and Derow, Canadians by academic criticism, not agonizing about the ap­ and professional background though their John H. Chibuk and Dan Kusel, propriateness of the whole objective work was undertaken through the Policy MSUA, 1978, 167 pp. research approach. Studies Institute in London, England, have drawn on a wide range of international But to return to the 23 Canadian papers. sources.Their guide to the SIA literature With this publication MSUA achieved its In addition to their value as a collection truly is cross-disciplinary and includes aim to provide "an organized compact and reflecting the Canadian approach to the art, references that deal with SIA tangentially serviceable data package on the very broad they have individual merit. Not surprisingly, 'or by implication. Indeed, this seems almost subject of developing new communities in given the eclectic terms of reference for the as much a source book on policy analysis Canada". It is a factual survey of the whole conference, they cover a wide range of sub­ and planning as on SIA per se. effort - from Kitimat and Elliott Lake to jects. The papers in the theory, method and Carley and Derow are aware of the con­ Mill Woods and Lebourgneuf - written in citizen views sections are of general in­ cerns about technocratic SIA and in fact straightforward style. Any body, public or terest while the six papers in the section on give major billing to Canadians in· present­ private, that is even tentatively com­ practice offer case studies that have more ing the contrary participatory, subjectivist templating the provision of mass housing specific appeal. orientation. They are hot about to be will find this report very useful; the To me, one of the more interesting of the stampeded into eschewing the values of dangers and the advantages of either the case studies was that by Nicholas Vincent traditional objective social science, public or the private approach taken alone on the Revelstoke Dam monitoring pro­ however. They opt for "balance". It seems are enough to suggest selective combina­ gram. The expected "free-spending construc­ that their own perspective is grounded in tion as the better course in every case. tion workers" did not materialize in policy science, and their orientation is to Mary Rawson 68 Book reviews City planning in a different social and political context

Two reviews of The Soviet City, Ideal and Reality James H. Bater, Beverly Hills, Sage Publications, 1980, 196 pages. This short book - 170 pages plus 17 aware of this pitfall, he has avoided it. Soviet city dwellers and compares this pages of a very useful bibliography, and two reality with the ideal. The first chapter, entitled Ideology and indices - is the best summary of this impor­ the city, presents the historical develop­ tant subject presently available. It is unique Bater sums up the results of his study and ment of Soviet City Planning theory by the its importance for Western readers in the in its understanding of the influence of the interplay of this tradition with Marxist con-' Russian tradition on the building of the sound statement: "Problems... are fre­ cepts, culminating in the general accep­ quently just the same as in the Western ci­ Soviet City; a tradition of which Soviet tance of ten broad basic principles. The writers tend to be unaware, because they ty. But because the system offers potential book then proceeds to discuss the framework solutions to them, the Soviet experience in are part of it, and most foreign writers, for, and process of, decision making a·s it af­ because they are ignorant of it. planned urban development stands out as fects city planning; then the tempo and pat­ both different from, and of instruction to, In evaluating reality in terms of ideals tern of city growth on a national scale, Western society. Bater is aware of the "obvious limitations to followed by an analysis of the spatial such an approach, not the least of which is organization of the Soviet City. The author the possibility of ending up stressing pro­ then presents data on the results of this blems rather than achievements." Being development as it affects the daily life of Hans Blumenfeld, Toronto

This clear and lucid discussion of Soviet such as the journey to work. Recently there is a relatively high degree of city planning serves the needs of profes­ soviet planners have had to grapple with egalitarianism in the quality of housing sional planners who are intrigued by the the trade-off between national economic ef­ available to the vast majority of soviet ur­ practices of city planning in a variety of ficiency, based on economies of scale and banities - another successful application of social and political contexts. agglomeration effects, and the demands for socialist principles to urban planning. Op­ posed to this area of success is the relative As Bater remarks early in the discus­ regional equity. The fact that national difficulty that most Russians have in secur­ sion, "The nationalization of all resources, economic initiatives have continued to ing high priced private living accommoda­ and the substitution of centralized planning receive the greatest priority, illustrates the tion, especially in the regional centres of for the market to develop and allocate dilemma of the Soviet urban planner, who is them, has obvious consequences for the ci­ responsible to local municipal directives, Siberia. Socialist principles discourage any ty. With the nationalization of land, one of but must yield to the plans laid down by na­ emphasis on constructing a private form of the principal historic forces shaping urban tional regional and sectoral planning agen­ dwelling unit with all facilities self contain­ land use was removed. Economics would no cies, - plans which themselves can reflect ed. The aim is to use the dwelling unit longer dictate land-use allocation, planners differing interests. The bureaucratic maze primarily for sleeping, and satisfy all other would." Many planners in North America that soviet planning staffs must encounter human activities and needs by collective have expressed frustration with the private and the problems induced by rapid in­ consumption. The inevitable conflict bet­ ownership of real property. Many suppose dustrialization are also critical elements in ween private and collective consumption will undoubtedly be a major source of dif­ that the centralized planning of land use soviet city planning. will lead to rationalization in many spheres ficulty for Soviet urban planners in the next Although the problems of the Soviet city decades. of urban endeavour. This volume is are not minimized, certain strengths of cen­ valuable, for it demonstrates both the tral planning emerge. Soviet planners have One problem inherent in such a study is strengths, (and they are considerable), and succeeded in segregating non-conforming that it raises more questions than it the weaknesses of urban planning in the land uses and relegating noxious manufac­ resolves. Least satisfactory is the very Soviet Union. turing processes away from urban areas. synoptic treatment of life in the Soviet city. Consequently urban air pollution is a Here I feel the author has strained his use A basic point made by the author is the relatively minor problem. A very substan­ of secondary sources and is not especially dialectic nature of marxist theory and the tial committment to public transportation critical of them. The discussion on urban realities of the dual forces of industrializa­ and the location of housing in reasonable criminality is especially cryptic and tion and urbanization. After the revolution proximity to workplace& Lo facilitate public speculative; he does stress the tentative in 1917, Soviet theoreticians laid down a transportation have clearly contributed to nature of the discussion, but it would policy of decentralization, optimal city size this. The author notes that efforts to perhaps be better to have avoided this area and the eradication of economic differen­ minimize the journey to work have recently entirely. tials between rural and urban populations. been frustrated by increasing use of private Despite this last cavil, this is a very useful The use of an internal passport system vehicles - an example of national policies book for all students of urban growth and functioned initially to prevent unwanted to extend access to consumer goods conflic­ planning and is highly recommended rural-urban migrations, but in the postwar ting with urban plans. reading. period this has largely broken down. Rapid In the seventies there has also been a urban growth produced crises in housing, steady improvement in housing conditions, lowered access to consumption goods and although by North American standards the Greg Mason, Department of Economics, degraded various urban qualities of life situation remains bleak. Most significantly, University ofManitoba

Book reviews 69 Book Review Letter to Editor Socio-economic factors pertain- ing to single-industry resource towns in Canada: A bibliography Stop Spadina with selected annotatations Regarding the article by Yvonne Macor fie flows for the three alternatives, have Robert K. Maguire, Chicago, on "Public Participation in Environmental been in the public domain since 1964. Council of Planning Librarians, Decision-Making", PLAN CANADA 20:3, 4 The criteria for preferring the "balanced" 1980, 42pp., $8. the part of this article entitled "Stop to the "extreme transit" alternative were as Spadina" contains two erroneous follows: This bibiography indexes an extensive statements which should be corrected a. Average mobility, as measured by list of citations pertaining to single-industry before they get generally accepted as travel speeds for all trips car and tran­ resource towns in Canada under eight presumed historical fact. sit, was somewhat higher in the seperate categories: Bibliographies, Social First: "The Expressway was part of an "balanced" then in the "extreme tran­ Aspects, Economy, Population Mobility, overall transportation scheme which in­ sit" scheme. Housing, Health, Planning, and cluded more (as yet unannounced) inner­ b. The impact of public policy on relieving Miscellaneous Studies. over three hundred city expressways." street congestion was much smaller references published between 1962 and than expected: the "extreme transit" 1979 are included in the compilation. There No such secret scheme existed. The ex­ produced only 23% fewer automobile is also a brief introduction noting that the pressway system proposed for miles than the "extreme road" bibliogrnphy was originally researched for a Metropolitan Toronto had been fully alternative. study on Elliot Lake, as well as a listing of published as early as 1949 in the "Draft Of­ c. The "extreme transit" produced no pertinent Canadian private and public ficial Plan of the Metropolitan Toronto fewer - indeed nominally more - publisher's addresses. Planning Area." There had been only one addition since that time. When Metro asked automobile-miles on the surface street The section on Social Aspects is the Province of Ontario to make provision system than the "balanced" alternative. outstanding, the only missed Canadian cita­ in the reconstruction of Highway 401 for an It would certainly greatly increase the tion of note, that I am aware of, was Ban­ interchange with the proposed "Spadina" number of trucks, delivery and service croft's social infrastructure analysis 1. The freeway, the Province imposed the condi­ vehicles on that system. In the absence Bibliographies section was enlightening, tion that this freeway be extended, with six of a special simulation the size of this though Pressman's bibliography is available lanes, beyond its planned termination north additional load is not exactly known, in English as well as in French 2. Though of the C.P. railroad tracks, which form the but it is hardly less than 30%. outside the specific scope of study, a cita­ northern boundary of the Inner City, to d. While the "extreme transit" produced tion for the American A.R. Markusen might Bloor Street. As it was clearly impossible to less congestion in the suburbs than the have been useful under the section on terminate a six-lane freeway at an already "balanced" system, it resulted in more Economy3. Unfortunately the compilers heavily travelled artery of moderate width, congestion in the inner city. were not aware of Viet's study of labour such as Bloor Street, this forced extension e. The claim that the "extreme transit" and community turnover with its rich 153 beyond this street. It was the resulting pro­ scheme was "viable" is obviously based reference bibliography, many citations in posed pushing of the freeway through the on the contention that its capital cost which were missed in Maquire's sections on heavily residential "Annex" and "Universi­ would be equal to that of the "balanced" Population, Mobility and Health 4. ty" areas which aroused justified protest. one made by a pamphlet entitled In spite of the missed citations, this The responsibility for this ruthless pushing "The Bad Trip". The contention was bibliography is the most comprehensive of the freeway beyond the point proposed based on the assumptions that the per­ compilation of modern references pertain­ by Metro rests exclusively with the Govern­ mile construction cost of freeways and ing to the socio- economic aspects of single­ ment of Ontario - the same government subway is the same, and that conver­ industry resource towns in Canada to date. which at a subsequent election presented sion of rail lines to rapid transit lines The annotations, though limited in number, itself a the protector of men versus is costless. These assumptions are are accurate and succinct. In all, this machines, by cancelling the entire freeway. completely unfounded. In 1964 the per­ bibliography is a very useful tool for mile cost of recently completed Second: "Others found in "confidential" facilities was: literature research on resource towns. documents, that a viable public transporta­ Don Valley Parkway: 6 million Mike Gunder, studying a.t the U.B.C. School tion system alternative had been discounted on questionable criteria.. " F.G. Gardiner Expressway: 10 million of Community and Regional Planning, is Bloor-Danforth-University Subway: 14 million cu1-rently specializing in single resource in­ The documents referred to are the dustry towns. Construction costs are site specific. This is studies of two "extreme" alternatives even truer for conversion of railroad lines. (oriented entirely toward roads or transit, As many of these are single-track and have respectively) to the "balanced" transporta­ grade crossings, conversion costs certainly 1. Clifford Bancroft, Mining Com­ tion system proposed in 1949. These studies would have averaged several million (1964) munities in B1·it-ish Columbia: A were undertaken by the Metropolitan Plan­ dollars. Metro planners would have been Social Infrastructure Analysis, B.C. ning Board and their consultants, Traffic completely irresponsible in presenting cost Dept. of Mines and Petroleum Research Corporation in the early sixties. estimates in the absence of detailed infor­ Resources, University of Victoria, These studies, which include simulated traf- mation. 1975. If these five criteria are questionable, 2. Norman Pressman, A comprehensive what are valid criteria? bibliography of new towns in Canada, Council of -Planning 4. Susanne Viet and Associates, Librarians, Monticello, Ill., 1973. Labour Turnover and Community Hans Blumenfeld, Toronto 3. For example: Ann Markusen, Stablility: Implications for Nor­ "Class, rent, and sectoral conflict: theast Coal Development in British uneven development in western U.S. Columbia, a report prepared for the Hans Blumenfeld was Deputy Commissioner boomtowns", Review of Rad1:cal Federal/Provincial Manpower Sub - of Planning for Metropolitan Toronto dur­ Political Eonomy, 10, ppll 7 129, Committee on North East Coal, Pro­ ing prepa.ration of the Metro Toronto Of 1979. ject No. 270060-3, Victoria, 1978. ficialPlan. 70 Book review/Letter GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

Types of papers published in Plan Canada include: may not be referred. In any case the editors are responsi­ review articles, reports of original research, viewpoints, ble for final decisions on. acceptance and final editorial research notes, and book reviews, brief book notes and revisions. review essays. Prospective authors are encouraged to communicate Submissions are encouraged from planning practi­ with the editors at a fairly early stage in the development tioners, members of related professions, academics in of their manuscripts. Editorial suggestions on ap­ planning and related disciplines, indeed, anyone who is in a propriateness, emphasis and communications may be most position to contribute to development and critique of plan­ helpful when the work is in outline or abstract-length sum­ ning and public policy affecting communities in Canada. mary form. On request, the editors will attempt to find a The anonymity of the review process ensures that con­ co-author with complementary skills where this seems ap­ tributions are evaluated on the basis of what is said, not propriate. the prestige of an author. The selection criteria which the editors and their The following is a brief summary of information in the referees apply may be summarized in three points: more detailed style guide which the editors will provide on Relevance - Is it new and of interest to Canadian request. planners? Papers are published in French or English. The normal Authority - Is it intellectually sound, accurate and maximum length is 5000 words, and much shorter works defensible? are encouraged. Communication - Are the contributions and their Manuscripts sent to referees must include an abstract, relevance effectively communicated to planners? complete references, tables, graphics, etc. For review pur­ The editors will send a manuscript which appears to poses graphics should be in legible draft form. Illustrations meet these criteria to at least two referees, including an will be printed black on white, and reduced from the expert in the subject matter and a planner with only original size to fit in one or two columns. generalists' familiarity with it. Referees are asked to res­ Bibliographic citations may be in one of several styles, pond within three weeks, so authors should expect to have chosen if necessary in consultation with the editors. The a response within six weeks of submission. Good standard social science practice is to append a list of manuscripts almost invariably can be improved by revisions references with full information, and support specific suggested by referees and editors, and in any case useful points in the text with a parenthetical note. In the comments are given to authors. Authors are not told who humanities footnotes are used, and in papers dealing the referees are, and referees are not given authors names largely with legal or natural science material, the styles or affiliations. Book reviews, some viewpoints and essays appropriate to these disciplines may be preferable.

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Contents/Table des Matieres

VIEWPOINT Gerald H oclge The Citification of Small Towns: A challenge to 43 Planning

ARTICLE John T. Pierce The B.C. Agricultural Land Commission: A review 48 and Evaluation Federal Involvement in in Land Policy: Three comments: Doug Ho.(tman The Role of the Lands Directorate 59 Nigel Richardson Settlement Policy - review of Canadian Urban Growth Trends, by Ira Robinson 61 Harry Lash Review of Federal Task Force Report on Land and Federal Policy on Land Use 64 BOOK REVIEWS/CRITIQUE DES OUVRAGES 67 Pe/el' Boothroyd Bowles: Social Impact Assessment in Small Communities Carley and Derow: Social Impact Assessment, A Cross-Disciplinary Guide Tester and Mykes: Social Impact Assessment, Theory, Method.and Practice Ma171 Rawson Chibuk and Kusel: New Communities in Canadian Urban Settlements Hews B/:unie1(/eld; Greg Mason Bater: The Soviet City, Ideal and Reality M·ike Gunder Maguire: Socio-economic Factors Pertaining to Single-Industry Towns in Canada - a Bibliography

Let/el': Stop Spadina GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS