The Rural Voice, 1988-09, Page 101(ALmnR)
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24 THE RURAL VOICE
If there is to be an agricultural policy
in this province it must be to make
agriculture viable. The province is
trying to suck and blow at the same
time."
There is no doubt that government
policy concerning land use is in a state
of flux. Federal agriculture minister
John Wise has said that his department
has considered proposals that would
encourage farmers across the country
to abandon marginal land. But accor-
ding to the Canadian constitution,
land -use planning falls under provin-
cial jurisdiction.
British Columbia has its Agricul-
tural Land Commission. Saskatchew-
an has the Farm Ownership Act and
the Land Bank Act. Quebec's Bill 90
protects that province's farm land, and
in Prince Edward Island strict legis-
lation guards the small but fertile land
base.
In Ontario, where there has been
little consistency in the application of
the Foodland Guidelines, farmers and
developers are looking for a definitive
statement on land -use policy. A string
of challenges to the guidelines might
just force such a statement.
One expected witness at the
Wat-Cha hearings is Harold Fleming
of the Foodland Preservation Branch
of OMAF. Fleming has been with the
branch (originally called Foodland
Development) since 1977. Further to
the introduction of the guidelines in
1978, Fleming's department compiled
the "Foodland Preservation Policy
Statement" of 1983. But this paper
retains the status of a "proposed
document" and is now being revised
and reviewed — briefs are still being
accepted for discussion.
The impetus for the renewal of the
paper comes from the 1983 Planning
Act. Policy statements from all mini-
stries have been requested in relation
to the act's jurisdiction. The process,
like an OMB hearing, is both time-
consuming and costly.
And on either side of any land -use
dispute there are those who find our
system frustrating. Yet such frustra-
tions are inevitable in a system de-
signed to allow each interested party
its day in court. The OMB, before
dispensing its discretionary justice, is
obliged to open the floor to statements
from members of the public.
In Ayton, 23 individuals spoke to
the board. A high-school student
supported the development. A
minister opposed it. Charles Watson's
neighbours favoured it. An emigrant
from Mississauga feared it. At the end
of the summer portion of the hearing,
the tally read 17 for and 6 against.
But the board has yet to hear
from Elbert van Donkersgoed and his
clients. He is not a lawyer, but his
status in the hearing room is similar.
Charles Watson may have the means
to develop an industrial park on his
land. And he may have the full sup-
port of local planners and politicians
and businessmen. And yet a devel-
oper in the 1980s must also be ready
to contend with determined citizens
groups concerned with defending what
is increasingly being recognized as our
shared environment ("environment"
being a term applied to social and
economic aspects as well as the
physical).
Elbert van Donkersgoed is both
research and policy director of the
Christian Farmers Federation of
Ontario and a director of Friends of
Foodland. In the early 1970s, with
Ontario experiencing a frantic devel-
opment boom, citizens groups inter-
ested in environmental protection
sprang up in response to many
scattered issues. The Association of
Peel People Evaluating Agricultural
Land (APPEAL), Preservation of
Agricultural Lands Society (PALS),
People or Planes (POP), and Save the
Rouge Valley System (SRVS) are all
co-ordinated under the Friends of
Foodland banner.
In Grey -Bruce, the Citizens for
the Protection of the Environment and
Foodland (CPEF) have joined the
Friends of Foodland coalition and will
draw on its experience and resources
to fight the Wat-Cha proposal.
In the introduction to his 1984
Citizens Guide to Foodland Protec-
tion, van Donkersgoed asks: "Are
you intimidated by pin-striped suits,
planning jargon, consultants, zoning
by-laws, Official Plans or tribunals?"
He goes on to lead the reader through
the intricate process of staving off en-
croaching urban development. And he
points out why the fight is necessary.
"During the past 25 years, almost 80
per cent of Ontario's urban r+cvel-