HomeMy WebLinkAboutBill McLean's Comments at 50th Annual Meeting Remarks to the Authority 50th Annual Meeting
Feb. 24 2006
Bill McLean
I first of all want say thank you to the Authority for your invitation to be here today, to share in the
celebration as your 50th anniversary year begins. As I was thinking about what I would say to you on this
occasion, it occurred to me that I have been connected with the authority in one way or another for all of
the 49 years leading up to today. Beginning as a summer student assigned to you by the Department of
Planning and Development in 1957 and 58, and from 1959 for 33 years as an employee, and the last 14
years as a member of the Conservation Foundation. Needless to say the Authority has been and
continues to be an important and rewarding part of my life and that of my family.
It was Feb 20 1957 when the new MTRCA held it's inaugural meeting.
Ken was there that day and I enjoyed his reminiscing about those early days.
Ken brought out a very interesting point in his remarks. Almost all of the conservation programs that the
authority now offers under the umbrella of"The Living City", were pioneered by the four conservation
authorities which were brought together to form the Metro Toronto and Region Conservation Authority in
1957 and formed the basis for the new authorities work. Over the years they have been tweaked,
improved, and broadened, and the relative emphasis given to some of them has changed, but over the
last 49 years the authority has been remarkably consistent in following the principles of conservation set
out in the conservation authorities act, in the words `to determine a scheme whereby the renewable
resources of the watershed may be conserved restored and developed.
Conservation Education, Conservation areas, flood plain and valley management, reforestation, fish and
wildlife management, stream improvements, flood control and water conservation, Land acquisition
headwater protection, and historic sites, all were the key elements of the early conservation programs as
they are today.
I want to recall a period in your history when one program that wasn't present in the early years, but there
was early recognition of the need for it, was introduced. Waterfront Development. In 1959 the Metropolitan
Toronto Planning Board produced a draft Official Plan, which included a generalized scheme for waterfront
development and called for the preparation of a comprehensive waterfront plan for the Metropolitan
Toronto Waterfront Area, which in those days included the municipalities that now make up Mississauga,
Metro Toronto, the Township of Pickering and the Town of Ajax. It was a massive undertaking, begun in
1964, involved a multitude of municipalities and government agencies, and took four years to complete.
The Authority chairman of the day Dr. G. Ross Lord was a member of the inter municipal policy committee
which was chaired by Grant Messer, chair of the Metro Planning Committee. Ken Higgs the authority
General Manger represented the authority on a technical committee which had the task of actually crafting
the plan with assistance of a number of consultants. In January of 1968 Metro Works Commissioner Ross
Clarke Chair of the Technical Committee forwarded the finished document to the Policy Committee, where
it began a tortuous process of approval by all the participating municipalities, from Ajax to Mississauga,
the Province, and the participating agencies.
That it was approved was a minor miracle, but even more problematical was the matter of how the plan
could be implemented. This became the work of another committee, appointed jointly by Premier William
Davis and Metro Chairman Albert Campbell. What was needed was an agency that could plan, finance,
regulate, and develop the many elements of the plan, which covered over 30 miles of waterfront, and
included nine local municipalities. In November of 1970 the Hon. George Kerr Minister of the newly minted
Ministry of the Environment announced the a decision had been made and that the Conservation
Authorities (TRCA)and the Credit Valley would be the implementing agencies for the portions of the
waterfront within their areas of jurisdiction. An exception was the central waterfront sector, lying in the city
for Toronto between Dufferin St. and Coxwell Ave (essentially the harbour area). This sector would be
dealt with jointly by the City of Toronto, Metro Toronto, and The Toronto Harbour Commissioners. This
latter proved to be a very difficult arrangement, and little was accomplished in the central sector until the
creation of the new City of Toronto in 1998.
Work in the other sectors however proceeded quickly aided by a determination of the municipalities to see
the work progress and the promise of$20 million (a lot of money in 1970) in provincial grants.
Its hard to describe the exhilaration felt throughout the authority with the addition of this new responsibility.
The waterfront had then, as it does now, a high profile in the public mind, and expectations were high. I
was fortunate to be named the authority staff person to head up a technical task force of municipal and
provincial officials which would oversee the implementation. We knew that we had to act quickly. The
planning and discussion of the waterfront plan had taken more than 10 years. It was time for some results.
A brief period was spent assembling a small staff and setting up an office in an historic house at 17 Mill St.
in York Mills. Its still there, I'm not sure of its current use. One of the people who became a Part of that
early staff was Brian Denney, now your CAO. A bit more time was spent working with the task force to
determine where existing conditions favoured early starts to projects. (available land, access, clear need,
municipal support, and so on)Within six months, we had identified our early projects, established a
working relationship with the Toronto Harbour Commissioners who had considerable expertise in
waterfront engineering, and had our first shovel in the ground. The areas selected for those first projects,
are household names today. Humber Bay, Ashbridges Bay, Bluffers Park, Petticoat Creek, Frenchman's
Bay and The Ajax waterfront.
On June 20th 1974 the first phase of Humber Bay was opened for public use, with a boat launching ramp,
10acres of newly created land, and hundreds of sapling trees struggling for a foot hold on subsoil that only
recently had been excavated for the foundations of downtown office towers. The others followed in quick
succession, and the list was expanded with the addition of projects at Marie Curtis Park, Sam Smith,
Tommy Thompson Park, and improvements to the mouth of the Humber, and the Eastern Beaches.
Several shoreline management projects were undertaken including erosion control measures over a
twelve mile stretch of the Scarborough Bluffs.
One key objective of the authority was to bring to the waterfront the same principles of conservation that
had served so well in the valleys. Flood plain, and valley management became shoreline management.
Habitat protection and improvement techniques were applied to the shoreline fish habitats. All of the work
has been and still is carefully monitored, so that the impact of the changes wrought could be measured
and understood. As a result the authority has today an expertise much sought after by agencies having
waterfront responsibilities.
The authority has much to be proud of in its waterfront achievements over many years. It was important
work that transformed many miles of precious shoreline, endangered by erosion, and careless
development, largely inaccessible to the public, into a well managed resource of which the community is
justly proud.
I love to go down to our waterfront areas and just walk around. I see the trees that had such a hard time
getting established, now looking like they've always been there. Where we started with raw soil, a carpet
of healthy grass graces the gentle contours that were created. I think of the battles we had with various
groups, largely about the concerns they had when regional interests conflicted with local interests. I
wonder what the people I see using the parks think. I suspect many of them think that the place they are
enjoying was always there, and have little appreciation of how it came to be. Mostly I think about what fun
it was and how rewarded I still feel to have been a part implementing Toronto's Waterfront Plan.
Finally I want to say that I think the picture on the invitation to today's celebration is most appropriate.
Take a look at it. A whole covey of shovels ready to go to work. TRCA has made many contributions in
many areas over the last 49 years, but what will endure, will be its ability to bring diverse interests together
to achieve common goals, and get the shovels in the ground and implement what has been planned