Bob Ransford: On the Anniversary of the Land Commission Act

Bob Ransford, an occasional contributor to VV, posted this item on a significant event coming up: the 50th Anniversary of the Land Commission Act.  And he  suggests a fitting addition in the spirit of that act.

It will be 50 years in September since the newly elected and first New Democratic Party provincial government in British Columbia began hastily working on drafting legislation that would drastically change land use policy across the province.

Andrew Petter best described this bold policy in a BC Studies paper he authored in 1985, entitled “Sausage Making in British Columbia’s NDP Government : The Creation of the Land Commission Act, August 1972-April 1973”:

“The Land Commission Act, (was) one of the first and most significant legislative initiatives undertaken by the NDP government. Although the Act, which brought to a halt the subdivision of agricultural land in the province, engendered a storm of criticism when it was put before the legislature in February of 1973, it has since become so revered within the province’s political culture that, in recent years, no major party leader has dared to suggest that the legislation should be repealed or that the Commission should be abolished.”

In effect, the Land Commission Act, which established what we now call the “Agricultural Land Reserve”, removed from regional and local governments the ultimate land use decision making authority over lands that were deemed important to agriculture. The rationale for this action was simple. As population grew, prime agricultural land was being taken out of production and there is only a limited supply of land in BC suitable for farming.

All land is a finite resource, especially in a province like British Columbia with its challenging geography. Managing growth requires managing the land base in a coordinated manner, considering implications beyond just the neighborhood, local or regional level. Today, we’re experiencing the pressures most parts of the world are experiencing in managing urban growth that is influenced by a growing world population, that is more urban than rural, and changing demographics. Land suitable for urban human settlements is limited and that land needs to be used efficiently.

Land use needs to be planned not just for the needs of those occupying the land today, but also for future generations. All of BC’s major agglomerations are struggling with the need to allocate land to efficiently house our growing population. Endless battles are being fought at the neighbourhood level with much of the focus on the interests and concerns of existing habitants and little concern for housing those who are desperately searching for housing they can afford today or the needs of people in the more distant future.

Fifty years after the introduction of bold policy that was enabled by BC’s first Land Commission Act, it is time for the current NDP government to introduce a Land Commission Act 2.0 to designate certain urban lands for efficient use in providing housing.

This policy, backed by legislation, could enable province-wide coordination and oversight of how urban land reserved for housing is used and it could ensure British Columbia leads the country and the world in addressing the needs of a growing global urban population