Report/Rapport : Governance and Land Use Planning in PEI, August 2009

Source: Institute of Island Studies, UPEI.
A Policy Brief titled "The Importance of Positive Government-Governance Relations for Land Use Planning and Management on Prince Edward Island" was released by the Institute of Island Studies.

"As amply demonstrated in the overview document provided by this current Commission on Land Use and Local Government (Government of PEI 2009 a,c), a succession of Prince Edward Island governments has failed to enact the majority of recommendations put forward by previous land use commissions and round tables. More recently, governments have held public consultations on heritage management, watershed management, genetically modified crops, cosmetic pesticides, school closures and nitrates in groundwater, among others."

"All of these are related directly or indirectly to rural land use or to infrastructure that influences rural settlement patterns. In every case, local governance and in particular, the role of the public in decision-making, is at the core of the debate. Typically, the majority of citizens intervening called for immediate and substantial changes to public policy or regulations. The body (whether a government standing committee, appointed board or ad hoc review committee) charged with reviewing public input then provided weaker recommendations to government. In most cases, even these compromise recommendations were largely ignored. In other cases, where recommendations were accepted, follow-up action was postponed, or legislation was drafted in such a way as to be unenforceable."

Download the full report.