An email received from Jean-Paul Murray
You may wish to inform your readers that the Library of Parliament has just posted it’s legislative summary on Bill C-20.
Though the document is quite technical in general, the commentary provides a good overview of the issue.
From that link here are the “background” and “highlights” portions, from which we can see that although Gatineau Park is dealt with, it is by no means the exclusive focus of the legislation.
Background
On 30 April 2010, Bill C-20, An Act to amend the National Capital Act and other Acts (short title: An Action Plan for the National Capital Commission), was introduced in the House of Commons by the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. With the exception of a new clause 26 (concerning coordinating amendments), Bill C-20 is virtually identical to its predecessor bill, C-37, which was introduced in the House in the previous session of the 40th Parliament and which was being considered by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities when it died on the Order Paper with the prorogation of Parliament.
According to the government’ s backgrounder accompanying the news release on the bill, in April 2006, the minister responsible for the National Capital Commission (NCC) launched a review to assess the continuing relevance of the NCC, its activities and level of funding. An independent review panel invited a broad range of stakeholders and interested parties to express their views. The panel released its report in December 2006, making a number of recommendations concerning the NCC’s governance, activities and funding.
In its backgrounder, the government points out that, since that time, it has taken several steps consistent with the review panel’s recommendations. An annual $15 million increase in funding for the NCC was announced in Budget 2007. In keeping with the Federal Accountability Act, separate chairperson and chief executive officer positions were created at the NCC. As well, in September 2008, the Governor in Council approved the acquisition by the NCC of private properties in Gatineau Park.
According to the government, the tabling of Bill C-20 responds to recent public and stakeholder input and ensures that the NCC can efficiently and effectively fulfill its mandate.
Highlights
The highlights of the bill are these:
- The NCC Board must hold at least four meetings a year in the National Capital Region that are open to the public, although portions of those meetings may be held in camera if necessary.
- The NCC is required to submit, at least once every 10 years, a 50-year master plan for the National Capital Region, including principles and objectives, for approval by the Governor in Council and tabling in Parliament.
- The NCC may designate (or revoke designations of) properties that are part of the “National Interest Land Mass” (a term that will be defined in the National Capital Act) only if the Commission, with the Governor in Council’s approval, has made regulations setting out the criteria and the process respecting the designation.
- The NCC must manage its real property (or in Quebec, immovables under that province’s civil law regime) in accordance with the principles of responsible environmental stewardship.
- The NCC must give due regard to the maintenance of the ecological integrity of the Commission’s immovables located in Gatineau Park.
- The boundaries of Gatineau Park are described in proposed Schedule 2 to the National Capital Act.
- The NCC may, with the Governor in Council’s approval, make regulations prescribing user fees regarding its properties.
- New and enhanced regulatory authorities and enforcement provisions are introduced to enable the NCC to better protect its properties.
- The NCC is no longer required to seek Governor in Council approval for certain real estate transactions.
- The NCC is required to furnish and maintain the lands described in proposed schedules 3 (Rideau Hall) and 4 (Canada’ s Guest House) to the National Capital Act; as well, by way of an amendment to the Official Residences Act, the NCC (rather than the minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, as was previously the case) would now be required to furnish and maintain buildings on the lands described in schedules I to III of that Act or allocated under section 5 of that Act.
The cards that GuideGatineau has begun distributing to promote the website are considered to be highly environmentally responsible due to the fact that the paper used is 100% recycled and is produced using energy from biofuels plus the ink is vegetable based.
Contrary to what the Conservative government has claimed, Bill C-20 fails to respond to concerns stakeholders and the public expressed before an independent review panel and ignores several key recommendations made by that panel.
In April 2006, against a backdrop of increasing public distrust and dissatisfaction over the NCC’s secrecy and mismanagement, the government had set up the NCC Mandate Review Panel to determine whether the agency was still relevant and whether it could be reformed.
When it tabled its report in December 2006, the Panel recommended greater parliamentary oversight of the NCC, to ensure better accountability, transparency and management. In particular, the Panel insisted Parliament be given final say in approving master plans for the nation’s capital, as well as any changes to the National Interest Land Mass (NILM). The Panel also urged the government to amend the National Capital Act to include a Charter that would clearly define Gatineau Park’s mandate and guarantee its better protection.
Unfortunately, Bill C-20 fails to provide either the greater legislative oversight the Panel recommended or a Charter defining a vision for the park. Instead, it gives Cabinet authority to approve master plans, and allows the NCC to make changes to the NILM and to Gatineau Park boundaries. This virtually ensures that the process will remain shrouded in secrecy and subjected to public criticism.
In the absence of parliamentary oversight, the NCC has made several significant changes to the NILM and to Gatineau Park boundaries in recent years. For instance, as a result of boundary “rationalization” in the 1990s – as well as major road building – the NCC furtively removed 1,842 acres from the park, or nearly three square miles.
When pressed by parliamentarians to explain how it had done this, the agency gave several contradictory and misleading explanations – prompting a senator to raise a question of privilege in the Senate on November 22, 2005.
Moreover, in the absence of a proper land management mechanism, the NCC has allowed the building of 119 new houses in Gatineau Park since 1992. Add to this a new superstore, coffee shop, gas station, fire hall, municipal pumping station and five new roads built in violation of master plans, and the need for stronger parliamentary oversight becomes even more urgent.
In 2008, the proposed Carman Road development and the muddying of Meech Lake reported in the press were only the latest examples of threats Gatineau Park will continue to face in the absence of the thorough legislative oversight recommended by the NCC Mandate Review Panel and requested by citizens and stakeholders.