Books by Michael Lait
Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Mar 23, 2021
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-64440-6
This book comprehensively describes the ... more https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-64440-6
This book comprehensively describes the history of Gatineau Park, from the first proposals for a “national park” in the early 1900s to the governance issues in the present period, and it highlights the issues concerning the planning and governance of this unique near-urban ecological area. The 34,500-hectare Gatineau Park is an ecologically diverse wilderness area near the cities of Ottawa (Canada’s national capital) and Gatineau. Gatineau Park is planned and managed as the “Capital’s Conservation Park” by the federal government, specifically the National Capital Commission (NCC).
This monograph examines numerous governmental and non-governmental actors that are engaged in the governance of a near-urban wilderness area. Unlike Canada’s national parks, Gatineau Park’s administration involves all three levels of government (federal, provincial, and four municipalities). This book is the first to document the relations among the public and private entities, and is one of only a handful of studies concerning the governance of Canada’s National Capital Region (NCR), which is relatively unique in the literature on federal capitals. Of particular interest to students of governance will be the examination of federal-provincial relations, as the Governments of Canada and Quebec have had a notoriously strained relationship. As the first governance study of Gatineau Park, the monograph will provide readers with insight into the significance of non-state actors, showing the range of competencies that public and private groups deploy in their negotiations with NCC planners, policymakers, park managers, local and federal politicians.
Springer Nature - Local and Urban Governance series edited by Carlos Nunes Silva, 2021
Front matter of the book
Le Droit, 2021
La plupart des parcs nationaux et des aires protégées au Canada, et à travers le monde, ont réuss... more La plupart des parcs nationaux et des aires protégées au Canada, et à travers le monde, ont réussi à éliminer les propriétés privées. Toutefois, la situation du parc de la Gatineau est assez particulière, car on a non seulement permis aux terrains privés d’y demeurer, mais les gestionnaires du parc font des pieds et des mains pour accommoder ses résidents
Thesis by Michael Lait
Unpublished Dissertation, 2017
For a thesis summary: http://unpublishedottawa.com/letter/149122/rotting-heart-gatineau-park
My research project consists of an interrelated series of controversy case studies focusing on Ga... more My research project consists of an interrelated series of controversy case studies focusing on Gatineau Park, an 88,000 acre public wilderness area. The Park is located in the Province of Quebec and close to an urban conurbation of over one million people (cities of Gatineau, Hull and Ottawa). Gatineau Park has several long-standing political issues (private lands, residential development, road-building projects, ‘non-conforming uses’, etc.). Many of these issues are still open, that is, amenable to periodic flare-ups. My research project will be the first to map the Park’s “political situation” (Barry 2012); its mobile, shifting field of past, present, and future controversies and issues.
My project spans from the early 20th century—when the first planning “visions” for a nature preserve close to Canada’s national capital were articulated (e.g., Todd 1903; Holt 1915)—to Gatineau Park’s present-day political situation. It will describe the dynamics of the major controversies around this near-urban wilderness park, and will trace the trajectories of the Park’s various issues, interests, and actors.
Le Droit, 2020
Report par Catherine Morasse: Les résidents, plus importants que les usagers : un chercheur en so... more Report par Catherine Morasse: Les résidents, plus importants que les usagers : un chercheur en sociologie avance que la Commission de la capitale nationale (CCN) a accordé des traitements de faveur à répétition aux propriétaires de terrains autour des lacs Meech et Kingsmere. Et la récente fermeture des plages du lac Meech la nuit ne serait que le nouveau chapitre d’une longue saga
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, 2017
Blog post for Department of Sociology & Anthropology (Carleton University)
Papers by Michael Lait
Under Fullerton's leadership, the National Capital Commission (NCC) maintained its default Gatine... more Under Fullerton's leadership, the National Capital Commission (NCC) maintained its default Gatineau Park land acquisition policy, that of negotiated purchase on a willing-seller basis; thus, the NCC only acquired properties as they were put up for sale, and did so at a fair market value. The NCC put this highly selective policy in place, despite its obvious drawbacks and recommendations from NCC staff to expropriated remaining residences at Kingsmere and Meech Lake. During Fullerton's tenure, the NCC acquired properties at Meech Lake, and the Commission managed to open the lake to public use, despite considerable resistance from the Meech Lake Association. This chapter reveals that Fullerton's successors at the NCC would not be so fortunate in evading issues with privately-owned lands in the park. In a period of increased development activity throughout the Outaouais, Fullerton's successors became mired in expropriations, not only from residential subdivisions inside Gatineau Park but also from the government's own initiatives, namely, a national zoo and the Autoroute A5 extension along the park's eastern boundary. This chapter begins by describing the expropriations of landowners in the Meech Creek Valley by the Outaouais Development Corporation (ODC) in the mid-1970s, as part of intergovernmental plans for the zoo and highway, the actual route of which was as highly contentious as the zoo. Although the NCC did not carry out expropriations for the zoo, the Meech Creek Valley did go on to become part of Gatineau Park, and NCC officials supported the zoo and highway plans as well as the land acquisition plans that went along with them. The second section turns to a controversial expropriation inside the park territory, as local developers obtained approval for a residential subdivision in lands adjacent to the Meech Creek Valley. As shown in the third section, this costly and time-consuming expropriation spurred NCC officials to attempt to change the Commission's land acquisition policy. As early as 1978, the NCC indicated its intention to expropriate residences at Meech Lake as the first phase of its land acquisition program, and the Commission received approval and funds from the Treasury Board (TB). While the NCC appeared, in light of the latest expropriation,
Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 2016
Although the National Capital Commission claimed to administer Gatineau Park according to a conse... more Although the National Capital Commission claimed to administer Gatineau Park according to a conservation policy, the 1960s saw numerous urban-type developments in the park and NCC planners emphasizing the park’s recreation potential. This paper describes how the 1970 Gatineau Park planning controversy sparked by conservationists opposed this policy reversal and forced the NCC to abandon blueprint planning. This paper then examines relations between the NCC conservationists from the time of the planning controversy to the first Gatineau Park master plan. Drawing from Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation, it is argued that, during its transition to participatory planning, the NCC placated conservationists, receiving their input but not always influenced by it. Thus, conservationists were disappointed by the first master plan, both its process and content. While they continue to play an important watchdog role in the park’s management, and regularly participate in NCC planning exercises, conservationists have been unable to secure protective legislation for Gatineau Park. The status quo remains, such that the NCC can alter park policy without parliamentary oversight. Meanwhile, the park’s wilderness character remains threatened by urbanization pressures.
Annals of Leisure Research, 2018
This study examines the eco-social impacts of cottagers at Meech Lake, Québec. It documents the p... more This study examines the eco-social impacts of cottagers at Meech Lake, Québec. It documents the paradoxical effects of cottagers’ attraction to nature as they locked in an elite leisure landscape, and embedded the urban field in an environmentally sensitive area. On the one hand, Meech Lake cottagers were instrumental in nature preservation through their involvement in the establishment of Gatineau Park, a wilderness area protected by the federal government. On the other hand, Meech Lake cottagers have put increasing pressures on the lake ecosystem through permanent residency, construction of purpose-built residences, and widespread violation of bylaws for shoreline re-naturalization. In terms of social impacts, this study shows that cottagers protested the establishment of park facilities, and have tried to limit public use of Meech Lake. I argue that cottagers’ actions undermine their environmental stewardship claims. This underscores the need for cottagers’ adoption of ecological design principles, and for greater co-operation between municipal and federal governments to protect the lake ecosystem from future development.
Trail & Landscape, 2013
Dedicating itself to scientific and educational purposes, the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club (OFN... more Dedicating itself to scientific and educational purposes, the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club (OFNC) is not known for political activities. Following major developments in Gatineau Park in the mid to late 1960s, however, this could have been otherwise. The present study begins by describing the formation and activities of the OFNC’s Gatineau Park Committee (GPC ), drawing from minutes of meetings, correspondences, and interviews. It then examines the OFNC’s 1968 “Brief on Gatineau Park” which was submitted at the request of the Park’s governing body, the National Capital Commission (NCC). The NCC did no t take action on the OFNC’s recommendations; indeed, at the time, it was secretly preparing plans for the Park that would contradict many of the Brief’s proposals. The study then discusses the reaction of OFNC members who were leaked copies of the NCC’s first plan. In the conclusion it is argued that this was a possible turning point for the OFNC, as the function and orientation of the naturalists’ organization were called into question. The outcome of this struggle would be of broader significance in Gatineau Park’s political history.
Up the Gatineau!, 2016
This paper traces the history of the toponymy controversy around Harrington (Mousseau) Lake, whic... more This paper traces the history of the toponymy controversy around Harrington (Mousseau) Lake, which has existed since the 1950s. It indicates that the issue of the lake's name is linked to the issue of the lake’s use. Should the lake be used only by the prime minister of the day and carefully guarded, or should it be incorporated into Gatineau Park for the use and enjoyment of all Canadians?
Book Reviews by Michael Lait
Foucault Studies, 2010
, elaborated an analytics of government through which the ever-changing rationalities and technol... more , elaborated an analytics of government through which the ever-changing rationalities and technologies governing advanced liberal societies could be diagnosed and contested. With the ideal of the welfare state receding, neo-liberal principles and objectives were becoming ascendant, prompting many to take an interest in Foucault's lectures on the history of governmentality and emergence of neo-liberalism; but Foucault left no extended methodological commentary on genealogy and its application to the study of governmentality. Much of the importance of Dean's first edition of Governmentality, then, resided in the fact that it was among the first comprehensive and systematic attempts to advance the conceptual tools and dimensions of analysis needed to perform this type of study. 1 The analytics of government he put forward in the first chapter has been frequently drawn upon by scholars in a broad range of disciplines, sometimes even outside of the social sciences and humanities. The second edition of Dean's Governmentality has been released amidst a global crisis in capitalism and, as he discusses in the post-script, at the beginning of an emergent crisis in neoliberal governmentality as well. ‚In searching for models for governments to adopt, leaders are [now] looking at the same examples of too much government that, according to Foucault, were the targets of neo-liberal critiques: Roosevelt's New Deal and Keynesian techniques of macroeconomic demand management.‛ (262) It is precisely because of such an unexpected reversal in the fortunes of neo-liberalism that Dean's second edition of Governmentality will continue to be of lasting influence, as it offers the analytical resources to diagnose the ongoing transformations in the arts of government, whilst rejecting any teleological schemas about our socio-political future. Following Foucault, the focus always remains on discerning the possibilities and limits conditioning our experiences in the present, thus opening a thought-space in which to deliberate on whether the possibilities are to be acted upon, or the limits transgressed. Aside from the post-script on the problematization of neo-liberalism, the additions to the second edition include a new introduction and a chapter on international governmentality,
Research Reports by Michael Lait
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Books by Michael Lait
This book comprehensively describes the history of Gatineau Park, from the first proposals for a “national park” in the early 1900s to the governance issues in the present period, and it highlights the issues concerning the planning and governance of this unique near-urban ecological area. The 34,500-hectare Gatineau Park is an ecologically diverse wilderness area near the cities of Ottawa (Canada’s national capital) and Gatineau. Gatineau Park is planned and managed as the “Capital’s Conservation Park” by the federal government, specifically the National Capital Commission (NCC).
This monograph examines numerous governmental and non-governmental actors that are engaged in the governance of a near-urban wilderness area. Unlike Canada’s national parks, Gatineau Park’s administration involves all three levels of government (federal, provincial, and four municipalities). This book is the first to document the relations among the public and private entities, and is one of only a handful of studies concerning the governance of Canada’s National Capital Region (NCR), which is relatively unique in the literature on federal capitals. Of particular interest to students of governance will be the examination of federal-provincial relations, as the Governments of Canada and Quebec have had a notoriously strained relationship. As the first governance study of Gatineau Park, the monograph will provide readers with insight into the significance of non-state actors, showing the range of competencies that public and private groups deploy in their negotiations with NCC planners, policymakers, park managers, local and federal politicians.
Thesis by Michael Lait
My project spans from the early 20th century—when the first planning “visions” for a nature preserve close to Canada’s national capital were articulated (e.g., Todd 1903; Holt 1915)—to Gatineau Park’s present-day political situation. It will describe the dynamics of the major controversies around this near-urban wilderness park, and will trace the trajectories of the Park’s various issues, interests, and actors.
Papers by Michael Lait
Book Reviews by Michael Lait
Research Reports by Michael Lait
This book comprehensively describes the history of Gatineau Park, from the first proposals for a “national park” in the early 1900s to the governance issues in the present period, and it highlights the issues concerning the planning and governance of this unique near-urban ecological area. The 34,500-hectare Gatineau Park is an ecologically diverse wilderness area near the cities of Ottawa (Canada’s national capital) and Gatineau. Gatineau Park is planned and managed as the “Capital’s Conservation Park” by the federal government, specifically the National Capital Commission (NCC).
This monograph examines numerous governmental and non-governmental actors that are engaged in the governance of a near-urban wilderness area. Unlike Canada’s national parks, Gatineau Park’s administration involves all three levels of government (federal, provincial, and four municipalities). This book is the first to document the relations among the public and private entities, and is one of only a handful of studies concerning the governance of Canada’s National Capital Region (NCR), which is relatively unique in the literature on federal capitals. Of particular interest to students of governance will be the examination of federal-provincial relations, as the Governments of Canada and Quebec have had a notoriously strained relationship. As the first governance study of Gatineau Park, the monograph will provide readers with insight into the significance of non-state actors, showing the range of competencies that public and private groups deploy in their negotiations with NCC planners, policymakers, park managers, local and federal politicians.
My project spans from the early 20th century—when the first planning “visions” for a nature preserve close to Canada’s national capital were articulated (e.g., Todd 1903; Holt 1915)—to Gatineau Park’s present-day political situation. It will describe the dynamics of the major controversies around this near-urban wilderness park, and will trace the trajectories of the Park’s various issues, interests, and actors.