Provincial and Territorial Interests in Land Use Planning and Development

hinterland.In other regions, such as the Prairies, intensive livestock operations present the greatest challenges at present.Without adequate planning, this relatively new form of large-scale livestock production has the potential to seriously compromise the environment and rural residents' quality of life.In many cases, current policy is recognized as being inadequate to accommodate this type of development, and provinces are moving rapidly to develop an appropriate policy response.Urban Areas: Many respondents, noting the difficulties in formulating uniform legislation that accommodates both small rural communities and large metropolitan areas, believe current policy statements do not adequately detail provincial interests in urban areas, particularly in large urban centres.Many fringe and ex-urban developments have been highlighted as major concerns, and often result in inter-municipal friction.Clearly, municipal jurisdictions alone cannot plan for metropolitan areas, and more regional approaches are required.A number of provinces have important regional governance structures in place around their major urban centres (i.e. the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and the new Montreal Metropolitan Community).However, there is no clear consensus as to the policies and roles provincial governments should adopt vis à vis their largest cities.Many governments have indicated that strengthening urban planning policy is a priority, but few have a clear strategy of how to go about it.Environment: Environmental protection and "sustainable development" ranked high on the list of priorities in all jurisdictions.The issues ranged from sustainable resource management and improvement of air quality to the protection of ecologically sensitive areas such as coastal regions and habitat preserves, and sustainable management of parks and recreation areas.Many provinces and territories indicated a need to incorporate the concept of sustainability into their legislation, and that there was a need to better integrate land use planning and environmental protection.Governance and Regional Planning Models: Governance was a significant issue in nearly every province and territory.In Newfoundland and New Brunswick, the priority was to create stronger planning and better representation in the large unincorporated areas.In other jurisdictions, and particularly in Saskatchewan and the North, the difficulty of delegating planning authority to the local level was attributed to the small size of many communities and municipalities.Regional planning was seen as particularly important in rural regions experiencing a decrease in population and economic decline.Although they do not fall within territorial jurisdiction, First Nations land claim settlements were a major issue in the North and in British Columbia.Finally, almost every jurisdiction stated that a move toward a regional model of planning was necessary to more effectively address contemporary land use issues, including environmental sustainability, resource management, growth management and economic development.Though the solutions will be different for each province, there was a sense that governments are searching for models of regional planning appropriate for their context.Some of the major themes related to governance are:• Legislation and Departmental Integration: In order to cope with the issues outlined above, an ever more complex set of legislation is being employed to ensure provincial interests in land use are protected.Originally, planning was governed almost exclusively by a provincial or territorial planning act.Now, other statutes have a major impact on planning practices, most notably statutes governing the environment, agriculture, governance, natural resources, 3 Municipalities were selected to represent a range in size, location, type and demographics.See appendix F for more detailed information.8 ObjectivesThe study on provincial and territorial interests in land use planning and development has three principal objectives:• To identify the various policy approaches the provinces and territories have adopted, or are considering, to express and protect their interests in land use development;• To evaluate the effectiveness of the different approaches; and• To determine what lessons have been learned in the adoption and administration of land use policies in each jurisdiction that might be transferrable to other jurisdictions. MethodsResearch for this study involved three main components:• a literature review of legislation and recent government documents, and other academic and non-academic documents;• telephone and personal interviews with key informants at the provincial and territorial level;• a written mail-out survey of select local governments across the country, including cities, municipalities, rural municipalities, counties and regional county municipalities.3 15 Newfoundland Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.(1996).Reforming Municipal Government in Newfoundland and Labrador: The Time for Regionalization.Retrieved November 21, 2002 from http://www.gov.nf.ca/mpa/publicat/regional/regions.htm16 Task Force on Municipal Regionalization.(1997).Final Report. 47 Level of Coordination and Public ConsultationThe Department of Municipal and Provincial Affairs is the lead department with respect to land use planning in Newfoundland.Other influential departments in this area include: Forestry and Agri-Foods; Mines and Energy; Environment; Tourism and Culture; and Government Services & Lands.The province takes a single-window approach to coordinating land use activities, and municipalities access other departments through the Department of

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