Benjamin Dippel

Topic

The British Columbia Cabinet’s Role in the Agricultural Land Reserve, 1973-1993

Department of History

Date & location

• Thursday, August 22, 2024
• 10:00 A.M.
• Clearihue Building, Room B017

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Bryden, Department of History, University of Victoria (Supervisor)
• Dr. John Lutz, Department of History, UVic (Member)

External Examiner

• Dr. Jamie Lawson, Department of Political Science, UVic

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Marina Bettaglio, Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies, UVic

Abstract

This thesis is about British Columbia’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), a provincial land use policy that saves agricultural land from redevelopment by restricting how landowners can use their land. From 1973 to 1993, the cabinet and a cabinet committee had the final call on whether land was excluded from the ALR through cabinet appeals from individuals, local governments, and the Agricultural Land Commission. This thesis looks at some of the decisions by the cabinet and the cabinet committee in this role. I argue here that the Social Credit governments of Bill Bennett and Bill Vander Zalm used cabinet appeals to ensure that the development of ALR-zoned land enriched their constituents and, in Bill Vander Zalm’s case, himself and his friends. I also argue that the NDP governments of Dave Barrett sparingly dealt with ALR appeals. The thesis is structured into five main chapters, beginning with the creation of the cabinet committee during W.A.C. Bennett’s last government in 1969 and ending in 1993 with the abolition of most cabinet appeals. Specific appeals are explained from Vancouver Island, the lower mainland, and the Okanagan valley. This thesis contributes to scholarship about British Columbia’s government and political culture, cabinet and cabinet committees, and the ALR; it does so in an innovative way by examining specific ALR appeals.