Hi Steve,
Overall N.S. population is growing very very slowly. Population in CB is
declining at the rate of about 1%/yr. with the possibility of this
accelerating as one of the major local employers is "privatized" .
I guess your quote refers to land use planning. In Canada, the need for
land use planning at the municipal level is unquestioned (probably this
is the most visible difference as one moves from one side of the Canada/US
border to the other). From my experience there is little or no linking of
issues of local "planning" to questions of "democracy"...
Regional planning is somewhat more contentious, especially in the few
parts of Canada where there are land shortages--the Lower Mainland of BC,
suburban Toronto; or where there are disputes over resource
conservation/use; but even here the issue is mostly "technical" and not
"ideological", although I gather that the Harris Conservative government
in Ontario is bringing in land use legislation that is politicizing the
issue fairly dramatically.
Mike Gurstein
On Wed, 16 Dec 1998, Steve Kurtz wrote:
>Hi Mike,
>
>He is addressing growth mgmt. Has N.S. pop. stabilized? He says that
>Regional Planning can be valuable if...
>
>AB:
>>Planning in a community or region
>>can provide long-term solutions to community or regional problems
>>only if the planning causes, or is accompanied by,
>>a complete cessation of population growth in the community or region.
>
>MG:
>> Sydney Nova Scotia-- population 40,000
>> Nova Scotia population -- 800,000
>>
>> Political "weight"-- 5 %
>>
>> Cape Breton Regional Municipality-- population 120,000
>> Sydney+Glace Bay+New Waterford++++++
>>
>> Political "weight"-- 15%
>
