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This is a series of questions that the Urban Issues committee at
the Ecology Action Centre has compiled for the Nova Scotia election.
They are meant to be asked of candidates on your doorstep, to see if
they grasp the links between land use/ transportation and healthy
communities. Many questions may be Halifax specific, but can be applied
across the province. If posssible, could any groups using this list
reply so that we may stay in contact with each other.
David Aalders for urban issues comm.-daalders@ns.sympatico.ca
Apologies for cross postings.
Nova Scotia 2003 Election
Questions to ask your candidates
Transportation Questions
The issue of rising auto insurance has highlighted the lack of
alternatives to auto use for everyday needs, and that our communities
are built with the assumption that everyone will be driving to their
destination.
Q.1 What would your government do to encourage a shift in the
transport modal split to encourage increased levels of transit use,
walking, cycling and car-pooling?
The challenge for Halifax is to stop the growth in vehicle kilometres
travelled (VKT) and shift many trips to public transport. This will
require an accessible, frequent, safe and affordable system with
effective interchanges between modes and integrated ticketing and fares.
Q.2 What policy direction or types of targets would your government
establish for stopping growth in per capita vehicle kilometres travelled
(VKT) - in Halifax? - in the Province?
Q.3 Given that the demand for affordable housing is pushing
development on the urban fringe, how would your government help to
ensure that a supply of modest-priced housing is available closer to
existing services like bus routes and employment?
Expansion of the public transport system has not, until recently,
received significant budget allocation. Its current pattern is like
spokes on a wheel focussed on the CBD in the peninsula. There are other
key regional centres and a growth in cross-regional trips that are not
served well by public transport.
Q.4 How would your government's transport plan provide certainty for
investment and integrated land uses to ensure economically viable public
transport passenger catchments?
Q.5 How would your government work with federal and municipal
governments to develop an integrated transportation plan for Nova
Scotia?
Currently, the transportation paradigm is heavily biased towards the
automobile (e.g. free parking at many workplaces, high investment in
roads, insufficient investment in public transit, scarcity of bike lanes
and even sidewalks in some areas).
Q.6 Would your government share gas taxes with municipalities to
invest in alternative transport? How would you tie this investment to
the reduction of CO2 emissions in order to create more healthy
communities?
For example, development of bus service or commuter rail, rather than
immediately assuming the approach must be road widening.ie HWY 103 to
Tantallon.
Land Use Questions
Significant growth has occurred in suburban and ex-urban areas around
metropolitan areas in the last 20-30 years (accelerated in the past
10-12 years). It has become increasingly difficult for farmers to
control adequate land bases simply because in many areas farmland is
worth more for development than it is for agricultural purposes. (Nova
Scotia Federation of Agriculture Ð presentation to the House of Assembly
Standing Committee on Resources March 25, 2003)
Q.7 What measures would your government use to deal with increasing
land use conflicts and encroachments to farm properties and wilderness
areas? Please describe. How effective do you think Statements of
Provincial Interest would be in dealing with conflict issues?
Q.8 How would your government reduce urban sprawl? How would you limit
the subdivision of land on the periphery of towns / cities?
Q.9 One way to preserve farm land is to use conservation restrictions
that run with the land. What do you think about those? What initiatives
would your government take in order to protect non-urban areas,
including lakes and rivers, from the impact of subdivision development..
Q.10 What are your views on the application of Smart Growth principles
in the rural context so that rural communities can provide adequate
levels of transportation, health, education, communication, and other
infrastructure?
Q.11 In what ways would your government play a leadership role for
municipal governments in the balancing of rural / urban land uses? What
is your government's policy?
Q.12 What assistance would your government give to municipalities in
respect of rural / urban land use decision making, such as pilot
projects, funding, direction, coordination?
Q.13 What safeguards could your government provide to ensure that
public infrastructure investments do not exacerbate the loss of farm
lands and wilderness (particularly in respect of widening highways that
expand commuter sheds)?
(Questions compiled by the Urban Issues Committee of the Ecology Action
Centre, Halifax, NS - T: 902.429.2202)
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