The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) identified inadequate land use planning as a top concern in its December 4, 2007 report, Reconciling Our Priorities.

Development pressures in Ontario's north threaten to destroy the Boreal Forest. The Boreal is a vast carbon sink, home to herds of woodland caribou, and located across northern First Nation's traditional territories.

The report indicates "Ministries appear to have blinders on with respect to big picture planning, concerning themselves only with their own mandates in energy supply, mining and forestry." Comprehensive lands planning system is key to addressing environmental priorities and protection of the Boreal Forest. ECO's report notes Ontario's current planning mechanisms are defective and legislation impedes land use planning.

"Manitoba does not have an Environmental Commissioner despite promises from the NDP," says Gaile Whelan Enns, Director, Manitoba Wildlands. We have a lot of rhetoric in support of lands planning, but most attention continues to go to development planning. The East Side Planning Initiative has not produced a single lands plan in the last five years."

View Environmental Commissioner of Ontario 2006/2007 Annual report (PDF)