Ministry Role and Services

Ministry Overview

Services

The ministry provides clients with four broad, interrelated types of services:

• identifying opportunities for the sustainable economic development of natural resources and guiding the priorities of other provincial agencies while maintaining key environmental values;
• developing resource-management plans, including land-use and resource-sector planning, that capitalize on economic development opportunities identified by the private sector, other agencies and the ministry;
• delivering integrated registry, resource and geographic information to ensure that natural resource managers have the best information upon which to base their decisions; and
• developing strategic policies and legislation that are consistent with the government's strategic plan to guide the allocation and pricing of natural resources and related information.

The ministry is also committed to organizational excellence and provides its staff with corporate support services, including administrative, financial and human resource management.

Clients

The ministry's principal clients include related provincial government ministries and corporations, federal and local governments, First Nations, resource businesses and non-profit organizations. The results of its land and resource planning and policies are largely implemented through other ministries and agencies, such as Land and Water British Columbia Inc. However, the ministry's integrated registries, resource and geographic information and business services are used directly by both private and public clients.

Primary resource clients cover six major industry sectors: forestry; tourism; mining; oil, gas and energy extraction; agriculture; and aquaculture. These sectors directly account for about 17 per cent of British Columbia's gross domestic product (GDP)¹.

The ministry also affects, to a lesser degree, other industry sectors, including telecommunications, real estate and transportation. Together, primary and secondary clients directly account for 32 per cent of the provincial GDP.

As the B.C. Progress Board pointed out in its report on the economic state of rural British Columbia², the revitalization of land-based industries will be one of the critical determinants of the future of rural communities across the province. Providing secure access to natural resources through land and resource management plans, making timely decisions, ensuring a competitive regulatory process, providing consistent principles for First Nations consultations and facilitating business — First Nations partnerships will have a major influence on rural revitalization and achieving government growth targets. The ministry has an important role in implementing each of these policy initiatives.

Outcomes

As shown in Figure 1, the ministry's functions and services are aimed at delivering outcomes that support the government's strategic goals and achieving many of the reforms advocated by the B.C. Progress Board. The emphasis is on promoting economic development, revitalizing investment and creating jobs while maintaining key environmental values.

		Figure 1. The ministry's goals and outcomes in relation to the government's strategic plan

Ministry Vision, Mission and Values

Vision

A vibrant economy supporting the social and environmental values of British Columbians.

Mission

To provide provincial leadership, through policies, planning and resource information to support sustainable economic development of the province's land, water and resources³.

The Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM) is the lead provincial agency responsible for strategic policies and plans concerning sustainable management of Crown land and water use, pricing, registration of private land titles and other tenures, strategic policies concerning property assessment, and the provision of information concerning all natural resources. The ministry administers key legislation such as the Land Act, the Water Act and the Land Title Act.

Values

Organizational values

The ministry is committed to the following values regarding organization and staff behaviour:

• professional and high-quality client service;
• respect for the opinions and values of others, treating each other and those we serve with fairness, dignity and compassion;
• excellence as responsible stewards of the environment;
• a diverse workforce that is welcoming and inclusive;
• the highest standards of dedication, trust, cooperation, pride and courtesy;
• teamwork to support each other and work together across divisional and geographical boundaries;
• balancing personal and workplace expectations;
• communicating our expectations and decisions while being receptive to ideas regardless of origin; and
• leadership and responsive management in a changing environment.

The ministry recognizes and encourages the application of these values through a strong commitment to staff training and recognition programs which emphasize the values, and through service quality surveys, divisional human resource plans and ministry social activities.

Governance Principles for Sustainability

The ministry is using the following Governance Principles for Sustainability to guide its activities and delivery of public services, including the development of key policy initiatives and planning processes. The principles are organized under three themes.

Theme 1 — Certainty is about improving access to Crown land and resources; streamlining decision-making; seeking to accommodate First Nations interests; improving Crown land tenure management; improving the investment climate; and ensuring access to markets. Supporting principles include:

Certainty — Making timely and clear decisions within a predictable and understandable framework.

Competitiveness — Ensuring that British Columbia remains internationally competitive by removing barriers to investment and promoting open trade.

Efficiency — Focused and efficient delivery of government services and maximizing the net benefits arising from the allocation, development and use of natural resources.

Theme 2 — Accountable and Responsive Government is about setting clear standards and ensuring those standards are being met through monitoring, enforcement, auditing and reporting. Supporting principles include:

Accountability — Enhancing performance management through effective compliance, enforcement, auditing and public reporting activities.

Continual improvement and innovation — Learning from the past, adapting to changing circumstances, encouraging innovation and being entrepreneurial.

Science-based decision-making — Making justifiable decisions informed by science-based information and risk management.

Transparency — Establishing open and transparent decision-making processes that consider First Nations, the public and other key interests.

Theme 3 — Shared Stewardship is about working cooperatively to achieve a sustainable future by shifting towards results-based approaches, providing incentives and taking into account economic, environmental and social objectives. Supporting principles include:

Inclusion — Including the interests of First Nations, and their desire to participate more fully in the economy of the province.

Integration — Ensuring that decisions integrate economic, environmental and social elements, while considering the limits of each, for the benefit of present and future generations.

Shared responsibility — Encouraging co-operation among First Nations; federal, provincial and local governments; academics; industry; and non-governmental organizations in developing and implementing policies.

Ministry Operating Context

The ministry operates within the context of its mission (p. 18), government priorities and external factors that influence the needs and views of its clients.

Few strategic shifts in policy and approach were made during the year by the ministry. The ministry continued its focus on consolidation and meeting previous commitments, particularly in the areas of land-use planning and information. Some significant, and previously planned, reorganizations were completed during the year in the wake of an operating expense reduction of 24 per cent and a workforce adjustment of 21 per cent in FTEs.

However, most changes in the focus, scope and delivery methods of the ministry's services resulted from external and internal factors that arose during the year and that are listed below. Most of these were anticipated as challenges, risks and opportunities in the 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan, but some were not.

External

The finalization of a number of LRMPs remains outstanding largely due to two factors that were anticipated to some degree:

• It has not been possible to conclude consultations with First Nations as part of the normal conduct of some of the planning tables. Consultations and negotiations outside the planning tables require the development of government approved mandates, and this has lengthened the planning processes.
• There were also delays in obtaining information required to complete the Central and North Coast LRMPs. The Coast Information Team was set up as an independent body tasked with bringing together: the best available scientific, traditional and local knowledge; environmental expertise; and community experience to support these LRMPs. The team's formation and work were very important in reaching agreement among all the players. However, the size and scope of this internationally unique project resulted in delays beyond the original targets in delivering the information, and the deadlines for completion of the North Coast and Central Coast LRMPs were delayed.

A significant and unexpected increase in the volume of real estate market transactions in the province over the year contributed to delays in the processing of land title applications. The ministry addressed this issue in the short term by diverting resources from other ministry programs, most notably the loading of the land and resource data warehouse. To provide a longer term solution, policy analysis was completed on a proposal to create an independent authority combining the Land Title Office and Surveyor-General's Office.

Client service requirements and preferences have also been shifting significantly, particularly in relation to resource information and electronic service delivery. For example, two years ago the ministry was anticipating a 30 per cent reduction in corporate information systems by the end of 2004/05. However, as client demands on Land Information BC have been formalized through service agreements, one major component of these systems — the number of corporate applications — has increased significantly. Yet through new technology and approaches, other components of these systems have been reduced with resulting major cost savings.

The high number of forest fires over the summer resulted in increased demands for resource information and analysis and the diversion of some staff to emergency services.

The ministry was also affected by a number of changes in government policy and reallocations of responsibilities between ministries:

• The ministry assumed responsibility for the Crown Contaminated Sites program after the 2003/04 budget was established. As a consequence, the ministry faced additional costs and risks of costs resulting from legal actions and the identification of additional contaminated sites, which were not anticipated in the Service Plan for 2003/04. As no new funding was available, the program operated with limited funds, and resources were diverted from other ministry initiatives.
• Responsibility and resources for leading the development of strategic First Nations policies concerning natural resources, including consultation policies and treaty mandates, were transferred in June 2003 to the Treaty Negotiations Office. This had a limited impact on the completion of economic measures agreements and land-use planning negotiations with First Nations. It also required the dropping of a ministry performance measure.
  The new responsibilities for contaminated sites and the transferred responsibilities for First Nations led to a reorganization of the Corporate Land and Resource Governance division.
• Also in June 2003, responsibility and resources for the coordination of resource-based tourism opportunities were transferred to the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development. However, the Motor Vehicle (All Terrain) Act and the Snowmobile Regulation stayed with the ministry and the pursuit of resort opportunities associated with land use were added in January 2004 to the ministry's responsibilities under a new Minister of State for Resort Development.

Internal

The ministry completed its three-year workforce adjustment process over the year with a 21 per cent reduction in staffing levels, four percentage points greater than planned and three percentage points greater than achieved between 2001/02 and 2002/03. Its budget for the year was reduced by 24 per cent. These reductions, along with increased and shifting client demands, resulted in some internal challenges. However, these challenges were largely anticipated and the ministry effectively responded by increasing its human resource planning, including succession planning, and strengthening its training and staff recognition programs.

It is anticipated that the ministry's ability to participate in large-scale, long-term partnerships will improve as additional capacity is developed over time. While over 20 partnerships were developed, they were relatively small and short term in nature.

The ministry initiated an enterprise-wide risk management program during the year and identified a number of significant risks and challenges to the achievement of its goals, objectives and performance targets in its 2004/05 – 2006/07 Service Plan. These fall into three groups:

• Rapid changes in the nature of the demand for ministry services and the proposed methods for supplying these services have created a challenge in meeting some client demands and made it more difficult to predict what can be delivered.
• Resource allocations and the speed of change affects the ministry's ability to deliver on service plan targets. While many of these impacts are internal to the ministry, others flow from the ability of other agencies to respond in a timely manner.
• External factors pose risks for the achievement of ministry performance targets and the costs of their delivery, particularly overall economic and specific market conditions, meeting land-use planning timelines and a combination of risks posed by contaminated sites on Crown lands.

The ministry has responded to the first two groups by amending performance targets in its 2004/05 – 2006/07 Service Plan and working to improve leadership qualities in order to increase the capabilities of staff and achieve the ministry's mandate in times of rapid change. To address the third group, the ministry has extended LRMP completion dates and is implementing a government-wide contaminated sites management program. All of these risks and challenges were experienced in 2003/04 and have been commented on above.

Ministry Structure and Core Business Areas

The ministry consists of four divisions, with approximately 877 staff in 2003/04 serving British Columbians in all parts of the province. These divisions are Corporate Land and Resource Governance, Corporate Services, Land Information Services, and Resource Management. They are described more fully below, in the corresponding core business area under which they operate.

The ministry has five core business areas and a special account. In 2003/04 the first two core business areas, Sustainable Economic Development and Integrated Land and Resource Information, accounted for approximately 87 per cent of the ministry's business. A further sub-vote is the responsibility of the Agricultural Land Commission, which has its own service plan.

Core Business Areas

1. Sustainable Economic Development

This core business area involves providing certainty of access to Crown resources to enable the development of resource-based economic opportunities through land and resource plans, improving the tools for balanced decisions and increasing participation of First Nations. The core business area was delivered by the 169 FTEs of the Resource Management division on operating expenditures of $24.6 million.

2. Integrated Land and Resource Information

The Land Information Services division delivers this core business area by providing integrated, science-based land, resource and geographic information. This core business area was delivered in 2003/04 by 494 FTEs, with operating expenditures of $53.1 million and capital expenditures of $6.4 million.

3. Sound Governance

The Corporate Land and Resource Governance division delivers this core business area by developing principles, policies and legislation to guide resource planning, tenuring, disposal and pricing to ensure the optimal use of Crown land and resources. The division also sets strategic policies concerning property assessment and manages contaminated sites on provincial land under this core business area. The core business area was delivered in 2003/04 by 23 FTEs, including three FTEs on property assessment services, with operating expenditures of $2.8 million.

4. Property Assessment Services

The Corporate Land and Resource Governance division manages 75 Property Assessment Review Panels across the province with three FTEs (included above under Sound Governance). The Corporate Services division supports the management of the Property Assessment Appeal Board, which utilized 11 FTEs in 2003/04. The cost of this core business area is fully recovered from BC Assessment and appeal fees.

5. Executive and Support Services

This core business area is jointly delivered by the Minister's Office, the Minister of State for Resort Development's Office, the Deputy Minister's Office and the Corporate Services division. The Corporate Services division provides the finance, administration, information technology, internal communication and strategic human resources support services for all ministry core business areas. It also provides some or all of these services for the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, the Agricultural Land Commission, the Property Assessment Appeal Board, and the Environmental Assessment Office. Accountabilities to these different ministries and agencies are established through individual service agreements. This core business area was delivered in 2003/04 by 183 FTEs, with operating expenditures of $8.6 million.

Table 1 illustrates the linkages between the ministry's core business areas and goals, and the divisions that deliver the services to achieve the goals.

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

Related Organizations

The ministry provides Land and Water British Columbia Inc. and the BC Assessment Authority with strategic policy direction. The ministry also works closely with the Agricultural Land Commission and the Environmental Assessment Office by providing corporate support services.

Land and Water British Columbia administers Crown land disposition and tenuring as well as water allocation, the BC Assessment Authority undertakes valuations of all land in the province, and the Agricultural Land Commission administers the Agricultural Land Reserve. The Environmental Assessment Office reports to the minister as a neutral provincial agency to coordinate assessment of the impacts of major development proposals in the province. Other related agencies, boards and commissions can be found in a chart of the ministry's organizational structure in Appendix D.

Update on New Era Commitments

In a June 25, 2001 letter to the Minister of Sustainable Resource Management, the Premier outlined the tasks this ministry was requested to focus on in a list of New Era Commitments and Key Projects. Table 2 includes the New Era Commitments and Key Projects that were outstanding at the beginning of the 2003/04 reporting year and those that have already been completed and reported on in previous years.

Table 2. Progress on New Era Commitments