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Rural Learning Association
Attacks., land use problems
Ontario's urgent land use
problems were attacked this week
at a seminar sponsored by the
Rural Learning Association at
Geneva. Park, Orillia. Participants
from farm organizations, co-
operatives, the Consumers
Association of Canada, Indian
bands, several universities,
municipal councils and the
provincial government shared
their concerns and identified
ways to promote more effective
land use in the province.
Two participants from Huron
County, Clarence Rau of Stanley
and Charles Thomas of Grey,
attended.
The preservation of prime
agricultural land was Identified as
the first essential. Governmeiit
announcement of a freeze on
3,000 acres of prime fruitland in
the Niagara peninsula was
received by delegates as "a step
in the right direction." The new
planning guidelines were also
viewed as a positive tool for
putting Ontario's most valuable
natural resource to its best use.
Dr.E.GPleva of the department
of geography, University of
Western Ontario, h ad already
warned seminar participants that
the disappearance of good
agricultural land in Ontario was
reaching crisis proportions. Good,
local planning, and a broad
provincial land use plan, are
needed to keep a proper balance
between the demands for growth
and the need to protect people's
rights, he said.
Delegates challenged the
government and the opposition
parties for more leadership in the
land use problem in a free-wheel-
ing session with. Bob Eaton,
M.P.P. for Middlesex, parlia-
mentary assistant to the minister
of agriculture, and the agriculture
critics of the opposition parties,
Donald C. MacDonald (NDP -
East York), and. Jack Riddell
-(Lib - Huron-Middlesex). Mr.
Eaton said the government had
confidence in local planning
boards, and was strongly
committed to land use policies
that enabled the agricultural
community to survive.
Mr. MacDonald criticized the
government for not going far
enough to protect prime
foodlands. He said such lands
should be reserved for
agricultural use, with decisions
made at the local level within a
policy framework created by the
province.
Mr. Riddell said the Liberals
oppose a blanket land freeze
policy, but want urban and
industrial growth steered away
from class 1 and 2 familia nd. The
party also advocates a pool to
compensate farmers for keeping
farmland in production in areas of
urban sprawl where developers
offer thousands of dollars an acre
more than the agricultural value
of the land.
Spokesmen for Ontario's three
farm organizations also discussed
their land use policies„ Bill
Benson of the Ontario Federation
.of Agriculture said that delegates
to the OFA annual meeting had
not abandoned their land use
policy -to preserve farmlands -
but decided their emphasis
should be on saying the farmer.
When agriculture provides a
decent return, you can keep farm
families on their land, and keep
the land producing food for
everyone, he emphasized.
Elbert van Donkersgoed of the
Christian Farmers Federation
criticized the agriculture code of
practice, which he said was
basically designed to make it
possible for urban people to
move into agricultural areas. He
said there were important
decisions to be made on the land
to be preserved, and who should
bear the cost. His own members,
he commented, were dedicated
farmers, and if they were
squeezed out of farms in one
area, they were likely to relocated
in another, even though farming
costs might be higher.
Joe Casey of the National
Farmers Union told the. meeting
that preservation of the family
farm unit was his organization's
prime concern, and development
should be public planned for the .
good of the whole community,
A graphic description of how
land use planning can be
implemented at the local level
was provided by Gary Davidson,
director of planning for Huron
county. In six years, Huron has
developed a county-wide plan for
land use and organized develop- .,
ment of its agricultur4
commercial and recreational,
resources, The right of loc#
municipalities to retain their
independent control must be
respected, he warned.
Doug Hoffman, director of the
centre for resources development
at the University of Guelph,
des cribed the land bank set up
in British Columbia and other
measures taken in Prince Edward
Island, Alberta and Saskatchewan
as examples of the growing
concern for the preservation of
land for its best use.
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THE 'BRUSSELS, OCeSti, FEBRUARY 21i 1977