RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 243 



system of measurement. For instance, Map No. 2 is a map of the Dom- 

 inion, showing the principal drainage areas, practically in accordance 

 with the divisions adopted by the Commission of Conservation in the 

 report on Water-Powers of Canada, published in 1911. It will be of 

 great value in connection with the planning of rural territory for pur- 

 poses both of land settlement and of location of new towns. It shows 

 how greatly the main drainage areas vary from the meridian lines 

 which form the basis of rectangular surveys which are used for pur- 

 poses of land settlement. It is not advocated that these and other 

 physical conditions should determine the system of planning the land, 

 but it is suggested that they should not be entirely ignored. We are 

 indebted to the Water Power Branch of the Department of the Interior 

 for the use of the plate of Map No. 3. 



Comprehensive surveys are being made of the natural and indus- 

 trial resources in some of the provinces, including Saskatchewan and 

 Alberta, but, in the absence of a much more elaborate and skilled 

 organization than is available for the purpose, at present, such a sur- 

 vey cannot be made in as complete a form as is necessary. 



PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT LEGISLATION 



Comprehensive Planning and Development Acts, corresponding to 

 the draft act of the Commission of Conservation, as briefly described 

 in this report, should be passed in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, British 

 Columbia and Prince Edward Island, and the Town Planning Acts 

 in the other provinces should be changed in name and widened in scope, 

 so far as may be necessary, to make them applicable to deal adequately 

 with both rural and urban development. 



All rural and urban land should be planned and regulated by proper 

 1 development schemes' prepared under Planning and Development Acts, 

 with a view to securing health, convenience, efficiency and amenity in 

 connection with its use for all purposes. 



Provincial regulations, setting a minimum standard of sanitation 

 and housing, building construction and general development, should 

 be agreed to by provincial governments and municipalities in joint 

 conference and under expert advice; and the adoption of such minimum 

 standards by local authorities should be made compulsory. 



Development schemes and building regulations should have as one 

 of their objects the prevention of injurious land speculation, in connection 

 with the sub-division and development of land for building purposes; they 

 should define the principles on which future contributions of public money 

 shall be given for constructing local improvements and should aim at 

 limiting these contributions to such improvements as are for the benefit 



