CHAPTER VII 



Government Policies and Land Development 



The junctions of government in connection with land development. An 

 Imperial land settlement scheme. Canada a great business enter- 

 prise. Devolution of power to permanent officials. Federal 

 methods and administration. Proposals for a new federal depart- 

 ment. National development in other countries. Provincial or- 

 ganization of land settlement. Unorganized territory. Organized 

 territory-provincial administration of local government. Cost 

 of local government. Government stimulus to rural manufactures 

 and mining. Improvement of highways and control of railway 

 development. Government policies and land speculation. Coloniza- 

 tion by railway companies. Need of a constructive policy in regard 

 to scientific training and research and industrial housing. 



The Functions of Government in Connection with Land 



Development 



THE functions of government in a civilized society are exer- 

 cised by two main groups of governing authorities — national 

 and local. In Canada our national government is appor- 

 tioned between a federal and nine provincial legislatures, and our 

 local or municipal government is carried on by councils of county, 

 city, town, village, township or rural municipalities, the latter dif- 

 fering in name according to the terminology used in the different 

 provinces. Outside of the machinery of government, as thus defined, 

 we have commissions, boards and other chartered bodies with definite 

 duties assigned to them by the elected authorities. The policies of 

 all these groups of governors are indirectly controlled by the electors, 

 to whom they are severally responsible. 



All classes of government are concerned, inter alia, in the duty 

 of securing that land will be planned and developed so as to promote 

 the best economic uses of the resources of the country ami healthy 

 conditions of life for its citizens. Under the British North America 

 Act the Federal Government has no direct control of local and muni- 

 cipal affairs — this being the function of the provincial governments. 



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