File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "The Preservation of Agricultural Land and the Land Commission Act" at the U.B.C. Symposium for Arable Land: The Appropriate Use of a Scarce Resource. The speech includes the following attachments:
- General Evaluation Criteria for Applications
- Flow Chart - Exclusion Process
- Brief Resume of the types of applications and appeals under the Land Commission Act
Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"GGR comments on private property rights vs. public interests and the shifting attitudes from seeing land as merely a commodity, to bought, sold and used at will, to recognizing land as a limited natural resource.
He reviews the loss of farmland and outlines how the ALRs were established. A six point list (p. 3) is included of the methodology used to designate the ALR. This is historically an important list because it goes into some detail on the utilization of the C.L.I., the process of designating the ALR plans.
GGR outlines the problems at the time of designation of adjusting the 'natural' CLI boundaries to 'straight' legal boundaries as well as the challenges posed by the scale of mapping.
He comments that applications consume considerable amount of the Commission's resources but efforts are being made to work with local governments on planning issues. GGR closes by listing seven areas of immediate concerns (p. 7).
After 38 years it would be worth reflecting on how many of these "immediate concerns' are still challenging the Commission."
