Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results

The ministry's goals and objectives support its vision of "a vibrant economy supporting the social and environmental values of British Columbians." They are consistent with the ministry's mission "to provide provincial leadership, through policies, planning and resource information to support sustainable economic development of the province's land, water and resources." They also help to achieve the deliverables outlined in the Premier's letter to the Minister at the front of the plan. Outcomes and results and their relationship to the government's strategic plan are summarized in the following pages, particularly Figure 1 on page 18.

Over the next three years, the ministry expects to achieve the following results on an annual operating budget of $68 million (excluding the Agricultural Land Commission and the Crown Land Special Account):

Goal 1: Sustainable economic development of land and resources.

The ministry will:

• Designate the Working Forest land base;
• Complete the Central Coast, Lillooet, North Coast, Sea-to-Sky and Morice land and resource management plans (LRMPs) and the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands strategic-level plan;
• Consult with interested First Nations on all land and resource plans;
• Incorporate key biodiversity objectives to support the implementation of results-based forestry and the development of resource targets by the end of 2005/06 through sustainable resource management plans (SRMPs);
• Substantially complete Protected Area designations;
• Complete the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area pre-tenure plans to enable oil and gas development in the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area;
• Complete economic opportunity plans and strategies for aquaculture, agriculture and land-use based resort and tourism opportunities; and
• Provide First Nations with new business opportunities identified through land and resource management plans and other resource planning initiatives.

		Figure 1: The ministry's goals and outcomes in relation to the Government Strategic Plan 2004/05 - 2006/07.

Goal 2: Effective delivery of integrated, science-based land, resource and geographic information.

The ministry will:

• Implement an electronic service delivery model that will:

— integrate the land and resource registry in the northeast corner of the province by the end of 2004/05 and the whole province by the end of 2006/07;

— enable authorized users to electronically submit land title documents for registration using an Electronic Filing System in 2004/05; and

— allow the filing of digital survey plans on a staged basis beginning with Land Act surveys undertaken in 2005/06.

• Implement the Land and Resource Data Warehouse to provide a single, central repository of integrated land and resource information from across the province to clients in government ministries and other agencies, business partners and the public. Fifty per cent of the data sets will be loaded in the warehouse by the end of 2004/05; and
• Develop alternative service delivery options for implementing the provincial integrated registry during 2004.

Goal 3: Sound governance of land and resource management.

The ministry will:

• Ensure land and resources are allocated to their optimal use and that costs are well identified and accounted for when land-use decisions are made;
• Reduce the regulatory burden 30 per cent by the end of June 2004 by eliminating duplication and unnecessary regulations;
• Apply the governance principles (as described on page 38) to new ministry strategic policies to ensure a sustainable balance between economic development and the maintenance of environmental values;
• Coordinate the implementation of a government-wide contaminated sites management program and oversee remediation of the Pacific Place site and the Britannia Mine site with a strategic partner; and
• Review the property assessment classification system to ensure the system is equitable and the framework accommodates the goals and objectives of BC Assessment and the provincial government.

Goal 4: Organizational excellence.

The ministry will:

• Meet or exceed government average levels of staff satisfaction and staff understanding of ministry direction as measured by the Auditor General's annual survey of government staff; and
• Enhance the concept of performance-focused staff by having 100 per cent of staff complete an Employee Performance and Development Plan.

The following table illustrates the linkages between the ministry's core businesses and goals, and the divisions that deliver the services to achieve the goals.

Table 1. Ministry Core Businesses, Their Relationship to Goals and Ministry Structure

This section also lists supporting strategies, performance measures and targets that will help measure progress towards ministry goals. As this is a high-level plan, only major strategies are specified. A report on performance will be provided in the annual service plan report to be published in the spring of 2004.

Achievement of some targets will be influenced by factors beyond the ministry's control as well as internal uncertainties. Where significant, these risks are discussed under specific measures or groups of measures. A more detailed discussion of risks and challenges is included in the Planning Context section on page 39.

Some performance measures have evolved from those used in last year's service plan. In some cases, this has been in response to changing government priorities and client needs. Other performance measures or targets have been replaced or changed because projects — or phases of projects — have now been completed³. Finally, some changes have taken place to accommodate new, improved methods of measuring performance. These changes are noted against individual performance measures.

Goal 1: Sustainable economic development of land and resources.

Supporting resource-based sustainable development and diversification through land and resource planning decisions, increased First Nations' economic participation, and improved frameworks for balancing resource management decisions with maintaining environmental integrity.

Core Business Area:

Sustainable Economic Development.

This goal is achieved primarily through the development and implementation of land and resource management plans. These plans improve certainty of access to land and resources, provide better economic opportunities for First Nations and reduce conflict regarding natural resource use. The plans are designed to accelerate and expand economic opportunities, help revitalize investment and create jobs while maintaining key environmental values.

The ministry undertakes two types of land and resource management planning. Strategic-level land-use plans, which include land and resource management plans (LRMPs), identify broad land-use zones. Objective 1 deals with these. Operational plans are more detailed in scope and include forest resource sustainable resource management plans (SRMPs — under Objective 2), coastal plans, pre-tenure plans and economic opportunity plans (under Objective 3). Priorities have been set at both the strategic and operational levels for the plans to be undertaken in the next two years based on their expected economic impact in key sectors.

All land and resource management plans developed under this Goal will include consultations with interested First Nations. This will be reported on in the annual service plan report. Last year a separate objective dealt with First Nation issues.

Objective 1: Complete priority strategic-level land and resource management planning and cost-effective implementation strategies.

Completion of strategic-level plans will help ensure resource management decisions take into account the needs of communities, the economy, the environment, and First Nation values and concerns, now and into the future. The following performance measure and targets specify the ministry's commitments for completing priority strategic-level plans and accompanying implementation strategies.

Last year's service plan mentioned the Atlin-Taku plan as being under review. The scale and nature of this potential plan project have changed over time and as a result, the ministry is re-evaluating its options to proceed.

Strategies:

1. Designate the Working Forest land base.

2. Complete priority strategic-level land and resource-use plans to facilitate sustainable development.

3. Substantially complete the designation of Protected Areas for the province.

4. Develop implementation strategies for completed strategic-level plans that address such issues as plan monitoring, more detailed planning requirements, eco-system based management, economic opportunities and First Nations values and concerns.

5. Develop and refine socio-economic and environmental assessment tools to inform land and resource decisions.

Objective 2: Complete priority resource planning and associated projects that support development of mandatory, legislated resource objectives.

This objective deals mostly with the forest sector. The ministry will incorporate key biodiversity objectives and other resource targets in sustainable resource management plans (SRMPs) to support the implementation of the Forest and Range Practices Act. These strategies will allow implementation of results-based forestry and consequently increased economic and social benefits while meeting biodiversity objectives. Completion of SRMPs will involve consultation with interested First Nations and will contain policies and guidelines supporting sustainable resource management.

Strategies:

1. Complete sustainable resource management plans to provide basic biodiversity objectives and resource targets required under the Forest and Range Practices Act, Forest Practices Code, Land Act and Muskwa-Kechika Management Area Act.

2. Ensure all high-priority SRMPs include consultation with and participation of interested First Nations.

3. Develop and implement operational policy, including the Working Forest Initiative and associated resource targets.

Objective 3: Undertake land and resource planning and associated projects that address the use and management of Crown land and resources for sustainable economic development and diversification opportunities.

Strategies under this objective are aimed largely at realizing economic opportunities first in sectors other than the forest sector, and secondly for First Nations. They include completion of various resource sector access strategies, resort development activities and use of partnerships to increase economic activity on Crown land.

It is important to note two key changes from last year's service plan. The first change recognizes that the coordination of resource-based tourism opportunities on Crown land has been transferred to the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development. However, resort opportunities associated with land-use has recently been added to the ministry's responsibilities under a new Minister of State.

While specific strategies and performance measures are under development for the Minister of State of Resort Development, the Premier has identified the following priorities:

• Increase the number of sites allocated for resort development on Crown land;
• Develop a consolidated inter-agency policy for resort development approvals including associated recreation permitting that encourages private sector investment across British Columbia; and
• Oversee implementation of the Resort Task Force report recommendations.

The second change from last year's service plan is the addition of a new performance measure dealing specifically with First Nations business opportunities.

Strategies:

1. Develop and update sector (mining, oil and gas, tourism, and agriculture) Crown land and resource access strategies involving land use planning to support government's overall economic strategy.

2. Work with other government agencies to increase mineral exploration opportunities on Crown lands outside established Protected Areas.

3. Complete priority coastal plans and economic opportunity plans that provide sustainable economic development opportunities.

4. Develop initiatives and agreements with First Nations that promote resource stewardship and economic activity.

5. Establish agreements and other tools to support the sustainable use and management of Crown land and resources and resolution of associated issues and conflicts.

6. Provide advice on land-use issues associated with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Goal 2: Effective delivery of integrated, science-based land, resource and geographic information.

Integrated land and resource information supporting ministry and client activities related to economic development, land-use planning, sustainability and e-government services.

Core Business Area:

Integrated Land and Resource Information.

Achieving this goal will help ensure that the BC government, industry and public have access to integrated land and resource information and services. The information will be time sensitive, geographically referenced and science-based. Access will be faster and the quality of information will be higher. As a consequence, ministry clients will be able to make informed decisions more rapidly and the ownership of tenures and titles will be more certain. This will help improve BC's business and investment climate.

Land Information BC is the flagship initiative for addressing this goal. Land Information BC offers information collection and capture, information management, information access and decision-support services. The ministry has instituted a Land Information BC governance structure to ensure clients are directly involved in the planning, priority setting and decision-making concerning information services.

Objective 1: Integrated land and resource information.

This objective concerns the delivery of integrated registry and resource information. Strategies supporting it involve building a base geographic reference as a foundation for all other information, building a warehouse to store the data, developing systems, tools and standards to facilitate data integration and supporting data management in partner ministries. Objective 1 is delivered through the Land Information BC information collection and capture, and information management services.

Based on current workloads and production figures, the percentage targets have been reduced from those stated in last year's service plan⁴.

Strategies:

1. Provide integrated registry information.

2. Provide integrated resource information.

3. Provide a geographic spatial reference for the province.

4. Deliver an integrated data warehouse for access to resource and registry information.

5. Maintain an operational information management infrastructure.

Objective 2: Effective delivery of client services.

Objective 2 is focused on developing client loyalty and promoting client success through provision of land and resource information. The ministry will concentrate on excellent customer service through effective use of tools, expert advice and simplicity of access to electronic information. Objective 2 is delivered through the Land Information BC information access and decision-support services.

This performance measure has been modified from last year's service plan. The measure relates to client satisfaction with land information services, focusing on clients with service agreements. This measure now uses a broad survey measure of satisfaction rather than last year's "delivery of services within timelines specified in service agreements." The 2004/05 target for this performance measure has also been reduced from that in last year's plan since service agreement negotiations have shown the original target could not be achieved.⁵

Strategies:

1. Provide access to information for government, industry and public clients.

2. Provide decision support, information management services and products in support of economic development and land-use planning (supports Goal 1).

3. Provide decision support, information management services and products to other government agencies and partners.

4. Provide land title and registry services.

The wording in the above performance measure has been changed from last year's service plan to communicate service times more effectively and to more accurately reflect the type of land title work being completed. The ministry is considering various management options to improve the delivery of the land title system across the province associated with the full application of electronic filing capability in 2004.

Objective 3: Transformed business, including e-government, deregulation and alternative service delivery.

To ensure products and services are aligned to client needs, the ministry will transform its business processes and culture by targeting e-government and alternative service delivery opportunities. The ministry will reduce program delivery costs while establishing a stable business foundation and streamlining business processes. To facilitate this transformation, many services will be provided electronically and, where reasonable, partnerships will be used to improve service delivery.

Development and completion of partnerships are taking longer than originally anticipated as a result of economic conditions and longer timeframes to develop the required government policies and procedures. This will be improved with staff training and the formulation of partnership agreements that fully identify costs, timelines and value-added products.

Strategies:

1. Migrate to electronic service.

2. Develop and maintain partnerships with other governments, industry, academia and other organizations.

Goal 3: Sound governance of land and resource management.⁶

Principles, policies and legislation to guide sustainable resource management.

Core Business Areas:

Sound Governance and Property Assessment Services.

As the designated owner of Crown land, water and other natural resources in the province, the ministry leads the development of strategic principles, policies and legislation to guide resource planning, tenuring, disposal and pricing to ensure the optimal use of these resources. The ministry also sets strategic policies concerning property assessment and oversees the effective management of contaminated sites on provincial land. In addition to the ministry, the immediate impacts of these policies and legislation are principally on Land and Water British Columbia Inc., BC Assessment and the Agricultural Land Commission, with less significant impacts on other natural resource ministries.

These principles, policies and legislation are expected to improve certainty of access to land and other resources, reduce conflict regarding natural resource use, accelerate and expand economic development opportunities and provide better support to government and industry decision makers.

Objective 1: An effective policy and legislative regime governing land and resource management.

Strategic land and water policy and legislation supports the ministry's strategic resource planning strategies under Goal 1 as well as the tenure allocation processes of other agencies such as LWBC. Strategies under this objective will also result in more streamlined regulatory processes through a shift to performance-based regulation and removal of outmoded regulations. In particular, the ministry will ensure land and resources are allocated to their optimal use with regard to economic, social and environmental values. In addition, the ministry will work to reduce land-use conflict between resource users and increase investment certainty in the resource sector. Other strategies concerning the pricing of Crown resources will assist achievement of an effective, efficient and fair return to their use. Support to property assessment appeal processes will help ensure fairness of property assessments.

Strategies:

1. Reduce the number of regulatory requirements.

2. Review and develop effective strategic policies and legislation particularly for property assessment, revenue, land and water governance.

3. Complete Property Assessment Review Panel process by March 31 of each year.

Objective 2: A framework for sustainable resource management that informs policy and performance management.

By implementing the strategies under this objective, the ministry will help ensure the sustainability of its strategic land and resource management policies and planning processes through application of governance principles for sustainability. Support will also be provided regarding sustainability and environmental issues in planning for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

The ministry will adopt performance planning, reporting and evaluation strategies to ensure its performance is effective, efficient, accountable and risk managed.

In order to more accurately measure the incorporation of governance principles for sustainability into MSRM strategic policies, the ministry has revised its performance measure and targets from last year's plan.

With the completion of the land and resource management plans and the designation of the Working Forest, the ministry will demonstrate how the application of sustainability principles is bringing certainty to land access and building a strong resourced-based economy.

Strategies:

1. Improve application of governance principles for sustainability within the ministry to key land and resource management decisions.

2. Undertake outreach activities with the resource sector, academia and non-governmental agencies to advance sustainability thought and practice.

3. Develop and implement a comprehensive performance management system.

4. Develop and implement a ministry Enterprise-wide Risk Management (ERM) process.

5. In partnership with the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, provide advice on sustainability and environmental strategies associated with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Following is an interim performance measure and targets for the development and implementation of the ministry's new Enterprise-wide Risk Management process. The ministry will be developing a new measure using an organizational risk management matrix.

See the Related Initiatives section on page 36 for more details about the ERM process.

Objective 3: Effective and efficient management of contaminated sites on provincial lands.

The strategies under this objective involve development of a government-wide program for the management of provincial contaminated sites. MSRM was assigned the lead on this issue early in 2003 to address the recommendations of the 2002 Auditor General's Report on Managing Contaminated Sites on Provincial Lands. The ministry is also responsible for overseeing remediation of significant, historic contaminated sites such as the Britannia Mine and Pacific Place. The ministry is seeking a strategic partner for designing and operating the water treatment facility.

Strategies:

1. Direct and coordinate the management of provincial contaminated sites.

2. Ensure information critical for management of provincial contaminated sites is available.

3. Implement accountability and reporting requirements related to provincial contaminated sites.

4. Effectively manage individual contaminated sites for the ministry, including overseeing remediation of the Pacific Place site and the Britannia Mine site.

5. Minimize provincial liability for remediation of Crown-owned contaminated sites.

The new task of overseeing remediation of the Britannia Mine site will be monitored according to the following performance measure and targets.

Goal 4: Organizational excellence

Demonstrated visionary leadership and pursuit of service excellence.

Core Business Area:

Goal 4 is supported by all core businesses of the ministry.

Goal 4 establishes a foundation for achieving the ministry's overall mandate. The goal will be realized by attaining excellence in the ministry's services, its people and work environment. The ministry will re-enforce organizational excellence by ensuring the needs of staff and clients are met in a professional, timely manner.

Objective 1: Demonstrated visionary leadership and continuous improvement.

In keeping with government's New Era commitments and in accordance with its core review, the ministry launched a new organizational model in late 2003. The ministry is helping staff and clients understand its mandate and capacity. New approaches, cross-organizational actions and leadership from all staff are necessary to achieve this goal. The performance measure and targets below will assess overall staff satisfaction levels and their understanding of the ministry's direction.

Strategies:

1. Staff clarity of the ministry vision, objectives and priorities.

2. Leadership across government through increasing core competencies of staff.

3. Executive and Senior Management team provides consistent direction and timely communication to staff.

4. Evaluation of service-level agreements.

Objective 2: Performance-focused staff.

Enhanced individual, group and organizational performance comes from linking staff activities to the divisional, corporate and government objectives, identifying development priorities and recognizing and celebrating achievements. The ministry's success in achieving staff participation in Employee Performance Development Plans will be monitored by the following performance measure and targets.

Strategies:

1. Ministry-wide learning strategy developed and actioned (in divisional plans).

2. All staff assist ministry to achieve ministry priorities.

3. Introduce "360 leadership" feedback to staff to improve leadership competencies.

4. Training and succession planning to build staff competencies.

Note: Funding for Goal 4, approximately 4 per cent of the ministry's operational budget, is provided by all core businesses.

Related Initiatives

Enterprise-wide Risk Management

The ministry is developing a five-year, three-phase plan for the implementation of enterprise-wide risk management as required by government. The ultimate aim is to develop a culture in which decisions are taken and priorities set with due regard to risks, that risks are communicated and risk management effectively occurs.

The initial phase, which is focused on high-priority risks, has already begun and will continue through 2004/05. The next developmental phase will commence in 2004/05 with a series of pilots in each division chosen for their training value as well as significance in terms of consequences and likelihoods. By year five, full implementation should be achieved in each division and the third, continuous improvement phase will be entered. Staff training targeted to the types of risks under consideration will be a key part of all phases.

The risks and management responses identified in the Planning Context section (p. 39) were pinpointed through three senior-management workshops and subsequent work on responses.

To measure progress in implementing this risk management approach, the ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection to pilot an organizational risk management matrix based on approaches used by the Risk Management Branch of the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Auditor General⁷.

Deregulation

MSRM continues its New Era commitment to cut red tape and reduce the regulatory burden as part of its three-year deregulation plan. The ministry is confident its 30 per cent deregulation target will be achieved by June 2004, provided all its deregulation proposals are approved. The ministry will also work towards exceeding this 30 per cent level of deregulation during the 2006/07 fiscal year. MSRM will continue its commitment to reviewing the regulatory environment over the next three years and seek ways to making it more efficient and effective.

Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

Together with the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, the ministry has been asked to assist with issues regarding sustainability, the environment and land-use that may be associated with preparations for the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.