By Rita Weerdenburg
To say that Landscape Ontario’s (LO) acquisition of the 46-acre Milton site in 1994 has had a significant impact on the scope and activities of the association would be a huge understatement. Although it has only been eight years, it is difficult to remember life before Milton. When we do take the time to recall the people and projects during the time when LO was located in an industrial unit in Mississauga, the one image that comes to mind is that of over-crowded offices and board meetings held in storage rooms, as that was the only available space. Besides being a benchmark of just how much the association has grown in the past 10 years, this memory also serves as a reminder of the huge uproar the move to Mississauga caused amongst the membership at that time. There was just no way, many people reasoned, that LO could ever use that much space.
While the association’s move to Milton was not without some controversy, in many ways it was the fulfillment of a prophecy made several years earlier during a strategic planning process where the purchase of 50-acre site with close proximity to the airport was identified as a priority. It is doubtful anyone involved in the strategic planning process could have predicted that this initiative would be achieved so soon.
The original motivation as identified by the Strategic Plan to acquire a parcel of land was for the development of a complete horticultural circle. Members could develop the 50 acres as a horticultural showcase to the public. A horticultural school, modeled after the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture would provide the industry with yet one more source of qualified labour, while taking over the site’s significant maintenance requirements. A research centre was seen as the ideal response to persistent cutbacks in related funding from both the provincial and federal governments. Other horticultural associations would be invited to locate their offices on these premises for the creation of an all-encompassing horticultural centre.
Employee training and education were also among the mandates, and many opportunities were made possible because of the move. In the winter of 2001/02, over 1,200 people attended 75 courses offered through the increasingly popular Winter Workshops programs.
Also in response to the industry’s critical shortage of skilled labour, LO has offered a variety of youth training programs at both the pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship levels. And the certification of skilled help through the Canadian Certified Horticultural Technician Program (CCHT) would have been possible, but certainly more difficult to accomplish, without the benefit of the LO Horticultural Centre.
While education mandates were realized, the horticultural development of the centre has not been as forthcoming. Earlier attempts at member-provided display gardens proved to be unsuccessful, prompting an increased focus on the ideas put forth through the strategic planning process.
While the concept is an admirable one, completing the horticultural circle with an on-site school of horticulture is a daunting endeavour. The delivery alone of a quality educational program is an expensive undertaking and the association is also faced with the additional task of constructing appropriate facilities. Upgrades to the existing buildings have made them adequate for the delivery of short-term apprenticeship programs, but they are unsuitable as full-time classrooms. From a financial perspective, a privately funded school would be next to impossible, making the provincial government, our traditional funders of education, the most logical alternative to look to for assistance.
However, relying solely on bureaucratic considerations make this a long-term objective. Humber College recently offered a more attractive and easily achievable solution, when they proposed to move their complete horticultural program to the LO site. Their main reason is that the landscape program has simply run out of space, especially the college’s Arboretum, integral to the hands-on training aspects of the program. Encroaching sub-divisions make expansion impossible. And the college itself is overly crowded and would welcome the extra space made possible by the moving of this program.
The proposal has landed the association into the middle of a whole new controversy, sparked by other post secondary institutions that offer horticultural programs, about the appropriateness of a publicly funded school being so closely affiliated with a trade association whose mission is to promote horticultural education across the province. In short, there are too few students to fill the available classroom spots across the province. With LO’s close affiliation to the trade, and their ability, through numerous venues such as Horticulture Review to reach the trade, Humber College could easily have an unfair advantage over other community colleges.
The Ontario Horticultural Educator’s Committee (OHEC), made up of teachers and program coordinators at the post-secondary level, met recently at LO to openly address these concerns. LO executive director Tony DiGiovanni reminded the committee the association has addressed the underlying problem of insufficient enrollment within the colleges (and the consequent shortage of young people entering the field of horticulture) by making the promotion of horticulture at the high school level a priority.
The Humber College proposal clearly calls for the college itself, and not LO, to be the training delivery agent (or TDA in teacher-talk). However, within Ontario, post-secondary horticultural education is already confusing, with different levels of programs offered by several different ministries and accessing different sources of funding. Young people will no doubt be influenced by many different factors when making an educational choice. It is quite possible that a close affiliation with a trade association, perceived or otherwise, will enter into their decision-making process.
LO’s proposed horticultural circle is also the basis for some skepticism from other horticultural institutions. The development and maintenance of the LO site will be the responsibility of students and there is some concern that, should the association step up their plans for the horticultural development of the site, they may well assist Humber College in the expansion of their training programs through extra promotion to the trade.
It should be pointed out that the Humber College suggestion is at the proposal stage only. Members have been made aware of this development through a fax campaign appeal for support through the donation of materials, etc. Due to lack of time to develop a proper written proposal, it was decided to wait instead for the next deadline in six month’s time.
This is also only the tip of a very complex issue, and one that we are sure to hear more about in the months ahead.
