Government information is generated by local, provincial, national, and international governments on almost all topics. It includes laws, regulations, reports, statistics, studies, surveys and much more. To find government information on your topic, search the library catalogue, specialized indexes, and government agency web sites. Municiple sites are good sources for building codes and bylaws. federal and provicial sites provide access to laws and legislation and publicly funded studies on many aspects of environmental preservation and culture.
Some examples of useful sites follow. For municipal sites Guelph was used an example. Visiting the web site of any city should produce similar results. Much government information is freely available.
Municiple
Guelph by-laws
http://guelph.ca/cityhall.cfm?subCatID=858&smocid=1444
Storm-water by-law
- example of one by-law which may affect landscaping
http://www.guelph.ca/uploads/PDF/By-laws/Stormwater_Disposal.pdf
Zoning by-laws
- includes a section on building permits as well as zoning maps
- identifies restrictions to items like plantings near street corners, heights of plants
near road-ways, distance of out-buildings from property lines, etc.
http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?subCatID=1186&smocid=1771
Official Plan
- includes designations of zones, wetlands, land use, rezoning of specific properties,
designation of heritage sites etc.CA4ONGF 1998C33
Building permits
- esp. for swimming pools, etc.
http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?subCatID=1064&smocid=1649
Urban Forestry Service Toronto nice site
Provincial
Ontario Ministry of Municpal Affairs and Housing
Ontario Municipal Board
- independent, adjudicative tribunal that hears appeals and applications on land use
disputes
http://www.omb.gov.on.ca/
Environmental Assessment information
http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/env_reg/ea/English/index.htm
Ontario Building Code
- see Trellis
Ontario Building Code Information & links
http://www.obc.mah.gov.on.ca/Page1402.aspx
Federal
Canadian Research Index
Index to a microfiche collection containing Canadian Government Publications. Includes federal, provincial and municipal documents. Collection is located on the GovPubs, Data & Maps floor.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation - Canada's national housing agency
Canada's National Housing agency
Consolidated Statutes of Canada 1985 GOVREF CA1 YX41 85R27 (Previous consolidations - Gov Book Stacks)
Statutes of Canada on CD-ROM Located behind GovPub Reference Desk
Statutes of Canada 1985 - GOVREF CA1 YX21 S71
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution Act
Constitutional Acts and Documents incl. the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution Act, 1982 - See Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Appendices, Appendix II GOVREF CA1 YX41 85R27 Appx.
Natural Resources Canada http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/com/index-eng.php
International
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) http://www.epa.gov/
Biological and Environmental Research Program http://www.sc.doe.gov/
Rural Housing Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Search "housing"